Style: traditional prog metal, power metal (clean vocals)
Review by: Sam
Country: Sweden
Release date: 17 June, 2021
A few years back I took the gargantuan task of reviewing a two hour album. This is something even the most successful bands struggle with, let alone an obscure act with 20 monthly listeners pulling it off. However there seemed to be a lot of promise, so I went in for the plunge. Unfortunately for me though, I noticed halfway through my first spin that I was listening to the album on shuffle. My disappointment immeasurable and my day ruined, I soured on the album, making it hard to give a fair assessment after that. The album in question was The Corrupted Lullaby by Seventh Dimension, whom are also subject of the review you are seeing today. As their new album Black Sky was only 48 minutes long, I wanted to give them another chance, and I was curious to see whether they improved upon their previous effort.
I must say, the first real song “Bad Blood” is bit of a mixed bag. It starts off pretty well. The initial instrumental segment is a great, albeit quite standard, melodic mood setter with some nice Seventh Wonder type keyboard lead play, and the first verse is pretty neat with effect-laden vocals and chunky riffs. The chorus however is quite painful. They transition into it with a guitar lick straight out of Petrucci’s playbook and a Mike Portnoy fill, which is not a bad thing in itself, but then in the actual chorus, out of all aspects of Dream Theater to rip off, they chose Portnoy’s backing vocals? That has to be one of the worst ideas ever. The shaky lead singing doesn’t help things much either. When they turn to the bridge it starts off very promising with some nifty percussion underneath the soloing, but things take a turn for the predictable when they shift back into the chunky riffs, and the transition back into the chorus is disappointing. All in all a decent song, but with some serious defects that put quite a dent on the whole package.
The next song “Kill the Fire” does a bit better overall. It focuses more on pleasant melodies, and its more poppy chorus is a huge improvement over the previous one. Its bridge section (or rather, instrumental outro) also maintains tension much better, albeit it’s still a bit disappointing how both its structuring and its playing feels lifted straight out of Dream Theater’s playbook. I don’t want to turn this into a track by track review though, so I’ll try to analyze the album from a broader perspective from now on. Essentially this band follows in Dream Theater’s footsteps, but with far less creative songwriting. And unfortunately, just like DT, the instrumental aspect far outshines the vocal one. His range is narrow, he lacks in power, and doesn’t have any charisma to compensate for his shortcomings either. Some of his delivery choices are quite good even, but the delivery is often so lifeless it falls flat on its face. For example his attempt of a deeper, more dramatic approach in “Resurgence” is an alright idea in itself, but thanks to his complete lack of weight and power it sounds like cringy forced masculinity. Surprisingly he nails the high note at the end of the song though. Hyperbole aside though, he’s not completely unlistenable for the most part, just very average. It’s no coincidence that the instrumental “Black Sky: Assembly” is one of the best songs on the album.
I mentioned the instrumentation outshining the vocals, but they’re not without problems either. There’s often a severe lack of creativity with the amount of obnoxious Dream Theater nods. There are multiple instances on the album where I swear I could find you the exact moment it sounds like. They’re clearly capable of great playing, and whenever they aren’t worshipping it sounds lovely, so it’s a shame they fall back on it so much. The second half is more adventurous, and it shows in the quality of the writing (though I’m not so sure if ripping off The Perfect Element in “As the Voices Fade” was a good idea). I just wish they didn’t play it safe so often creatively. Some more bold creative choices overall would have done the record a lot of good. Something I can’t complain about though is the mixing. You can hear each instrument really well and the tones are very soothing on the ear. It has enough weight and grit to feel like a metal album, but it’s also light enough to let the melodic aspect shine through and prevent ear fatigue making it a very pleasant mix to listen to. The relatively short runtime of 48 minutes also prevent the album of becoming a drag in any way.
At the end of the day though, Black Sky is a safe, but solid accomplishment. The songs are all well-constructed, and there are plenty of great moments. And shaky vocal delivery aside, it’s well worth your time to give it a listen if you like any of the bands I mentioned in the review. Black Sky won’t set your world alight, but it’s more than good enough to hear at least once.
Recommended tracks: Black Sky: Assembly, Black Sky: Into the Void, Incubus
Recommended for fans of: Dream Theater, Seventh Wonder, Symphony X, Circus Maximus
Final verdict: 6/10
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Official Website | Facebook | Metal-Archives page
Label: Corrupted Records
Seventh Dimension is:
– Nico Lauritsen (vocals)
– Luca Delle Fave (guitars, vocals)
– Rikard Wallström (bass)
– Marcus Thorén (drums)
– Erik Bauer (keyboard)
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