Review Summary: Seventh Wonder's masterpiece.
Seventh Wonder is a progressive metal band from Sweden, formed in 2000. They consist of Tommy Karevik (vocals), Andreas Blomqvist (bass), Johan Liefvendahl (guitars), Andreas Söderin (keyboards) and Johnny Sandin (drums). They have released to other albums before
Mercy Falls:
Become (2005) and
Waiting in the Wings (2006). Their next album,
The Great Escape will be released somewhere in fall 2010.
When
Waiting in the Wings was released, I was pleasantly surprised. They released an insanely catchy yet thought-provoking album, which was a huge leap forward from
Become. Seventh Wonder had set pretty high standards with
Waiting in the Wings, and though it wasn't my favorite album, I didn't think they could surpass themselves. Both the vocal and lyrics front were absolutely brilliant, and though catchy, it wasn't cheesy, like most progressive/power metal albums sound. I didn't think
Mercy Falls would be much better. I couldn't have been more wrong.
Before I start telling you how fantastic these songs are and that you should be ashamed of yourself for not listening to these guys earlier, let me explain something about this album.
Mercy Falls is a concept album. It basically tells the story of a family, and because of an accident, the father ends up in a coma and dreams of a town called
Mercy Falls. Please note how the colors of the album fit the mood perfectly. Blue stands for tranquility, harmony and depression, and this is al very present in this album. I read one review that stated this album 'lacked emotion'. Not only is this entire album a rollercoaster ride of emotion, it makes you wonder what will be next. The well-established sound of their other releases has not undergone much changes, and the interplay between the guitars and the keys, effective drum work and cathcy vocals are still present and great as ever. But even though they don't sound very different, it doesn't sound like a simple re-write of other songs. It all starts with
A New Beginning.
A New Beginning is the opening song of this album, and it is a instrumental song. You can hear the car crash, and you hear the ambulance and the police talking about the condition of the woman and man. When I heard the words "we lost him", I had goosebumps all over. This is song is not particularly an epic masterpiece, but it gives a rather good idea where this album will be about. Just as
A New Beginning, the next song is also an instrumental. It is a good song, but not really interesting.
But when the first notes of
Welcome to Mercy Falls kick in, it starts to get epic. It tells the state of mind of the man in coma. "It doesn't matter how far you've gone / Welcome to Mercy Falls / Where nobody's leaving". Tommy Karevik's voice is superb, and he became one of my favorite power/progressive vocalists. His voice is why this album is a materpiece. In
Welcome to Mercy Falls you can hear a wide variety of notes and sound, and it all sounds fantastic. But not just Karevik is amazing, the keyboards, guitars and drums also are. They support Karevik's voice and make it sound it better and purer. The same story for
Unbreakable. This song sounds absolutely stunning.
And then we have arrived at the ballads of the album:
Tears for a Father, Tears for a Son and
One Last Goodbye. These ballads are so insanely good and contain so much emotion, if you are a weak soul, you'll probably cry your eyes out. In
Tears for a Father, Karevik captures the mind of a child in such an endearing and acurate way, for example: "Miss Angel told us / write some lines / about your families / I finish first / I turned in blank", and the line "Please don't tell / I know you won't tell". The other ballads all have their charm and beauty, and
One Last Goodbye is one of the emotional highlights of this album.
All the other songs are just as amazing and contain very good lyrics. One little thing bothered me a bit: the voice of the doctor and the father can be considered annoying at some times. The woman and the son do an amazing job, especially in
One Last Goodbye. Some parts of the lyrics sound a bit too dramatic, but on the other hand: a very few lines could be considered 'cheesy'.
This album is epic. What I kept thinking throughout this entire album was 'this is what music should be'. And it should. That said, this band doesn't get the attention they deserve. I was very surprised when I found out that
Mercy Falls only had 18 votes on Sputnik. Give this album a chance, I swear you won't regret it.
Recommended tracks:
- Unbreakable
- Tears for a Father
- Destiny Calls
- One Last Goodbye
- Break the Silence
- Hide and Seek
