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Album Details

• Artist: Sevendust
• Album: Alpha
• Label: Asylum / 7 Bros
• Year of Release: 2007
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: dscanland on 2007-06-12

There is something to be said for Sevendust. This is a band that had the opportunity to bow to mainstream pressure, to release the album that the labels wanted but they stuck to their guns and kept putting out blistering hard music that their diehard fans were desiring. Now, when a band gets six albums into a career as strong as Sevendust's it would be easy to turn over and write the hits that would get them on radio but Lajon and crew demand that the fans love heaviness in order to enjoy one of their albums.

If you have heard Sevendust I could easily just say that Alpha is just another strong release from the band, but I have to assume that there are some newbies reading this. So for them let's get into some more detail.  Sevendust are far from revolutionary at this point but they are consistent. They start off with the opening track, "Deathstar", a pummeling example of what these guys are capable of. But the fun starts on "Clueless" where they mix in a little more of the melody but still keep it rock solid.

It's also ironic that some of the best moments of Sevendust are their quieter songs, call them ballads if you will but tracks like "Burn" on Alpha are some of their best material. But they don't succumb to the pressure to write an album of this material. In fact, instead of leaving the listener with "Burn" at the end of the album, they choose to place it second from last and assault the listener with the uber-heavy title track.

There is no denying Sevendust is metal but in reality this stuff is quite accessible by today's metal standards. No hardcore here, but I still wouldn't play this for my parents. If you are new to the band, this is as good a place to start as any. Follow-up with their debut album, my personal fave. These guys are alt.metal veterans and prove their relevancy with yet another strong album.

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