SEVENDUST - Black Out The Sun
April 3, 2013, 11 years ago
(7 Bros./ADA-Music)
Atlanta, Georgia’s SEVENDUST chose to self-produce their ninth album, Black Out The Sun, and managed to complete the 13 track effort in 31 days. Beginning with the lovely instrumental introduction ‘Memory’, which transitions into ‘Faithless’ – a start/stop number that alternates between staccato riffing and harmonious melodies, Sevendust seem to be right on track. But the musical train derails on ‘’Till Death’ when guitarist Clint Lowery begins barking ultra-aggressive death metal vocals. Main vocalist Lajon Witherspoon is more than capable on his own, and if it’s a duet they were after, an outside singer should have been brought in. Thankfully things are righted with ‘Mountain’ and ‘Cold As War’, both rather catchy tunes in their own right. The title track serves as a tribute to Lowery’s father who passed away last year. Then the album enters a bit of stale territory as ‘Nobody Wants It’ sounds too much like KORN, and ‘Dead Roses’ starts off promising but quickly becomes uninteresting. First single and video ‘Decay’ packs some heavy groove, yet ‘Dark AM’ and ‘Picture Perfect’ are rather forgettable. However, the acoustic ballad ‘Got A Feeling’ easily ranks in the top ten Sevendust songs of all time! Never before has melancholy sounded so beautiful. And album closer ‘Murder Bar’, named after the watering hole across the street from the recording studio in New Jersey, is standard Sevendust fare.
