THUNDER SEVEN

Some guys may think that I'm exaggerating giving this album 4 stars, but believe me, I'm not!!! This is what the best we can find in Art Rock: songs perfectly executed, full of emotion and with a fine touch of Prog Rock here and there... The combination of the melodic voice of Rik Emmett and the thunder voice of Gil Moore are sensational, and the song "killing Time", where they make a duet vocal is superb! For the people who like the hard rock side of the band "Rock Out Roll On" and the zeppelian "Cool Down" are fine examples of the great capacity of the guys. And who prefers the combination Hard/Prog... the best part of the album: the mini suite that begins with "Times Goes By" and ends with "Killing Time". These songs reminds the best moments of "Caress of Steel" by RUSH. But TRIUMPH wins the competition... Then comes the blues based song "Stranger in a Strange Land", for break the clima and the album ends with the sensational instrumental piece "Little Boy Blues", where we can feel the absolutely emotional guitar of Rik Emmett (this song is pure feeling...). Well, the disc have two weak compositions: "Spellbound" and "Follow Your Heart", where the repetitive refrain kills the song. Because of it, 4 stars, but very solid 4 stars. Maybe 4,5...

I hate to come down so hard on these guys, but if Triumph are going to be included on this site, they need to come under serious scrutiny. I don't even intend to judge them as a prog band (after all, they are placed in the prog-related category), but on their own merits.

Side 1 offers up 3 songs that veer uncomfortably between wimpy AOR and watered- down lite-metal. The other song on the side, "Cool Down", is a 3rd rate Led Zeppelin-ish rocker, having no more reason to exist than Fastway and Kingdom Come (two other bands who borrowed liberally from L.Z.). There's no real ambition to write original tunes, as many of these ideas sound very familiar, even if FM radio rock isn't your thing. The only difference is that these songs never wore out their welcome on radio.

The second side doesn't get any better. "Time Goes By" shows Rik Emmett sounding very close to Geddy Lee, vocally, and though he always got the comparisons, sometimes it was unfair to both men. Not here. The song is actually the best on the album, with an ambitious arrangement and excellent guitar solo, but it's a dim light in a mire of terrible songs. Two shorts segues follow: a classical guitar exercise, and the a capella "Time Canon", which might've been impressive if we hadn't heard this done a million times better by Gentle Giant (and Queen in "The Prophet Song"). And that's where the prog relation begins and ends, as the final three tracks take us back to the genericness of the first side.

There's so much talent here, but I'm sorry, I just don't "get" Triumph and I probably never will. I've come into contact with their music several times in the last 25 years and I have to sympathize with Rush that this Canadian trio used to get dubbed as a "poor man's Rush" from some critics...that's just insulting to Rush. The album cover's pretty cool though.

This record is probably among the Triumph's best ones! It is a sophisticated hard rock that is nevertheless quite accessible. Regarding the question "Is this record progressive?", it is obviously not really progressive, although there are some very light prog related elements. The lead singer has a tone between Journey's Steve Perry and Led Zeppelin's Robert Plant. Speaking of Journey, I think the overall music has resemblances too; it also sounds a bit like hard rock band Night Ranger, at least the bass and the backing vocals arrangements. There are some good background synthesizers and the drums patterns are often varied and fast: those 2 elements certainly avoid this record to abruptly fall into a deja vu hard rock style. Some acoustic guitar bits again bring some variety to the whole: for instance, the acoustic instrumental track "Midsummer's Daydream" proves that Rik Emmet is a VERY talented guitarist. The impressive "Time Canon" reminds a simplified Gentle Giant's vocals canon. The 2 next songs are very slightly progressive, and the record finishes with a very good sentimental bluesy track with very impressive & insistent guitar solos.

