Album Review: Sevendust - Blood & Stone

 

It's not too often I find myself talking about a band that has wide mainstream appeal. I don't happen to have a lot of those band's albums find their way to me, nor do I tend to listen to a lot of what is currently popular. I don't say that as a slight against the mainstream (although that might indeed be the case), but rather to say I really don't care what is or isn't popular. I feel no need to listen to what is on the charts simply because it's on the charts. I'm not going to like something more simply because a lot of other people have decided the same. So I've come rather unmoored from what the radio plays, but despite that, I do know Sevendust is a staple.

Sevendust comes out of the gates with a deep, rumbling riff that sounds like an eight-string guitar, which would have been unheard of when I was still listening to mainstream rock. It sets an ominous tone, but I also can't help but feel that rock, in general, would be better served by getting closer to standard tunings. The lower sounds have more of a bass focus, and the productions can't recapture the brightness lost in the frequencies. It makes records sound dark, even when they aren't.

Fortunately, Sevendust are able to keep the ship from taking on water by writing songs with plenty of melodic hooks. Every song here you could imagine being on the radio. Heck, they might all end up there by the time the album cycle is done. But when every song is written with that same focus, they do tend to blend together. It's hard for riffs to stand apart when the tuning reduces them to chugging rhythms, so all of the up-tempo numbers are taking from the same limited playbook. It's all done very well, but a little bit of diversity would go a long way.

There are moments, like on "Kill Me", where what I'm hearing is almost indistinguishable from Light The Torch's fantastic album a couple years ago. There is an uncanny similarity both in vocal tone as well as the melodic writing that had me doing a double take, in a good way. That song is great, and for that reason perhaps the very best on the record, although it's not alone.

Listening to this album, I can absolutely here why Sevendust has been as successful as they have. They have the sound, the vocals, and the songs. The mainstream isn't my domain, but Sevendust is damn good enough to win me over. There are tons of bands who are plying this same trade, swimming in these same waters, but Sevendust floats above most of them because they know what they're doing, and they have the experience to do it well. "Blood & Stone" is a great mainstream rock record. Appealing to everyone isn't an easy thing to do, and Sevendust makes it sound easy here.