Seven Trees – Dead/End (Album – Progress Productions)

Genre/Influences: Ambient-Electro, Cinematographic, Electro-Wave, Industrial.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: Originally set up as a trio in 1993, in 1995 Seven Trees evolved into the duo Johan Kornberg and Henrico Carlson. The band’s official debut album “Embracing the Unknown” was released in 1997 on Zoth Ommog. Twenty years later they brought the band back alive releasing the EP “Trauma Toxicity”. Last year we got the single “Game Over” and here’s Seven Trees’ second full length in history featuring nine songs.

Content: Seven Trees composes a sound, which is hard to grasp. It rather sounds as a sonic osmosis between different influences, but clearly driven by a retro-Electro style. Some tracks remind me of a more polished edit of Project Pitchfork with some Klink-al sequences on top and haunting atmospheres reminding early Frontline Assembly. But in the end it’s just Seven Trees, an extremely dark Electronic format characterized by haunting atmospheres and ghost-like vocals. Both final tracks even feature an explicit cinematographic approach.

+ + +: What I like about this album is the originality. Even if Seven Trees hold on a vintage sound they create something very personal. You can’t compare this band to another, but they mixed different elements reminding ‘older’ bands. It has something atypical; a sound where the power is hiding in the dense and extremely dark atmospheres instead of hard-beating rhythms. I can’t say this album is featuring a hit, but you get non-stop fascinating, cool pieces instead. I however have a preference for “Phased Out”, which is carried by a great chorus. I also have to say a word about the lyrical content reflecting a kind of uneasy feeling.

– – – : Both last cuts, which are definitely more cinematographic aren’t my favorite ones. They create a kind of antithesis after 7 noticeable songs.

Conclusion: “Dead/End” is the first new album of Seven Trees in more than 20 years, but this formation hasn’t lost its initial magic.

Best songs: “Phased Out”, “Pure Sedation”, “Game Over”, “Dystopic Illusions”, “End Of The Line”.

Rate: (8).

Artist: www.seventrees.se / www.facebook.com/embracingtheunknown

Label: www.progress-productions.com / www.facebook.com/progresspro

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