Rating: 4.5 stars

I was stuck at a stoplight today and had the car window down trying to enjoy a gorgeous afternoon. The guy in the car next to me also had his window down, and was lip-synching away to his CD player, out of which was blaring “Spellbound”. Took me back all the way to my college days when this album came out and I had to listen to several of these songs on the only half-decent radio station in our town at the time. I realized that I hadn’t played it in over twenty years, and considering the totally crappy day I had today and fighting the desire to throw myself in front of a train, I decided to throw on my very old copy of Thunder Seven instead. After that I find myself thinking that there are still a couple of trains that run yet tonight.

“Spellbound” always struck me as rock-in-a-can, even back in the 80s. Rik Emmett has by far the most annoying metal voice I’ve ever heard, and he seems to have no real ability to stay in tune for more than a couple of notes in a row. Also, I get the impression these guys are mouthing the timing of the tempo to each other in studio when they record, or at least that’s the way this plodding song sounds.

“Rock Out, Roll On” – well, ‘nuff said.

On “Follow Your Heart” Emmett's voice is actually sort of okay for the most part, probably because he shares the vocals with drummer Gil Moore who makes Emmett sound good. The sentiment of the lyrics is pretty typical Triumph stuff – chip on the shoulder, go kick ass in the world and don’t let 'the man' deny you your dreams. Yeah team – go, fight, win! The random high-hat cymbals just seem gratuitous, and the bass has no synchronization with the rest of the song at all.

I guess “Time Goes By” is supposed to be the sort-of ballad, with strangled-cat harmonized vocals and occasional mellow passages, but the overall theme seems to be ‘I’m getting old and I need a chick’ or something to that effect. Nice little guitar solo in the middle though – props to Emmett for that.

“Midsummer’s Daydream” is a brief respite from the onslaught, where Emmett treats us to a short acoustic instrumental that I felt like copying a dozen times or so and using to overwrite the rest of the cassette. “Time Canon” is some sort of barbershop quartet lame knockoff of Spock’s Beard’s “June” I guess, but it’s so out of place and abrupt it actually creeped me out the first couple times I heard it.

“Stranger in a Strange Land” starts off as a pretty decent blues rocker, but for some inexplicable reason someone turns on Emmett’s mike and it pretty much goes downhill from there. There’s a part in the middle of this where he tries to hold a sustained screech of a vocal and my cats actually drag themselves off the floor and leave the room. Both of them!

“Little Boy Blues” is a pretty decent soft bluesy instrumental to close the album. Like “Midsummer’s Daydream”, if the boys would have just extended this to the length of the whole album then the thing would have been a much better offering, perhaps even listenable.

As it is, I know that many fans of the band believe this to be their best studio work. I agree. One star.

peace

If only the music was as great as the cover art!

Thunder Seven is, as its title implies, Triumph's seventh studio album. It is a very uneven album with some good moments and many that can be described as mundane and generic. Thunder Seven is also one of Triumph's most eclectic albums. Spellbound has a rather commercial sound with a catchy chorus clearly geared towards radio play. Rock Out, Roll On could perhaps have been a better song than it is with a better chorus and particularly with better lyrics. The lyrics are deadly uninteresting and standard on almost the whole album. Cool Down is a bluesy rocker that sounds like a total Led Zeppelin rip off. The vocals even sound very much like Robert Plant. Like in Led Zeppelin's music there is also a slight Folk influence manifested here in an acoustic break.

Next up is a Pop Metal song with a forgettable chorus and, again, basic Rock 'N' Roll lyrics. All these straightforward Hard Rock songs are becoming quite tiresome at this point and anyone who would have given up on Thunder Seven after its first four songs might be forgiven. But it gets better! Time Goes By is actually a very good song and here the vocals strongly evoke Steve Perry of Journey. Still even this song will probably not impress the average Prog Rock fan despite its strong melody and its Ritchie Blackmore-like, Neo-Classical solo! Still, it is easily the album's best song.

