Artist: Seven The Hardway
Title: Seven The Hardway
Type: Album
Label: Mascot Records

Although a bit of an odd name, Seven The Hard Way was apparently Pat Benatar’s seventh album as well as a dodgy looking adult entertainment movie starring Arnold Schwartzenpecker. Urban Dictionary also offers a couple of alternative definitions but as children could be reading I shall skip them. For the sake and purposes of this review I shall delve into none of these things any (errrr) deeper and concentrate on an album by this progressive rock / metal combo with members who have played with Steve Vai, Planet X, Uli John Roth and Yngwie unpronounceable (as I always call him). Needless to say you would not be surprised to learn that this is quite a technical affair, although thankfully it is not too over the top, so it was an album I was able to enjoy. The main reason for this is possibly that each of the ten songs clock in between the 4-5 minute mark; never under, never over, making it really quite accessible.

Vocalist Mark Boals quickly finds his feet on opener ‘Liar’ and has a good voice that is easy to get to grips with around solid drumming and bass workout. Lots of groove is flowing through this and there is a bit of a soulful feeling here and a good melody at its backbone. The guitar solo really makes this though and there is a nice fluid noodle along that will have you twisting yourself in knots as you attempt to play along. ‘Guilt’ is heavier, perhaps down to the lies and the vocals are almost rapped out with vitriolic force as the instrumental section piles up behind them. I am reminded of something here but cannot quite put my finger on it, it’s pretty 80s but with much better production obviously. Needless to say it’s not long before they try their hand at a ballad, this one ‘Where I’m Going’ illustrates the depth of vocals and even if you are not a fan of slow-burning songs like this it is easy to appreciate.

I can imagine this being quite popular although looking at the group’s MySpace page note they currently just have over 100 friends, perhaps this suggests the older rocker might appreciate them more. There is nothing here that makes me want to hit the skip button and the quality of all ten numbers is good. I particularly like ‘Good And Evil’ a subtle number but one that really gets its melody into you and has a really memorable chorus, if anything it reminds a little of A Perfect Circle as well at times. Seven The Hardway if anything have been pretty easy going, not the sort of thing I would have run out to buy perhaps but hopefully they will get both a bit of recognition and a few more friends on the back of this.

http://www.myspace.com/seventhehardwaymusic