7
Days is a brand new band that came
out of nowhere. It is a band of Markus
Sigfridsson, who also plays in Darkwater
and Harmony and, apart from being
very talented, he is also gifted to
gather some great musicians to assist
him in this personal project. The
most notable contribution comes from
Thomas Vikstrom, known from the classic
"Chapter VI" album of Candlemass
(which was not admired by the hardcore
doom metal fans, but all the power
metal geeks, especially those from
Scandinavia saw it as a Bible).
7 Days is a symphonic
power metal band, with some hints
of doom metal. There are a lot of
keyboard stuff in here and some very
complex orchestrations, while Markus
structures his compositions in a way
that flirts with progressive metal.
They will bring you many (Swedish)
things, like Veni Domine, Candlemass,
early Tad Morose ("Sender of
Thought" etc.) and -perhaps-
Y.J. Malmsteen. There are a lot of
great moments, like "Confession",
"Fall Again" (which comes
extremely close to Within Temptation
due to female vocals) and the self-titled
track. But there are some disadvantages
too. The whole project seems clinical
executed and what I mean is that everything
is sssooo in order and intact that
removes any aspect of feeling. It
seems that each one of the participants
played his parts and there was some
kind of computer-glue that stack them
together; perfectly done, yet empty.
In general I think
that this is a release worth listening
to. My objections may be a matter
of perspective, but I truly believe
that if Markus manages to put more
feeling in it, then we will talk for
a great band. For me it is very promising
that there are musicians out there
that still believe in the magic of
Swedish power/doom metal and hopefully
Markus will continue doing so.
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