WPTS From The Vault
From the Vault: Sevendust – Seasons
By: Timotheus G. Hinton
Welcome to “From the Vault”, a column where we express our thoughts on an older album, all while taking a look back at a previous review of that album from one of our past DJ’s. After doing some deep digging through the vast archive of music here at WPTS, we found an album and review that is a terrific pick for this month’s edition: Sevendust’s fourth studio album, Seasons. But before we get into our thoughts, let’s take a quick look at a previous review of it.
“The fact that Lajon cut off his dreads makes this CD suck. Kidding! But it does suck that he cut off his dreads. Sevendust is one of those bands that I really like because of their ability to switch things up. They can be skull-crushing heavy one moment, Lajon screaming at the top of his lungs, and then immediately switch to something much softer. Through this entire CD, they switch everything up, having heavy metal and ballads thrown in there. Good CD.”
–11/4/2003
For me, there’s a difference between a “good” album and a “solid” album. To keep it simple: a good album is one that does most things, if not everything well. While it could use more work and be a lot better than where it is at, it still makes for an interesting listen. (Or a pleasant one at the least.) It may also come with some standout tracks. A solid album on the other hand is a step under a good album. While the songs aren’t particularly bad, they’re not particularly good either. The album as a whole does what the genre asks of it and nothing more. One song is played, does its thing, and then the next one starts up. Simply put, there’s always something that’s off about a solid album every now and then (or as a whole) when listening to it.
Seasons is one that I’d qualify as a “solid” album. Sevendust plays it safe the entire time. While they do switch things up, as pointed out in the review above, the moments where change happens rarely occur. There’s a slight deviation in sound from one song to the next, but nothing too significant to warrant a crazy stylistic change. Everything is either hard rock, or alternative metal. The lone ballad of the album comes in the track “Skeleton Song”, which takes place right after the half-way mark (track wise) is eclipsed. So as for “switching everything up”, it just doesn’t happen. Not only is style and sound stagnant for most of the album, but song structure is as well. The first six songs off the album all roughly clock in at around the 3:30 mark. (With the exception of the 3:03 long “Enemy”, which was the lead single, thus, is kind of supposed to be short.) The same can be said for the six remaining songs, which all roughly clock in at around the 3:50 mark. (With the exception of “Skeleton Song”, which is a ballad, thus, should be a tad longer.) The structure is the same for eleven out of the twelve songs: Intro, Verse, Chorus, Verse 2, Chorus, Bridge/Solo, Chorus, Outro/Song Over. There may be a bridge before the chorus sections in some, but you get the picture. It got really repetitive and really old. Still, what Sevendust does, they do really well, as the songs are good metal tunes to jam to.
All in all, this is still a solid work from Sevendust. While the album lacks diversity all-around, if you’re a fan of hard rock or metal music, this album is worth your time. It’s not long, clocking in at just over 41 minutes, and has some catchy riffs and patterns. If you’re looking for some stuff to jam out to while getting swole in the gym or are trying to put up a personal best on your daily run, this album may be a good fit for you.