You cannot accuse Triumph of being original as they often sound like other bands. But they do have a tendency to surprise you when you least expect it! The can create whole albums of boring Hard Rock and then, suddenly, glimpses of creativity and progressive attitude flashes by. On this album these bright moments are represented first by Rik Emmet's Midsummer's Night Dream which is a gorgeous acoustic guitar piece that could have been written and played by Steve Howe or Steve Hackett. This is followed with Time Canon which is an a cappella number full of Queen/Gentle Giant-like harmony vocals! This then leads into the average semi-ballad Killing Time. This song would have fitted perfectly on one of Journey's worst albums! Stranger In A Strange Land is another quite good song with good guitar work and vocals, even the lyrics are decent here. But again, this will certainly not blow the Prog fan away. The album ends with the bluesy instrumental Little Boy Blues.

With several songs about time, you might perhaps say that this album is partly a very loose concept album about time. It has a few good songs and a few short moments showing a progressive mindset. Sadly, the large majority of the material is straightforward and mundane Hard Rock numbers. Triumph never made a great album, but they made better ones than Thunder Seven, both before and after.

Only for fans and collectors

Triumph is not prog. Let's just get that out there right now. Maybe they should be on this site, maybe they shouldn't. I'm not going to let an argument of "what is prog?" get in the way of reviewing this album though. Here's what you need to know: Triumph is essentially a mix of Led Zeppelin and Rush with a dash of Aerosmith thrown in as well. I'm not the biggest Zep fan out there, but I like Triumph because they aren't fully in the Zep realm. They go there sometimes, but it's definitely not to the same degree. I also think Emmett is a fabulous guitarist and vocalist. I see some people harping on his vocals in here, and I will agree that he will never be universally loved. But I also see people who are claiming that Rik can't sing by citing songs in which Gil Moore (the drummer) is the featured singer and Rik sings about 3 notes in the entire song. Gil is not a guy I'm wild about, but he's not bad in the "classic rock/arena rock" sense. But this is not Classic Rock Archives, so I won't pretend that it is. Let's move on:

1. Spellbound: This is pretty much what the "classic/hard rock" sound of Triumph is. Gil Moore takes vocals and is ok in the sense that he fits the mold of pretty good classic rock singer who at the same time is kind of annoying. The song is somewhat catchy, but it's not prog. Overall rating: 6/10. Prog Rating: 2.5/10.

2. Rock Out, Roll On: This song has more of a dark feel to it, which I guess I subconsciously associate with being "proggy." But it's not really a very proggy song I guess. The chorus is straight out of "arena rock." But that said, I really, really like this song. The main riff is great and the vocals rock as well. The chorus is great, even if it does have an "arena" feel. Overall rating: 9/10. Prog Rating: 5/10.

3. Cooldown: Another journey into the realms of "classic/hard rock." The intro has a cool little blues/southern flair to it, and overall this has a solid beginning. Then the intro fades out and the main riff fades in, which is maybe a 4 or 5 out of 10 for quality and probably a 1/10 for uniqueness. Very generic song overall. It's enjoyable sure if you're in the "classic/hard rock" mood, but it's certainly only an average song in that regard and is nothing in regards to prog. Overall rating: 5/10. Prog Rating: 1/10.

4. Follow Your Heart: Ahhhh, the typical "let's go conquer the world with smiles!" Triumph song. Highly motivational I guess, but certainly not proggy. Very catchy though. I personally really like this song. Not prog though. Overall rating: 8.5/10. Prog Rating: 3/10.

5. Time Goes By: More of the same theme: Pretty good song with a "classic/hard rock" feel, but not all that proggy. This is maybe the most proggy song so far though. Anyways, very good song overall. Overall rating: 8.5/10. Prog Rating: 5/10.

6. Midsummer's Daydream: Beautiful classical guitar piece. I guess I'll consider this proggy. Overall rating: 9/10. Prog Rating: 9/10.

7. Time Canon: Interesting little interlude. Impressive vocally in my opinion, but others may compare to shrieking. It's all in your personal taste I guess. Overall rating: 7/10. Prog Rating: 5/10.

