Seventh Storm announces the release of its debut album.
Created in 2020 in Portugal by Miguel Gaspar (drums) after his departure from Moonspell, the drummer gathered Rez (vocals, The Fuzz Dogs, ex-Scar for Life), Ben Stockwell (guitar), Josh Riot (guitar) and Butch Cid (bass) for the release of Maledictus, on Atomic Fire Records.
Our journey starts with Pirate’s Curse and its dark groove topped by extremely demonstrative vocals, which perfectly orchestrates the song’s different atmospheres. The quieter parts are adorned with a heavy saturation before letting the final chorus drive us to the majestic Saudade and its epic leads. The long introduction reveals the band’s solid and energetic riffs while keeping the tragic and communicative orchestrations to illustrate this word, whose meaning I just discovered, then Sarpanit offers us a short moment of respite. But soon, voices and oriental harmonics come to hypnotize us before letting the catchy Gods of Babylon flood us with its intensity, while letting Black Metal influences express themselves. The composition knows how to be heavy and bewitching, placing the vocal parts and the leads at the forefront just like on the melodious The Reckoning and its softer hints, which do not prevent the rhythmic from adding solid and catchy parts. Orchestrations walk with us until Inferno Rising and its heavier sounds which let darkness escape from those effective riffs, then raw energy takes hold of the musicians who accelerate the tempo. But oppression resurfaces during these heady choruses, creating an impressive contrast between the two aspects, as Seventh which offers more Old School elements to accompany the plaintive and melancholic tones. My Redemption offers melodic Hard Rock influences while including much more energetic passages and interesting vocal strength, while the long Haunted Sea embarks us with its airy harmonics followed by blast, shifting riffs tinged with Prog roots.
The album could have stopped on the previous track which perfectly reveals the band’s influences’ complexity and diversity, but we have three additional versions of the track Saudade. An acoustic version to begin with, which perfectly preserves the atmosphere of the song while leaving the place of honor to the voice, then two Portuguese versions, one acoustic and the other saturated. Once the language barrier has been overcome, if necessary, you will understand why the band also presents them to us.
The music proposed by Seventh Storm is extremely contrasted. The comparison with the drummer’s former band is obvious, but you will quickly understand that Maledictus reveals us a very different identity, influenced by melancholic, sometimes violent, but always intense styles.
80/100