SEVEN

I first heard the track "Gluttony" on a prog radio station, and I was... positively stunned ! Since I play keyboard, I immediately said to myself that if I was in a prog-band, I would like exactly that ! I bought the CD/DVD version, but I will focus only on the standard CD, "Seven", which as you might know contains 7 beautiful tracks.

Being aware of the 5-stars requirements, I will try to go around what I hear, in order to explain why this "Seven"-CD deserves the maximum. First, the theme is directed to what we like most in progressive music : a story on a definite subject. Here, it is on the 7 capital sins. So, one track per sin (CD : Seven !). Since those sins are very diverse, the music is also felt to be diverse as well. But, the lyrics are very nicely brought, being composed with a great deal of touch and not directly rude or lesson- wise. Nice job there ! If you like super intricate work between keyboards and guitar, without being metal but very rythmic on certain passages, you will enjoy ! The play of rob Reed is fabulous, very omnipresent with any type of sound you can imagine, always well chosen in the context of where it is in the track. What a keyboardist ! The guitar solos and presence are also a joy to listen to, because Chris Fry has a lot of imagination and skills. Also famous on each track. In my view, in order to get 5/5, a CD must either have a certain number of extraordinary tracks (with a few 'standard quality' ones), or the entire CD must be really good. The album Seven belongs to the second category. The overall effect, on each and individual track, along with very diverse passages while going 'around' the main theme of a track, the virtuosity of the musicians, the very nice 'ambiance', all this contributes to the highest rating possibly given.

All these positives are surrounded by the nice voice of Christina. She is very special. Probably that not everybody would like such a tone of voice, but she sings clear and precise, being almost alone upfront on certain passages. Her 'tremolo' is OK for me, and she makes her participation a very unique and original prog contribution. The sound quality is extraordinary, where it is easy to recognize a great concern about good detail work, permitting the production to reach high standards. Each track comprises a lot of variations, changes of rhythms, they are very melodic, with the omnipresence of keyboard sounds, along with a brilliant guitar play, either rythmic or solo. I did not enter in analysing each track, because you can find interesting detailed analysis on this Seven's site, but just a small thrill : at around the 5-minut mark of the last track, there are beautiful mixes from the voices of Christina, when she refers to "Gitche Manitou" ! Just brilliant and touchy, when the repeat adds violins and acoustic guitar !

And the main quality : you like this thing more and more, as you repeat listening to it. I would say that it was in my Top-20 best CD's in the beginning, but having discovered many new elements surrounding melodies and variations under each theme track, this CD is now in my Top-5 ! It has everything we are looking for in a good prog album : always discovering something superb out of it, with great passages, very complex and well constructed music, great sounds and ideas !

Of course, 5/5 ! An absolute discovery, high quality ! A main neo-prog opus, with some symphonic aspects !