Seven7—Under Eye (2011)

Details

Drums recorded, played, engineered by Pete Riley at Tindrum Studio in December 2010. Bass, guitars and vocals recorded at MGP Studio, Guildford in January and February 2011. Mixed by Nick Kacal in March 2011. Mastered by Rupert Christie in April 2011. Produced by Nicholas Meier. Co-produced by Arran McSporran. Music written by Nicholas Meier; lyrics written by Dave Brown.

Band

Dave Brown—Vocals
Arran McSporran—Fretless bass
Nicolas Meier—Electric and acoustic guitars, oud and baglama
Peter Riley—Drums and percussion

Tracks

The ice man
Boy drowns girl
Three days
Run
Blood stains
You can have it
Wannabe
Forgive
Under eye

Review

From the moment that the opening riff of this Seven7’s second full-length album bludgeoned my ears I was immediately hopeful that I’d like this band. I wasn’t disappointed, and on the basis of this fine platter I’m really eager to listen to their first album Try Something Different.

So many of the tracks I could imagine as TV theme tunes — that’s not a great recommendation, is it? What I mean, I think, is that they are solid tunes. There is something anthemic, inspiring and grand about this album. Not bad for a collection of songs mostly about death.

The music is dark but melodic, heavy but accessible, progressive but thrashy, brutal but intricate. It’s like a strange cross between, at times, Pantera or Metallica with Steve Vai and Marty Friedman, particularly on the Japanese-influenced “You can have it”.

And who can argue with a band that lifts the theme from Tchaikovsky’s “The Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairy” and effortlessly turns it into an enormous riff-laden metal epic?

Conclusion

From start to finish this is, using the words of novelist Dave Eggers, a heartbreaking work of staggering genius. Every time I’ve listened to this album I’ve finished it with an enormous smile on my face. Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant!

This is an album that I am genuinely excited about. It is so very much a welcome addition to my wall of CDs. I urge you to listen to them. The album is on Spotify, check it out.

Review score: 95%