8. Killing Time: More "classic/hard rock" here, but there is at least some connectivity in terms of melodies with the previous "Time Canon." I guess that gets Prog Points. This album has now accumulated about 4 Prog Points, for whatever that's worth. Good song overall. Overall rating: 8.5/10. Prog Rating: 5/10.

9. Stranger In A Strange Land: A dark piece with a bluesy flair to it. I consider this song proggy. Feel free to sue me. Probably the best track on the album. Overall rating: 9.5/10. Prog Rating: 8/10.

10. Little Boy Blues: Kind of a jam session. It has a kind of Pink Floyd feel in my opinion, speaking as someone who has heard very little Pink Floyd in my time. Anyways, solid song but I'm not a huge "jam session instrumental" guy. Overall rating: 7/10. Prog Rating: 7/10.

Overall, this is a good, borderline-great album in my opinion. I would say it's probably Triumph's best album, and it's undoubtedly the one that would be most accessible to Prog-heads. And if the other reviews on here are any indicator, it's not all that accessible to Prog-heads I guess. But personally, I really enjoy this album. Not proggy, but very enjoyable. Hence, I will only be giving it a 2-star rating since this is indeed Prog Archives, but honestly I would rate this album at about an 8/10 or maybe even higher. If you're a Prog die-hard, don't bother. But if you're looking for some great "classic/hard rock" that has a bit more to it than your average "classic/hard rock" music, give this a try.

It's a pity to see Triumph on this esteemed site, a pity because for all the talent in the band and greatness in the music there is hardly a shred of progressive music to be found in their catalogue, aside from Rik Emmett's classical guitar compositions and a few other musical tricks here and there. Triumph are mostly a commercial hard rock band. That they were ever compared to Rush or considered to be competition to Rush is sillier than the Judas Priest/Iron Maiden fiasco of the early 80's. The two bands are quite distinct and Rush clearly followed the more progressive path while Triumph built their style on their strengths as a hard rock band.

"Thunder Seven" was released around the time I was first considering giving Triumph a listen and I remember a review in a rock magazine describing the guitar at the beginning of the opening track, "Spellbound" as "having all the subtleties of a rusty chainsaw". Indeed, "Spellbound" aimed at hitting the listener with a very typical but exciting hard rock song that by all expectations was to go down well with concert audiences. All of side one, in fact, comes across very much as a classic commercial hard rock album, as if Triumph had taken all they had learned from their past composing and recording experiences and tried to make it work for the big money and a bigger fan base. The album was a huge success for the band, and the inspire-the-teens rocker, "Follow Your Heart" was the monster single that propelled the band into Pepsi commercials after Michael Jackson got his 'fro toasted.

So side one is pretty much Triumph at their commercial hard rock best, and there is nothing here that would please anyone looking for that special musical twist that opens the doors to the progressive realm. Not even Emmett's acoustic slide guitar solo in the much derided Zeppelin-esque tune "Cool Down" can save this album on this site.

But side two looks more promising. Here's where the band quite likely came the closest to doing anything visionary. Consider the mini pseudo-suite of the time-themed songs: "Time Goes By," "Time Canon," and "Killing Time" with what is possibly Emmett's best classical composition ever, "Midsummer's Daydream" nestled in there. Most reviewers here agree that either "Time Goes By" or "Killing Time" are at least decent hard rock songs, and I think "Time Canon" shows the band attempting to exploit their vocal harmony capacity. Is it a rip off of Queen or Gentle Giant? Maybe the inspiration came from there but I don't think Triumph were out to take any credit for mimicking. In an interview at the time, Rik Emmett (who has an extensive musical background) said he suggested the idea to the other two members and was met with dubious looks and cocked eyebrows. I think it was a wonderful touch to an otherwise commercially oriented album.

"Stranger in a Strange Land" takes us out of the time pseudo-suite and back to the hard rock feel of the album but with a little more attention to the vocal and instrumentation atmosphere. In other words, they are looking away from the top of the hard rock pops approach that dominated side one.

