Seventh Star

Item: Lifeblood
Author: D_Lister

Lifeblood

(2001)

Reviewed by D_Lister

Discogs YouTube

Label Warfare RecordsDead Zine2002

hardcore metalcore

Well the promise of Lifeblood by Seventh Star has been a long one, and these guys have certainly paid their dues in the old getting-a-CD-put-out arena. With toils and torments galore it's been a long time coming but at long last we have in our hot little hands a CD, and after all the hub-bub it's released by Warfare Records, just so you know.

SADLY it's amazingly short. Now I know the boys are selling it cheap (not sure exact price as of now sorry) and that they call it an EP, but after our wait let me tell you the end of this CD comes way too fast. All songs are under 3:30 with one just over 2 minutes itself. All told it's just about 20 minutes of music so before you know it you're hearing track one start over again.

Maybe it's cause I've seen the song performed so many times but I really feel the CD should have started off with Face Fallen which is track 2. Track 1 Wretched Man is a good song but that intro to Face Fallen just rules, then we get brutalized by the opening riff. Great song as are all tracks on this distinctively FLORIDA hardcore album. Jai's vocals are screamed in a nice mid-pitch, not overly high but one that reminds of Point of Recognition quite a bit. Standout musicianship award here goes to Shawn their drummer. To be honest if anything ever lets me down the most in a hardcore CD it's the drumming. Usually it's boring and not much more than riding the crash cymbals and high-hat for a couple minutes. Shawn throws that idea away and makes the drumming almost a central point to the music. Double bass work all over the place, china abuse, and creative work between tom and snare all come together very nicely. Nothing taken away from Mike whose guitar parts are sweet. A nice combination of blazing riffs at the right time to huge choppy rhythms, and break neck heavy breakdowns and not over done harmonics.

All in all Lifeblood was worth the wait and is a great sampling of what Seventh Star has to offer in their live performances, and where Florida hardcore is headed. Still this album would have been a point, maybe a point and a half higher given another 2 or 3 songs. Good job guys.

7.5/10