Letter 7
Trust
Independent Release
2014
Letter 7 comes from Phoenix, Arizona and has a classic Christian hard & heavy sound that reminds roughly of Stryper, citing Guardian, Saint, Holy Soldier and Whitecross, as other major influences. Actually it’s not a band that enjoys full membership as it’s consists of two members, the mastermind JD Evans who writes the songs and plays all the guitar parts, bass and drums as well and the vocalist Tom Collett. Letter 7 doesn’t have a long presence in the history of music as their debut came in 2007 with the album “Salt of the Earth” and the sophomore “Follow the Light” followed in 2008 (with Steve Young as the singer), two amazing releases which I was listening to, for a long time, back in the day. After a 6-year pause, the band makes its appearance again this year with “Trust”, an independent release, just as their previous two albums in the past. I was agonizing too much this time, because I’m always expecting good material from this band... and fortunately I was compensated with their new stuff.
“Trust”, my dear friends, consists of some great songs which are full of strength, freshness, staccato rhythms, guitar virtuosity (in the vein of the guitar hero Rex Carroll of Whitecross), excellent vocals – ranging from medium to high enough scales – always with Christian lyrics, really “the butter on the bread” for every fan who respects and loves the classic hard & heavy sound.
The introductory “Tribulation Saints” enters first, followed by the amazing “Don’t Fall Away”, a composition that stands as a point of reference. Bridges, choruses and guitars that literally “kill”… (one of the best songs I’ve heard in this year so far).
The next one “Holy Holy” is another highlight composition which has the necessary pluralism, reminding the Christian hard rockers “King James”.
Later we have the instrumental “Treasure in the Field” which is a preface for “Trust”, a mid-tempo song and an excellent track by the way.
“Children of Light” makes the atmosphere a bit lighter as it’s not a grandiose piece and probably is the passage to the Judas Priest-ish “Trial by Fire”, which is coming directly from the era of “Ram it Down”, with the super high vocals of Collett and the energetic guitars of Evans, a real piece of dynamite, this one!
The tempo decreases as a riff lifted from the good old days of Dio vibrates the air, with “Archangel”, accompanied by a great vocal performance and an impressive guitar solo. Also “Surrender” is remarkable, in the same standards of Christian hard rockers “Joshua”, full of melody and charm.
“New Creation” is reminiscent of something from the personal albums of Dave Meniketti, more blues rock, in its forms and finally the groovy “Heartbreak” ends the disc in a rather triumphant way.
Without doubt, Letter 7 are remaining musically at the same high levels of their previous releases and offer us really good music with immediacy and excellent production. I highly recommend “Trust” to all the fans of this genre and personally for me is by far the best album I listened to in 2014, surpassing the giants of Christian heavy metal who provided mediocre albums lately. If the giants are remaining into mediocrity, Letter 7 is meant to show them the way with their steady course.
“Trust”, my dear friends, consists of some great songs which are full of strength, freshness, staccato rhythms, guitar virtuosity (in the vein of the guitar hero Rex Carroll of Whitecross), excellent vocals – ranging from medium to high enough scales – always with Christian lyrics, really “the butter on the bread” for every fan who respects and loves the classic hard & heavy sound.
The introductory “Tribulation Saints” enters first, followed by the amazing “Don’t Fall Away”, a composition that stands as a point of reference. Bridges, choruses and guitars that literally “kill”… (one of the best songs I’ve heard in this year so far).
The next one “Holy Holy” is another highlight composition which has the necessary pluralism, reminding the Christian hard rockers “King James”.
Later we have the instrumental “Treasure in the Field” which is a preface for “Trust”, a mid-tempo song and an excellent track by the way.
“Children of Light” makes the atmosphere a bit lighter as it’s not a grandiose piece and probably is the passage to the Judas Priest-ish “Trial by Fire”, which is coming directly from the era of “Ram it Down”, with the super high vocals of Collett and the energetic guitars of Evans, a real piece of dynamite, this one!
The tempo decreases as a riff lifted from the good old days of Dio vibrates the air, with “Archangel”, accompanied by a great vocal performance and an impressive guitar solo. Also “Surrender” is remarkable, in the same standards of Christian hard rockers “Joshua”, full of melody and charm.
“New Creation” is reminiscent of something from the personal albums of Dave Meniketti, more blues rock, in its forms and finally the groovy “Heartbreak” ends the disc in a rather triumphant way.
Without doubt, Letter 7 are remaining musically at the same high levels of their previous releases and offer us really good music with immediacy and excellent production. I highly recommend “Trust” to all the fans of this genre and personally for me is by far the best album I listened to in 2014, surpassing the giants of Christian heavy metal who provided mediocre albums lately. If the giants are remaining into mediocrity, Letter 7 is meant to show them the way with their steady course.