There has been a lot spoken about Seventh Void recently and that is hardly surprising following the tragic demise of Type O Negative, as the band have both Kenny Hickey and Johnny Kenny of Type O in their ranks. One thing I was not aware of though was the fact that this band are not new and had actually formed back in 2003 and that this album, their sole release to date is a reissue, having originally come out in 2009 on Vinnie Paul’s Big Vin label. I am not surprised at all that the album has been picked up by Napalm Records for Europe and the band are about to embark on a tour with label-mates Monster Magnet.
I had a feeling I was going to like this and was not surprised at all to find myself getting into it straight away from the very first play. In fact I have to say that although different I would be surprised if a single Type O fan was not able to get into this. Described as ‘Brooklyn doom metal’ we crunch into the heavyset bass of ‘Closing In’ which opens into vocal clamour that really hits the roof as it soars dynamically away. Kenny’s voice is instantly identifiable as lets face it, we have heard it so many times before, even if it has been behind the late Pete Steele’s dusky, husky tones. Putting him at the front is a win, win situation and boy is he making the most of it. Guitar nuances are also identifiable to the Negative and you will hear many passages that are again a case of déjà vu here. Adding guitar, bass and backing vocals to this and Kenny’s hefty drum bombast are two unknowns Matt Brown and Hank Hell, put them all together and give them the title track and sit back and listen as dizzy and delirious riffs swagger amidst a slight stoner groove and meaty delivery.
The template here is not as obtuse as Type O’s was, we have a straightforward rocking out of ten songs delivered just shy of the ¾ quarter mark and each and every one of them really does the business. Slow and creepy crawling number ‘The End Of All Time’ is a real doom laden lumbering beast, the bass sound here is excellent as it rumbles out the speakers with cataclysmic guitar spikes flailing in its wake. The rousing anthem sounding and oft repeated lyrical ‘Open Sky’ gets right beneath the skin and is quick to get you singing along, must be a good one live. There are times when I am slightly reminded of other bands, some of the vocals on ‘Killing You Slow’ (did someone miss that title) remind of Janes Addiction and at others there is a splash of Life Of Agony on ‘Shadow Of Me’ and unsurprisingly some Danzig. There is quiet an upbeat feeling to the album at times, at others namely ‘Death Of A Junkie’ the doom and gloom really is out at the forefront. Finishing off with Chilli Peppers sounding riffs we ride out of town on ‘Last Walk In The Light’ culminating an album that could have made it in my albums of the year… if only I had heard it last year. As this is now slightly old material I can only hope new stuff is being worked on as I am eager to hear more from Seventh Void.
http://www.myspace.com/seventhvoid
