Seven Tears - In every frozen tear 3.5/5
Reviewed: 7-11-08
Tracklist:
1. Twist of fate
2. Faded memory
3. Hollow ground
4. Reflections
5. All alone
6. In every frozen tear
7. Sorrows
8. Prayer for the dying
9. The story unfolds
10. Dream of insanity
11. Fragments
12. Truth of tomorrow
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Seven Tears is a new progressive metal band residing out of Sweden. After they released a demo in 2006, the band finally released their debut CD, entitled ‘In every frozen tear’ in late 2007.
Starting out as a “garage band” in 2001, the 2 13-year-old founding members, Fredrik Lager (vocalist) and Jonathan Carlemar (guitarist) sang about dragons and steel. Naming the band Demonslave, their influences were bands such as Hammerfall and Helloween. After a few line-up changes in 2005, including bringing in a female vocalist, and Lager becoming the bass guitarist; the band changed their name to Atlantica. A demo was released soon after, receiving warm reviews from local Swedish metal magazines.
There were more line-up changes in 2006, and finally, the right line-up had been found. Aside from Fredrik Lager and Jonathan Carlemar, the rest of the members are Michael Sjöö (drums), Kristofer von Wachenfeldt (keyboards) and Zoran Djorem (vocalist). The name Atlantica made way for what they are now known as Seven Tears. Not only did the band change their name, but also changed musical direction. Originally playing power metal when they were Demonslave and Atlantica, their direction changed to 80’s stadium rock/modern progressive rock once they became Seven Tears. The band themselves consider their music to be a cross between Evergrey and Journey.
Their self-released demo in 2006 must have been pretty good because soon enough they were signed by a high profile record company, Frontiers Records. Other bands under the Frontiers banner include Primal Fear, Jorn Lande, Winger, Royal Hunt, The Codex, Dokken, Saint Deamon, Pink Cream 69 and Timo Tolkki’s (ex-Statovarius guitarist) Revolution Renaissance.
‘In every frozen tear’ sounds very much like a debut release should, but with a hint of spark that could ignite this band into something greater than they imagined. Zoran Djorem is a talented vocalist, whose emotional, soothing and melodic voice is perfect for the band’s sound. Djorem has the classic 80s rock voice, and reminds me of those great stadium rock bands of the 80s/90s (White Lion, Journey, Winger, etc). The band wouldn’t have their 80s rock feel if it wasn’t for keyboardist Kristofer von Wachenfeldt. His tones takes you on a magical journey down memory lane to those rock bands we adored and watched on MTV when we were growing up.
Having a classic stadium rock sound but with some modern melodic rock influences, and progressive elements; Seven Tears' music is quite exquisite and enjoyable. Their songwriting and musical arrangements are quite creative, which brings me back to that comment earlier about them having that spark. Despite their music not being overly heavy, they have excellent guitar riffs and fantastic melodies all throughout the release, which would easily satisfy fans of 80s stadium rock, classic rock, melodic rock and AOR.
Although the whole CD is very enjoyable, there are some major track standouts. Headlining this group is the ballad “All alone”. Think of your favourite emotional and moving ballad from any 80s arena rock band and you’ll know what “All alone” sounds like. Pure gold.
Other track highlights include “Hollow ground”, which is a more modern sounding rock track with excellent vocals and keyboards; “Sorrows”, which is a great melodic and modern metal track; “Prayer for the dying” which is again quite melodic and emotional; and “The story unfolds”, which is a more modern progressive orientated track with great riffs and keys, reminding me of Evergrey. “Fragments” is another excellent modern sounding track, crossing rock with progressive rock, while the CD closer “Truth of tomorrow” is an emotional semi-ballad, starting with acoustic guitar but building up to a nice melodic piece with progressive elements.
Overall I must say that I was quite surprised by the quality of Seven Tears’ debut release. Hearing nothing about them before listening to ‘In every frozen tear’, I am pleased with their effort and I find myself greatly enjoying their music, which in most songs brought back memories of the 80s and early 90s of classic rock.
Having the infusion of progressive rock and modern melodic touches here and there, Seven Tears’ sound has created a big foundation to work on and they have many different avenues they could go down for future releases. I would recommend that fans of modern progressive rock/metal, melodic rock/metal and classic stadium rock to give this CD a listen. You will be surprised.
SEAN
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