The album closer is a carefully composed electric blues instrumental, "Little Boy Blues", for which some reviewers (bless them for their opinions) have offered little appreciation. I personally love this piece. There is mood, mood change, emotion and soul in the guitar playing, and the rest of the band do well to make this a wonderful and intelligent instrumental (I always listen for the drum solo break!). It seems that while Triumph were aiming to capture the commercial hard rock market with this album, they were also attempting to stretch out a little more than previously. Perhaps if they had continued to explore more progressive ideas they may have eventually become a real heavy-prog band. Instead they went for the more commercial approach on their next album, "The Sport of Kings".

I once laughed at a friend for buying the same cassette twice because he loved it so much, but there are now several albums in my collection that I have bought three times, first on cassette in the 80's, then on CD in the 90's, and then on remastered CD in the 00's and 10's. "Thunder Seven" by Triumph is one of those albums. It has always remained a favourite of mine (even though I don't listen to it often) because this was where I felt Triumph were making an effort to go beyond the standard commercial hard rock format. I give it 4.5 stars as a rock album. But as for a prog rock album I agree that more than 2 stars is pushing it. I am, however, glad to see a couple of people have rated it higher. Bless them for their opinions!

Prog snobs, run along please

Nothing for you here. Unapologetic 80s rock fans, enjoy.

Triumph were a great live rock band. One look at their '83 US festival gig proves it as they blew most of their bigger-hyped contemporaries off the stage. However it's fair to say their studio albums have had their hits and misses. The typical Triumph album has about two or three great songs, two or three decent songs, and a few throwaways. But they weren't making albums to please progressive rock purists. They were making albums for suburban teenagers listening to FM rock radio. So despite the occasional "proggy" touches I doubt these guys cared much about being identified as such. Triumph are more in the Journey, Zebra, Foreigner, and Styx vein but with less keyboards, more guitar, and more rocking.

"Thunder Seven" is actually one of the better Triumph albums, in fact possibly their best. Again, assuming you don't mind typical suburban-glory hard rock with lyrical clichés beyond comical and bordering on criminal. The better material here is tasty stuff: soaring power ballads, nice little riffs and exceptional lead guitar, as well as good dual vocals. While not as original (or free of corporate considerations) as the great albums of the early 70s, these catchy, melodic hard rockers grow on you. The album has a nice flow, unlike some earlier one's derailed by some less consistent material. The first three tracks are hard punchy rock, the middle songs are soaring, uplifting songs, and the last couple sliding in a bit bluesier direction. It also features two short instrumentals to give a bit more room for Rik's wonderful guitar playing, one is acoustic and one electric. Supposedly this is a conceptual album about "the actions of the 21st century man" and the continuity of certain themes may be of interest to some. But what I really like is the joy and the instincts Rik always brings to his performance--I can hear his enthusiasm--and I think the band feeds on that and you can hear the little bits of extra punch everyone contributes. There seems to be a very fluid, natural energy to the songs on this album, I would call it a bit of their "live" feel coming through. The second half of the album in particular.

This would be a peak of sorts and is certainly as good as comparable fare from 1980s Blue Oyster Cult, Journey, Rainbow, or Robert Plant. But again, one must enjoy FM hard rock for what it is rather than judging it against bands with different creative aspirations. I was a prog snob myself for a while but upon revisiting my old musical turf I find things like Triumph, Benatar, and AC/DC as much fun as they once were. Not everything has to be difficult and cerebral. After "Thunder Seven" things began to deteriorate for Triumph. Sales were waning, the label wanted outside writers and the band began splintering. The next couple of albums would get tighter and more polished, but "Thunder Seven" remains the best combination of the band's talents and personable, everyman dynamic....plus they still sound like they're having a lot of fun, a vibe I find missing on the next two releases.

So go ahead, roll down your window and sing along. Time is short. 7/10.

US group that made good music, the music that avoids wars, not the music of now made up of insults, noise...

