The Seventh Power-s/t

2008
Retroactive

This disc was originally issued in 2006, but has gotten a re-release this year. This band is fronted by Bill Menchen who is also in Titanic and Final Axe and handling the drums here is Robert Sweet of drummer. The entire album seems to be hugely influenced by Ozzy's solo material perhaps around the time "The Ultimate Sin" and "No rest for the wicked". A lot of the basic riffs and the vocal style remind me some of those above albums. They waste little time in establishing a solid, classic metal style approach as they push ahead. There is nothing complicated going on here, however it is easy to take to with the strong guitar tone, solid drumming and smooth vocals. Yes, it seems more like something that could have been done around 1989 instead of this decade, but that's okay by me. My only real reservation about this album was the lack of variation within each individual track. They easily establish the mood and almost every track wells along well enough yet I couldn't help but feel like they needed some more tempo changes or something within the songs. I think they aimed for their songs to be steady and that they are, but with the talent involved here I think they could have pushed for a little more. Sure it's a solid release, but a little more effort and even taking some risks could have elevated this one to even another level.