Sevendust Alpha CD

Composer: Sevendust.
Lyricist: Sevendust.
While all the alt-metal signifiers are firmly in place on Sevendust's sixth studio album--thrashy drumming, mesmerizing guitar heavyosity courtesy of Sonny Mayo--Sevendust stands apart from their peers in their attention to the rhythm. On songs like "Driven," chunky, riff-heavy verses burst into half-time choruses that ensnare and explode like land mines. Lajon Witherspoon's nuanced vocals also take surprising turns, from yowling to soul-baring crooning to something indefinably celestial. The band is not shy about adding the odd production touch here and there, like the bursts of rhythmic static mid-way through "Suffer," the effectively creepy spoken-word vocal intro to "Confession of Hatred," and hypnotic piano tinklings that precede the machine-gun guitars on "Aggression."
Alpha is Sevendust's sixth album in a decade, and although the band has been through a few lineup changes and several switches in labels over those ten years, musically not much has changed. They remain an aggressive new-metal band, occasionally flirting with anthemic melody and boasting slight hip-hop and funk flourishes on their rhythms, but they remain one devoted to precise, pummeling riffs that fuel endless tales of torment and angst. That much was as true on 1997's Sevendust as it is on Alpha, the main difference between the two being an increased instrumental acumen on the latter, which happens to go hand in hand with a craftsmanlike song construction that relies on shifts of mood instead of hooks. This makes Alpha less immediate and memorable than Sevendust's earlier work, which may not matter to listeners who just want to hear the band stretch out and play, as they do on the epic nine-minute "Burn," which cycles through atypical moody acoustic moments to furious blasts of guitars and then fades back down again. Such control is admirable, but the song itself doesn't stick in memory, but that's also true of such bracing assaults as the visceral opener, "Deathstar," which has plenty of force but doesn't leave much of an impression. And that's true of Alpha as a whole: it's the work of a veteran alt-metal band that hasn't expanded their range but instead focused on their primal strengths to the extent that they've lost their capability to surprise either themselves or their audience. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Alpha is Sevendust's sixth album in a decade, and although the band has been through a few lineup changes and several switches in labels over those ten years, musically not much has changed. They remain an aggressive new-metal band, occasionally flirting with anthemic melody and boasting slight hip-hop and funk flourishes on their rhythms, but they remain one devoted to precise, pummeling riffs that fuel endless tales of torment and angst. That much was as true on 1997's Sevendust as it is on Alpha, the main difference between the two being an increased instrumental acumen on the latter, which happens to go hand in hand with a craftsmanlike song construction that relies on shifts of mood instead of hooks. This makes Alpha less immediate and memorable than Sevendust's earlier work, which may not matter to listeners who just want to hear the band stretch out and play, as they do on the epic nine-minute "Burn," which cycles through atypical moody acoustic moments to furious blasts of guitars and then fades back down again. Such control is admirable, but the song itself doesn't stick in memory, but that's also true of such bracing assaults as the visceral opener, "Deathstar," which has plenty of force but doesn't leave much of an impression. And that's true of Alpha as a whole: it's the work of a veteran alt-metal band that hasn't expanded their range but instead focused on their primal strengths to the extent that they've lost their capability to surprise either themselves or their audience. ~ Stephen Thomas ErlewineKerrang (Magazine) (p.49) - "Sevendust's twin guitars are as deeply bellicose as ever, and surprisingly polished in final production."