Review: Seventh Station – On Shoulders of Giants

Style: Avant-garde metal, experimental metal (mixed vocals)
Recommended for fans of: UnexpecT, Cirque du Soleil, Alfred Schnittke
Country: Slovenia
Release date: 21 February 2025

What the hell’s in the water over in Slovenia? I mean, yes, Seventh Station is mostly an international outfit, but surely to get a group of musicians with such wildly different backgrounds to come together in one place and produce such an eccentric, absurd, and yet somehow, still internally consistent musical work, must take some doing. You can’t tell me that they’re just consummate professionals who’ve studied for years to master their art, right? Right? On Shoulders of Giants is an oddity, that’s for sure, and the focus of the album is a reimagining; a metal translation of select 20th century classical pieces. A complex, dramatic, adventurous, and at times silly EP, Seventh Station doesn’t just push boundaries here; they forego ‘em altogether. 

On Shoulders of Giants is a remarkably coherent release and for the most part—with the exception of “Melodia Sentimental” and the last 100 yards (short of the very end) of “Nagasaki Kisses”— generally maintains an unsettling tone throughout. That’s not to say that it’s monotonous or unvarying – far from it. Throughout its short runtime, this very abstract, artsy, conceptual, avant-garde metal EP sometimes leaves your hairs standing on end, and at other times might have you laughing at its absurdity. The track listing goes through more mood swings than an indecisive teenager and yes, it’s interesting, and yes, it can be fun, but it also has a propensity for wearing on you – and quickly. 

The opener, “Three Days in Dresden”, is exactly the type of soundtrack you’d be looking for at your next circus performance if you graduated from clown college with a minor in sadistic homicide. Meanwhile, “Seid nüchtern und wachet (VII. Es geschah)” feels like listening to the ravings of a German insomniac who’s finally lost his mind: at times elated and at others completely disconsolate. But don’t despair, because track three, “Tropical Limbo” opens with soothing marimba! …And eerie oscillations under a synth lead solo. Ah, the sounds of a perfect vacation. Speaking of vacation, let “Melodia Sentimental” bring your mind to a serene evening on a South American¹ coast with melodious classical guitar and soft strings accompanying gentle crooning. The outlier on this album, this song stands alone and is the most accessible piece and the only one with any semblance of normality on an album of aberrations – and is the only one that’s completely devoid of any heavy metal or rock elements. And lastly, we have the closer, “Nagasaki Kisses” – another seven-and-a-half minutes that transitions from more horror carnival, Arcturus-esque (minus the black metal) abstract prog metal into a cartoonish “oom-pah” theme with low brass and pizzicato strings that hearkens a 1930s silent film score, to a dreamy, ethereal fantastical theme that kind of reminds me of the epic, grandiose compositions of some later Wilderun. 

This kind of juxtaposition definitely sets a tone for a very incongruent and experimental release. Obviously, Seventh Station have an innate understanding of composition and harmony from all over the world and various styles of music that have little and less to do with the metalsphere, and it seems like they threw everything they had at this. But does it work? Well, it was certainly entertaining. It’s difficult to get the sense that one would listen to a work like this in the everyday², but I can see a case being made for it if you’re into things that are outside of the purview of popular convention. Maybe if you collect little jars of creatures suspended in formaldehyde and have giant spiders in glass frames on your wall, and your favourite film is The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, yeah, I can see how On Shoulders of Giants might resonate with you. Otherwise, give it a once-over and you can kinda get the point. It’s twenty-seven minutes of avant-garde, dark cabaret fever-dream feedback. 

Recommended tracks: “Seid nüchtern und wachet (VII. Es geschah)”, “Three Days in Dresden”, “Tropical Limbo”
You may also like: Spastic Ink, Subterranean Masquerade, OMB
Final verdict: 6/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Official Website | Facebook | Instagram | Metal-Archives page

Label: Layered Reality Productions – Bandcamp | Facebook | Official Website

Seventh Station is:
– David’avi (Vidi) Dolev (vocals)
– Dmitri Alperovich (guitars)
– Eren Başbuğ (keyboards)
– Alexy Polyanski (bass)
– Grega Plamberger (drums and percussion)

1. Note this music, ostensibly a bolero, is Cuban in origin, but the piece is sung in Portuguese. ↩︎
2. Much of that could be attributed to the original works, which are very challenging listens. ↩︎