Sevendust

Animosity (TVT)
by Scott Hefflon

The singer’s black, so that gives Sevendust more soul than most white-guys-pretending-they-know-shit-about-urban-culture can fake. I’ll toss out Lenny Kravitz and Living Color’s Corey Glover as a place to start, but they actually find their own place quite quickly. Which, uh, is a lot more radio rock than I recall. While the bio is quick to try to dispel rumors of this CD being “lighter” (grind less = sell more), pointing to the opener “Tits on a Boar” (oh, I take it back, they must be heavy), this record is really, like, hard rock radio-friendly, like Nickleback or something.

I mean, Aaron Lewis of Staind sings on “Follow,” so you get that whole heartfelt trip, ya know? The harmonies are detached, haunting and quaveringly eerie, much like a band called Circle of Dust I quite liked that seems to’ve not taken off like Machines of Loving Grace, Filter, and God Lives Underwater did. “Praise,” the single, is the most predictable song of the lot, by the way. A handfulla others are much better songs, but it takes the full handful to get that across, dig? Huge bottom rumble helps the dumb chug of the nü metal tunes almost meet up with the soaring melodies and harmonies elsewhere. Funny, by the third time through, I’m skipping over the “stuttering metal” tracks and reveling in the gut-grabbing power ballads.
(www.sevendust.com)