With The Great Escape Swedish progsters Seventh Wonder present their 4th album. This time it's no concept album, it's more like a bunch of short stories. The first track is Wiseman, a guitar-driven track with complex passages and catchy vocal lines. Singer Tommy Karevik's voice is the icing on the cake. He takes you onto a sonic journey with speed changes and different atmospheres. Alley Cat should follow, for this one they did a video which we embedded for you. A longer instrumental passage leads you into this progressive melodic metal track, a real catchy one. A bit like Swedish melodic metal tune spiced up with progressive elements.
The songs give the guys enough space to shine - without any ego-trips. At songs like The Angelmaker and King Of Whitewater they find the perfect balance between craftsmanship and soaring vocals, the songs have depth and they are entertaining at a time. Especially guitarist Andreas Blomqvist and bassist Johan Liefvendahl ennoble the tracks with their talent. But keyboarder Andreas Söderin is important for their sound. Drummer Johnny Sandin delivered the rhythmic basis, but left after the recordings. One of my favorites it Move On Through which has aggressive parts next to catchy vocal lines.
But the masterpiece is the 30+ minute long title track! Slowly with acoustic guitar and vocals they open up this opus. To quote the biography: "The story of this track is based on the epic space saga Aniara, written in 1956 by Swedish Nobel Prize winner Harry Martinson. The band even obtained written permission from the author's daughter who holds the copyright, to use phrases from the original book after hearing a few Seventh Wonder tracks and liked them." The Swedish take you into their sonic universe and guide you through the saga of Aniara. An enchanting trip.
Prog metal fans should check out Seventh Wonder's new album, coz it's another great piece of music. Fans of melodic metal who aren't afraid of some progressive sound should give it a chance, sure it's prog metal, but if you are open-minded you might fall for it.
