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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Heavy, yet Soulful, October 9, 2003
By A Customer
I have always said that the best bands are ones that are constantly improving rather than retreading familiar terriotory or radically changing their sound (e.g. KoRn). After listening to this CD, I can honestly Sevendust falls into the first category. With their first album, Sevendust introduced a somewhat generic nu-metal sound, but nonetheless, it held promise with its hard and heavy riffs, as well as its pounding rhythms. In Home, they refined their sound, making it far more unique, but most of the songs tended to sound rather generic. Animosity was really a turning point for the band. It combined, but it added in a new element of soulfulness that had not been found in their previous albums. Songs like "Live Again" and "X-Mas Day" are probably the best examples of this. Now, with Seasons, Sevendust has taken the progression even further. But is this the right direction for them to be taking?There's been a backlash against metal bands taking their songs in a more emotional, yet less heavy direction, and so it comes as no surprise that there are some Sevendust fans feeling left out with this album and Animosity. Personally, I could care less as their songs on this album show light years more complextity, feeling, and variety than their old stuff does. Now, that is not to say Seasons doesn't offer some really heavy material, but it does not dominate the album like on their first two albums. Allow me to break it down song by song. "Disease" (8/10): Following a tradition begun with their first album, the first song on this album is heavy, but unlike their previous two albums, it has a rather catchy guitar riff going on throughout it making it more memborable than "TOAB" and "Home". "Enemy" (9/10): Just as heavy as "Disease" but there's an element of rap in here mixed in with a more emotional chorus and interesting chorus. "Seasons" (10/10): Another catchy and heavy guitar melody going on, but its not nearly as hard and heavy as the previous two and the focus is more on Lajon's singing. "Broken Down" (15/10): Probably the best song on the album. It's in the same vein as "Live Again," (A hard and fast song, but still has many ballad-like qualities) but that's not a bad thing. With a unique melody and a powerful chorus, as well as a meaningful lyrics, it simply a very powerful song. I can listen to this song all day. "Separate" (6/10): Catchy, but it feels too poppish for my tastes. It's growing on me, but not enough to raise its score. "Honesty" (8/10): A slower song, but by no means soft. Showcases Lajon's talent as a singer, but is not among the more unique songs on the album. "Skeleton Song" (14/10): An acoustic song a la "X-Mas Day," but even more haunting, especially the chorus. Everything seems to gel here and it's a close second to "Broken Down," though, that could change with time. "Disgrace" (8/10): Good, but at the same time, sounds a little to similar to "Seasons." While this is not a bad thing as it has enough going for it to stand-out on its own, at the same time, variety is the spice of life. "Burned Out" (7/10): This is rather generic and sounds like slowed down version of "Shine." It's worth listening to for Lajon's vocals, however. "Suffocate" (8/10): Not to be confused with the Cold song of the same name, this is real driving and heavy song which gives Morgan a chance to really exercise his vocal chords. Not exceptional, but good. "Gone" (7/10): Once again, another song whose only failing is its similarity to another song. Unfortunately, that song happens to be "Suffocate" which isn't very exceptional to begin with, and considering they're right next to each other, that makes it sound even more generic. "Face to Face" (7/10): Probably the heaviest song on the album. If it were used in Home, it would probably be a stand-out song, but it doesn't fit as well as other songs do on the album. The chorus is really good, however. Much like TOAB on Animosity if the rest of the album were like this song, it would probably stand out and be really good. The only problem with this album is a couple songs are rather generic or just don't fit well in the album. This has always Sevendust's problem and while they're getting better at fixing that, at the same time, it prevents Seasons from being the absolute perfect album. Then again, most albums suffer from the aformentioned problem. Besides that, all of the songs on the album are still high quality (And they're all worth listening to for Lajon's vocals) so it's not like you're going to be reaching for the next track button on your CD player every other song. They all demonstrate the massive amount of talent the band possesses, as well their unique sound which is getting more and more refined with each album. While fans who solely appreciate hard and heavy music (In other words, a lot of noise, screaming, and heavy guitar riffs) might be rather disgruntled that Sevendust is slowly moving away from their earlier material, for the rest of us, Seasons is an album that has a lot to offer in terms of variety and complexity.
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See all 12 tracks on this disc
by Sevendust 
