7th Heaven
U.S.A. - U.K.
NTD Records
2008
The truth is that I had been waiting to listen to 7th Heaven’s new album, ’cause the previous one (“Silver”) was a good one and showed that something interesting is going on with this band. Although the guys are not new in the scene, they have been around since the mid-80s, it was only a few years ago that they managed to become more popular with the double CD “Silver”.
The band now has a new singer, Keith Semple from Ireland who was the winner of the UK talent show Popstars. So far, so good ‘cause the guy has a very good voice that perfectly fits the band’s music style and I believe that it was a very smart move on behalf of the mastermind of the band and guitarist, Richie Hofherr. Keith can also contribute to the songwriting in the band and it seems that this duo (Keith and Richie) will offer us many great songs in the future… just listen to the catchy opener and maybe the best song of the album “Better This Way” and you will understand what I really mean. The album has 18 songs… 6 songs were taken from the band’s previous album “Silver” (“Cellophane”, “Gravity”, “Kill the Cycle”, “Undone”, “While You Dream” and “Ghost of Me”) and re-recorded with the new singer… the result is truly stunning because those songs were the best tracks of the previous album.
The other 12 songs in the new album are very good as they are in the band’s known style… someAOR melodies (nice hooklines, strong refrains), new rock attitude and the result is a fine 80s-90s pop rock mix. I can’t see why some are still saying that the band has many common things with Def Leppard… they indeed have some influences from the second era (“Adrenalize” and after) but all those elements are mixed up with a more pop-rock 90s approach. The album is very good, it has a strong, crystal clear production and, in general, it will satisfy those fans that like rock music on the whole. They have the potential to make a breakthrough but it’s on the band’s hand to make it happen… maybe they should fix the distribution thing first ‘cause it’s really bad… it’s a pity not to sell or gain more recognition due to a bad distribution. Try them out, if you like pop-rock melodic music, and you will be satisfied… but do not expect something really heavy here…
The band now has a new singer, Keith Semple from Ireland who was the winner of the UK talent show Popstars. So far, so good ‘cause the guy has a very good voice that perfectly fits the band’s music style and I believe that it was a very smart move on behalf of the mastermind of the band and guitarist, Richie Hofherr. Keith can also contribute to the songwriting in the band and it seems that this duo (Keith and Richie) will offer us many great songs in the future… just listen to the catchy opener and maybe the best song of the album “Better This Way” and you will understand what I really mean. The album has 18 songs… 6 songs were taken from the band’s previous album “Silver” (“Cellophane”, “Gravity”, “Kill the Cycle”, “Undone”, “While You Dream” and “Ghost of Me”) and re-recorded with the new singer… the result is truly stunning because those songs were the best tracks of the previous album.
The other 12 songs in the new album are very good as they are in the band’s known style… some