Review Summary: While reigniting the past, Sevendust ignite their flair for the future in this unique and wholly satisfying compilation album, a deft mix of old and new, which stirs together to craft an outstanding and inspiring experience.
Sevendust have remained my absolute favourite rock/metal band since I first listened to Animosity back in 2003. Never have I been able to connect with a band and its' members as deeply and as instantly as I have with Sevendust, they bring a passion to the table that I find is sorely lacking in today's current rock scene. Shockingly to me, they've always remained an under-the-radar and hugely underrated band despite releasing a massive string of catchy and extremely satisfying singles. You'd be lucky to hear these guys on the radio, as today's charts are usually loaded with bland, over-hyped garbage from the likes of rock 'n roll wannabes such as Avenged Sevenfold, Seether and Godsmack (yeah, they still exist). How unoriginal bands like the ones I mentioned overshadow Sevendust and other similar artists (such as Chevelle, Alter Bridge and Rise Against) is quite obvious: they sell-out and stick to a repetitious formula that works just fine for their seemingly brain-dead fan bases. Thankfully, Sevendust stay true to their roots and made this brand-new album solely for their devoted fan base through PledgeMusic and, in my opinion, they succeeded in crafting an album that is joyous and at times even haunting to hear unravelling. However, as a whole, it never fails to deliver the same level of frenetic energy that they've kept up with ever since their first self-titled LP.
1) "Come Down"
Opening the album up in beautiful fashion comes "Come Down", which immediately removed any worry that I had about this album potentially being too slow and boring. The song, while taking a slower pace than usual for the band, is levelled out with a peaceful melody and Lajon's shining vocal performance, which he betters as the album progresses further forward. While the chorus isn't as phenomenal as it could have been, it compliments the track nicely, while the verses at the beginning and middle of it are nothing short of great, this is a simply solid opener.
4/5
2) "Under It All"
This was the first song I heard off the album, along with the acoustic rendition of "Black", and while it is a very nice song indeed, it doesn't quite reach its fullest potential largely due to a somewhat distant chorus that tends to get more and more tiring as we reach closer to the end of the track. While this certainly is a very nice song, which flows well with the rest of the album as a whole, featuring some nice guitar work as it closes off its second chorus, the repetitive nature of the chorus itself thwarts the chance of this song becoming a fan-favourite. This is a simple skip when listening to the album again, but it's worth hearing at the same token.
3.5/5
3) "The Wait"
Strikingly wonderful lyrics help make this song the first classic track off of this acoustic record. While the previous two tracks were great, this one is bettered by a stunningly beautiful guitar melody, Morgan's impactful drumming and Lajon's emotionally charged, first class vocal performance. Like I previously said, the lyrics displayed in this song are wonderful in every way, not to mention inspiring, as when Lajon asks God to find "forgiveness in our soul" and, not to mention, that cathartic chorus. Truly a beautiful song.
5/5
4) "Upbeat Sugar"
Lots of fun, this track is. A nice change-up from some of the more emotional songs that this album brings. The one thing that could have made this song so much better is a faster tempo, it flows a bit too slowly at times for my liking, which unfortunately makes the song drag on in certain sections. However, this is still a really neatly written song, despite my reservations, as it often rolls by in a snap because of the sheer catchiness of it.
4.5/5
5) "One Life"
Here's a song that carries a hefty haunting edge with it as Lajon urges you to "pray to God before you die", and while this may often be a purposefully bleak track, it's still capable of shedding a light of hope in the well-written lyrics. Following "The Wait"'s lyrical formula quite nicely, "One Life" darkens its content even further with difficult to swallow truths in lines such as "can't depend on life ever making sense / it's hard to say when I'm running out of time / yeah, it's almost over" and the excellent chorus lines "one day / one life / one love, I won't deny / we pray and we lie / one curse that never dies". The calmingly effective melody that the guitars, bass and drums, accompanied by Lajon's vocals, follow through make this track hopefully atmospheric in every way till the very end. One of my favourites...
5/5
6) "Bonfire"
...but this is my personal favourite track off the album and it's the closest thing we get to an actual title track on this album (it would have been cool to see a song called "Time Traveler" as well, similar to how Chapter VII: Hope and Sorrow had two title tracks, "Hope" and "Sorrow", which featured two Alter Bridge members; however guitarist/vocalist, Clint Lowery, does have a song called "Time Machine", which can be found on his Last Parade album). "Bonfire" is definitely the closest thing to a country song that Sevendust has ever produced and, surely enough, they mastered it in every way whatsoever on their very first attempt (seemingly by accident too, as this is clearly a rock song first and foremost). If they released this song as a single on country radio stations across the globe, this track, and album alike, would become a sure-fire win in no time. The chorus here, within this wonderful song, is such a joyous blast of unbridled confidence and energy, making the track itself a masterpiece through-and-through.