1. Spellbound with the prog intro, yes like you're on a road it's dark, a road from which you never return and suddenly a blonde creature passes you in front!!! in short it's Gil on the drums who sings and it's Rik who sets the fire, the guitar riff harder than heavy, explosive; the break reminds me for a while of 'In the evening' with the stopping of the tune for a prog beat; the sound is heavy, well-paced, you don't get bored, in short, this title is immense; FYI the blonde lady leaves at the end 2. Rock Out, Roll On another melting, latent intro with a sharp riff before Lou's keyboards, centerpieces of the 80s, get going; rock but rock with soaring moments just to change from hard, heavy, yes we are here in the middle of the period, AOR and hard FM; it's over ah no phew I'm talking and I almost forgot to talk about this beautifully crafted solo which fills the stage, ooh there it squirts, it shines everywhere, almost nirvanesque; I read ah but it's not prog... but of course calm down guys, but how good are these progressive moments 3. Cool Down come on I'll take you to Kansas, a slide, a banjo and we're there; vocal a cappella or almost...southern rock for the harmonica, in any case at the beginning I find the abrupt and dirty sound of LED ZEPPELIN, yes especially the chorus it seems... them; chopped banjo break then the guitar on top, vintage rock that does honor to this dino! The very hardcore solo that lasts and sets fire... cool down! 4. Follow Your Heart with the stadium entrance, a pompous title on one side, but a chorus that makes the audience scream, we could hear the cries of thousands of women, fans; yes, a frontman was missing, the type to have a microphone to transcend... this live audience, an obvious lack; pyro effects yes but I always said to myself that it hid something lacking, the hero with a microphone, in short it's moving 5. Time Goes By, yes, another intro... and a beautiful intro... a riff that doesn't ask any questions, a vocal that follows the tune, and...and the voices of the trio that start on a latent space, assured softness, before the return of hard air; Gil has a distinctive hit, like pads forged in lava to slam even drier; ah the 2nd break with the voices, prog not prog but listen to bondiou and enjoy, that's the important thing, high voices yes, machine gun pad suddenly yes we won't get bored... again.. the solo a pearl, a musical gallop, a symphony in itself, astonishing; the title which never ends and which keeps its nervousness until the end, ah this sound which also takes me back to VAN HALEN the foot 6. Midsummer's Daydream... so... yes the link is made with Eddie but even if it's chance (I don't believe it personally) this arpeggio which falls from the sky, interlude, break, no I won't do not quote the interludes of Steve from YES otherwise you will listen again...in any case it...progresses and it introduces 7. Time Canon then ?? a canon of Pachelbel or not, the second interlude which sends this album very high, which brings it into the lair of the progressive space just for that, time, time, time, slap, slap, slap; who would dare say there's no prog blood in there? 8. Killing Time comes next, a spleen rock-pop song, then an energetic ballad from the start of the second verse; quite a few synths which make the sound more rock AOR, the voice seems to me over time a tad too high, too much on RUSH in fact, and this can also explain the lack of recognition of this group which released a cream there; last break where Gil's drums fart very clearly, roll, smash against the speakers, superb 9. Stranger In A Strange Land... if there was one it would be this one... a consensual heavy rock title without much singularity, which flirts instrumentally with a vitaminized TOTO; the more I find this stereo riff which diffuses to the right, to the left, to the right, I didn't need much to be happy in fact; Gil still with his pads, the guitar more bluesy there, not bad at all anyway, a beautiful nervous ballad which shows that rock can rock... ah this riff which makes me think of a hard band, but I'm not going quote it otherwise people will say to me 'you see it's not prog'! 10. Little Boy Blues well I wrote blues just before without knowing it for the last title (my eye do you think I'm going to believe myself???) in short a title to get notes, ahead of the legendary Gary who s 'll put it there later; what can I say, it's beautiful, yes much more than the awful notes on PA, but that's how it is... listen to these notes coming out of this guitar, listen... music can be beautiful when you stop for a while and we take the time!

TRIUMPH OMNI for this album