| Sevendust | 1997 |
| Home | 1999 |
| Animosity | 2001 |
| Seasons | 2003 |
Post your comments about Sevendust
(reviewed by Alex Wilson)
Sevendust is one of those debut albums that is totally unrepresentative of how good the band actually is. In their early incarnation, Sevendust were agreeably heavy and could rock out nicely. Although they could write the odd good song (more on those later,) most of the time they chose not to, and therefore ended up with a pretty average and boring album. Thankfully, they would truly show what they were capable of on their follow-up, Home.
"So, what are these good songs?" I hear you ask. Well, unfortunately, there are really only two of them. "Black" kicks off the album with a cool, stuttering tremolo guitar riff and then delivers some really impressive riffage and a great chorus. Singer Lajon Witherspoon shows off his powerful voice and his anti-racism lyrics are suitably angry and paranoid. Sevendust also break from nu-metal guidelines by chucking in a full-blown, wah-drenched guitar solo from Clint Lowery. Great stuff. "Bitch," the other standout track, cleverly contrasts a tongue-in-cheek grunge chord progression with truly brutal guitar work and vocals. Again, Witherspoon's performance is impressive as he switches back and forth between a sappy croon and a powerful roar.
Unfortunately the really bad news is that these two tracks happen to be the first two tracks of the album. Over the course of the other nine tracks, there are few really memorable moments. The funk metal of "Terminator" (third track!) is fairly well executed, but it's also too long. It's pretty easy to see how the rest of the album will just get worse and worse and bore the shit out the listener. Sure, each track may have a cool riff or two, but these cannot carry an album that is so one-dimensional and, on the whole, poorly written.
Maybe I am being way to hard on this album, but apart from "Bitch," "Black" and parts of "Terminator" the only thing I can remember about it is how much it bored me. Only buy this if you want to hear the two or three good tracks on the album or if you are a totally hardcore Sevendust fan. Everyone else should give this record a wide berth.
Post your comments / reviews for this album
(reviewed by Alex Wilson)
Sevendust's eponymous 1997 release showed that they had an agreeably melodic yet heavy sound, but was let down by wholly uninteresting songwriting. In fact, the crappy songs on Sevendust were doubly disappointing, because the band can lay claim to one of the better approaches to modern rock. Although always working within the template of alt-metal, the overall sound of Home is relatively unique. Guitarists Clint Lowery and John Connolly deliver brutal riffage that is equally informed by Faith No More, Korn and 80s thrash. These two are also exceptionally tight. Drummer Morgan Rose and bassist Vince Hornsby are powerful, if a little generic, but it's vocalist Lajon Witherspoon who really impresses. It has always blown my mind why more rock/metal bands don't use black vocalists, because Lajon is one of the best in the biz. He sounds like a harsher and more powerful version of Living Colour's Corey Glover.
Even so, good performances and an attractive sound are not enough to carry an album, but Sevendust have fortunately delivered a good set of songs as well. Opener and title-track "Home" is razor-sharp and clinical, but still shit-heavy and exciting. "Headtrip" imitates the 'disco metal' approach of Static-X, but Sevendust actually beats Wayne Static and his crew at their own game. It's a total adrenaline rush of slippery guitars, pounding bass and awesome call-and-response vocals from Witherspoon and Rose. "Waffle" boasts great atmospheric sections that are combined with totally tight and hook-laden riffs. It has a great bridge, too.
In addition to these great tracks, "Feel So" and "Bender" are both solid groove-metal workouts, with the latter containing great guest vocals from Deftones' Chino Moreno. Speaking of guest vocals, the appearance of Skunk Anasie singer Skin in "Licking Cream" has to be one of the most inspired vocal pairings I've heard in all of hard rock. Her and Lajon's vocals just meld perfectly, and this is further augmented by some of Sevendust's best riffs and lyrics. This is probably the single best track on the album, and shoes what a great band Sevendust can be.
Unfortunately, most of the remaining songs on Home do not quite scale the same heights. They lack the effortless hooks and power of the aforementioned tracks. Take "Denial" or "Grasp" for example. Although they both have great choruses, they tend to lack the songwriting focus of the other tracks, and end up much less memorable than they should be. There is also a really shitty 'joke' track, "Grasshopper," that is not funny at all. It's just annoying and breaks up the flow of the album. On the plus side, though, Toby Wright does a great production job on this album. Each instrument roars and rumbles, and the mix envelopes the listener without sounding too cluttered.
With an album such as Home, Sevendust have proved that they are a good band. The most frustrating thing is that they could be great. This album, despite its flaws, demonstrates the immense potential of the group and shows why they already stand head and shoulders above the rest of their nu-metal contemporaries. They only need to perfect their songwriting and then they could be one of the few great bands of the style. Even so, this is an impressive "head-banging" album that deserves a place in your collection. Crappy, whining baggy-pants metal this is not…
Post your comments / reviews for this album
Index | Main band/artist reviews page