Seven Deadly – Obliviation

@planetmosh reviews Obliviation by .@sevendeadly1 out on 23rd Feb

I’ve been waiting on this bad boy for a long time. I didn’t quite realise that Seven Deadly’s Allegiance EP was released as far back as May 2012 but to be fair to the guys they have been working hard at promoting the band and raising awareness. A headling slot on the Takeover stage at Download last year coupled with a tour alongside Breed77 made sure folk knew all about them and what they deliver.

In February 2014 the fruits of their labour will finally come to light with the release of their first full album, Obliviation. While three out of four of the tracks from the Allegiance EP, including the single Blood On Your Hands, are on this album there is still plenty of new material to get your teeth into.

Seven Deadly have indeed used the time since the EP release well, growing and maturing their sound and Obliviation is the stupendous result of this. This feels like a natural morphing and honing of the style abnd sound that the guys had while in Panic Cell. There’s a tremendous blend of metalcore, melody and classic rock and metal notes coming from this album that present themselves in a wonderfully melodic machine-gun metal style. It’s a style too that grows as the album goes on, almost like the guys are breaking you in gently before they hit the accelerator and start to really shift up the gears.

Play The Game comes out of the blocks with a pounding rhythm to open the album, but it’s very controlled and with a real industrial vibe. It’s like the guys are preparing you for what lies ahead, especially when the machine-gun riffs kick in towards the end of the track as it reaches a grand crescendo. Life Begins to Fade gives us a bit of contrast, introducing the more melodic side of the band, alongside that machine-gun attack that you’ll find becomes very much a trademark of the album. Archie Wilson also shows tremendous contrast in his vocal styles on this one, backed up with superbly controlled guitar and drum work.

By the time we hit Blood on your Hands you feel that the shackles have come off completely and the guys are well into their groove. This was my favourite track on the Allegiance EP and it still ranks pretty damn high on this album as one of my favourites. It has a little bit of everything that gets my blood pumping and is a grand example of what Seven Deadly are all about. There’s power, there’s melody, there’s quiet, there’s heavy, it’s all here on this one.

Title track Obliviation is going to be one helluva crowd pleaser live if it’s not already too I reckon. It’s like a head on collision between Rob Zombie, Trivium and Slipknot to my ears with a thumping groove running its length and it soars when it hits the chorus.

While the machine-gun metal style is a running theme throughout the album, it never thankfully gets boring as the structure and nature of the songs maintain their individuality. There’s the grind of Remain at Peace contrasted to the melody and gallop of the likes of Pure Steel and Remember, sitting alongside the classic rock influenced feel of The Wrath.

All this before the album is wrapped up with the complexities of Time Ghost giving us tasty morsels of everything that has come before it.

As far as debut albums go, Obliviation sees Seven Deadly hitting the ground running at full pelt as they introduce us to no-holds barred, melodic machine-gun metal. Well worth the wait lads, well worth the wait indeed.

Obliviation is out on 23rd February through WEMC Productions

Track Listing:
1. Play The Game
2. Life Begins To Fade
3. From this Darkness
4. Posthumous
5. Blood On Your Hands
6. Obliviation
7. Remain at Peace
8. Pure Steel
9. Allegiance
10. Remember
11. The Wrath
12. Time Ghost

SEVEN DEADLY ARE:
Archie Wilson – vocals/samples
Dave Irving – guitars/keyboards/backing vocals
H Virdee – guitars
Murillo Rassi – bass
Rob Hicks – drums

Links
www.sevendeadly1.com
www.facebook.com/sevendeadly1
www.youtube.com/sevendeadlytv
twitter.com/sevendeadly1