Seventh Dimension - 2024 - Of Hope & Ordeals
(60:00; Seventh Dimension)
This Swedish progressive metal outfit is new to me, but they have been around for more than a decade, and this is their fifth album. The line-up has been incredibly stable with Rikard Wallström (bass), Marcus Thorén (drums), Luca Delle Fave (guitars, vocals) and Erik Bauer (keyboards) playing on all releases, while this the first with new singer Markus Tälth, who replaced Nico Lauritsen. What we have here is polished metal which straddles the line between prog metal and melodic metal so that it is really blurred, sometimes feeling more one than the other. Mind you, anyone who is going to put their neck on the line and cover Dream Theater, as they did in 2020 when they released “A Change of Seasons”, all 23 minutes of it, has a lot of confidence in their own abilities and rightly so.
This is one of those releases when one does not have to think too hard about it, just sit back and enjoy it. This is designed to be fun and all one has to do is ensure there are no distractions and just keep turning it up a little more. This may not be world breaking, and I still believe that any band who fades a song out (even if it is into a cinematic effect) should be taken out and dealt with severely, yet their mix of symphonic, metallic and commercial music makes for a very interesting listen indeed. They fully understand the need for dynamics and can more from gentle and lulling to violent, loud and complex at the drop of a hat. Everyone know what they are doing, and no matter what they are bringing to the party (think Savatage and Angra) they have a singer who can more than stand up to the challenge. Possibly not fully essential, this is certainly interesting all the same.
Kev Rowland, February 2025
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