5/5
7) "Gone"
I won't deny the fact that I didn't really like this song when I first heard it. It's the first of six covers by the band, the original song, off of their fourth studio LP, Seasons, is one of my favourites... this, not so much. However, it has grown on me over the days that I've listened to this album. It's still a good song, but it's missing the power that the original brought to the table with Morgan's excellent screams and the slick electronic melody lurking within the background during the verses.
3.5/5
8) "Denial"
Thankfully there's no denying that this new cover of "Denial" will get lots of love from fans, giving us a completely different melody than the original which is both refreshing and brings new-found depth to the original track, as we're able to focus more so on the lyrics this time around rather than what's surrounding it like on the original version (which, at times, almost aspired to be a hip-hop/rap song with the quickly-spoken lyrics and hard rocking bass-line). The original version might still be better, but this is something else entirely, as it evokes an entirely different mood, and works well on its own (just like the original).
5/5
9) "Trust"
Trust me when I say that I cried the second time I heard this song. The first time I listened to it, I listened to the album all the way through to get a clear-view as to what it'd be like (I originally perceived this song, score-wise, to be around a 4/5). Then, I went back and listened to the album again... this song stopped me dead in my tracks while walking home one night. There's something that is just so euphoric about Lajon's voice in this song, especially during the final run through the chorus, he really shines there, the song as a whole harkens back to the tragic nature of the Animosity album, to which this song is from, and arguably makes the song much better since the members have all aged and evolved over the years. This is the cover that I honestly love more than the original, without a doubt. While the original is a classic on it's own merits, it certainly rocks harder as a whole than this newer version ever tries to, but the laid-back nature of this version elevates it above the original in my eyes simply because the chorus stands out more and leaves a bigger, better impact than it did originally. If "Bonfire" was my favourite of the six new set of songs, this is easily my favourite of the covers.
5/5
10) "Crucified"
A very nice song. Just like the previous track, this song also appeared on Animosity. While I didn't like this version as much as the original, it's still a great song that is much more calm and relaxing than the original which was far more riff-riddled and hard-rocking. This version could have used some more background vocals from Morgan and/or Clint such as on the original, which is the biggest flaw I found with this album as a whole (after Last Parade and his Hello Demons Meet Skeletons project with Morgan, I was expecting to hear much more of Lowery's singing in this only to be somewhat disappointed that he is barely heard). Still, the song flows together just fine and features yet another great vocal performance from Lajon Witherspoon.
4.5/5
11) "Karma"
Of all the other songs that they could have picked, I was surprised to see that they ended up going with "Karma" from off of Cold Day Memory. It's one of the better tracks off that album, and I didn't see much need for improvement on it, but this acoustic version offers a new take on it that satisfies. I personally prefer the original track to this because it felt much more raw and unhinged, whereas this seems very straight-forward and relaxed which kind of works against the song's lyrics at times, but still works nonetheless.
4/5
12) "Black"
Closing the album on what is arguably this band's magnum opus was a bold idea, and it thankfully pays off, while the song itself has been redone by the band about three or four times by this point, it still has the same lasting power as it did when it appeared at the start of their excellent self-titled record. I loved the acoustic live version of this song, from the Southside Double-Wide: Acoustic Live album, but this version is still nothing to overlook, its powerful message written within the equally powerful lyrics still resonates with me to this day (and through this excellent new song). If you live in the States, you may be lucky to hear this great song on the radio at some point (as it sits in the middle of the highest charting 40 singles in the country under the rock genre at the moment), because here in Canada, I can never find them playing on the radio. The day I hear Sevendust for the first time on the radio will be one of my dreams come true, they deserve all the radio-play in the world and more for their countless years devoted to making true, quality rock songs. Where bands like Nickelback and Green Day sell-out hard and leave their fans(?) in the dust, Sevendust sticks to who they are inside and make music that they truly love to hear, not for the money, for the fans. Music that I'm sure others would love to hear if only they could discover them as I have. "Black" ends this album on an amazing high-note, leaving me excited to see what they have in store for their 10th studio LP.
5/5
All-in-all, if you're a fan of Sevendust already, this album's like a piece of pie, it's wonderful. It's loaded with tons of great new tracks and beautiful renditions of some of their older classics. While the album could have used for some more of Morgan and Clint's excellent vocal skills, Lajon's consistently excellent performance left me absolutely satisfied with this amazing record. I'm so happy I was given the chance to pledge and help make this album a reality, and I'm sure others who did as well are very happy with the outcome too, while there are nitpicks to be made, what album nowadays doesn't have flaws to nitpick? A classic album can never be perfect, and while this isn't quite a classic album in my books, as their acoustic live album was, it still succeeds as a whole and makes me even more so proud of being a long-time fan of this truly incredible band.
4.5/5
