Seventh Station: Heal the Unhealed

Slovenia-based progressive/technical metal band Seventh Station releases their sophomore studio album Heal the Unhealed, and the band is comprised of Dmitri Alperovich on guitars, Davidavi Dolev on vocals, Grega Plamberger on drums and percussion, Jure Lopatic on bass, and Eren Basbug on keyboards.

The lyrical and conceptual content appears to be inspired in part by Alperovich’s childhood in the Soviet Union, hence the number of references to characters like Joseph Stalin (and his wife Nadia), his role as a dictator and his relationship with the people close to him, his followers, opposers, etc. A multi-genre album, with a lot of progressive metal in the vein of Dream Theater and Opeth, trash metal with some Dave Mustaine style vocals here and there as well as some growling, heavy and technical but also very melodic (sometimes I felt I was listening to new material by Magic Pie), with tons of intricate instrumentation between guitar and keyboards, outstanding percussion and even some classical guitar playing, it is all over the place, but the transitions are as immaculate as they can be. “Unspoken Thoughts� resumes in over 7 minutes almost every aspect of their music that will later be individually expanded and developed in the upcoming songs, so masterful in their instrumentation that it almost sounds machine-made, hope that’s not the case. “The Heart of a Nation (Nadia)� and “The Ruthless Koba� have some of the best instrumental passages of the album, but they also have the Russian spoken vocalization, with the hymns and the political playback from WWII era (my best guess) that sounds political and honestly out of place… sure it goes with the concept of the album; however, they are a turnoff for me. “All Hail the Moustache� is extremely technical and chaotic sounding, fast and heavy, a band sounding incredibly synchronized within their own madness, both distracting and catchy at times, and serves as prelude to what I consider the best song of the album, “A Final Bow�, over 13 minutes of HQ progressive metal, tons of keys-guitars soloing, dramatic as it can be, symphonic and beautiful enough to make you want to go back from the start and relisten, carefully… the array of arrangements is overwhelming, so time is needed to fully digest all that is happening. An album that will have its acolytes and supporters, and even as I HAIL to the extraordinary musicianship, I must confess this was not my cup of tea. Cheers!

Track Listing:

1. Unspoken Thoughts (7:37)
2. Seven Digits (7:36)
3. The Heart of a Nation (Nadia) (12:27)
4. The Ruthless Koba (5:19)
5. All Hail the Moustache (12:04)
6. A Final Bow (13:41)

Added: November 27th 2022
Reviewer: Jose Antonio Marmol
Score:
Related Link: Band Website
Hits: 730
Language: english

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