Album Review: Sevendust – Blood & Stone

Georgia rockers Sevendust deliver an album with a good amount of both killer and filler

This review was originally published in The Kelowna Daily Courier under the title “Album reviews: Killer, filler and anti-enlightenment“

Filled with catchy choruses, hard-hitting riffs, and radio-ready singles, Blood & Stone shows that, even thirteen albums in, Georgia rockers Sevendust still got it. While Blood holds no real surprises, it’s a solid hard-rock album with loads of live potential.

Most of the songs on Blood are ultimately predictable but make up for it with earworm riffs and great breakdowns. Songs like “Dying to Live”, “Blood from A Stone” and “What You’ve Become” barely need more than one chunky riff from guitarist Clint Lowery to elevate them to album standouts… but Lowery further elevates each track with a solo. Of course, bassist Vince Hornsby, drummer Morgan Rose, and rhythm guitarist John Connolly also stand out during each song’s breakdown.

While “Dying”, “Blood” and “Become” are the album’s heaviest songs, probably half of Blood is composed of softer songs. “Nothing Left to See Here Anymore” stands out amongst these. Sounding a bit like early Shinedown, “Nothing” is a wistful, piano-and-guitar-driven ballad that gives vocalist Lajon Witherspoon a proper chance to shine. Witherspoon is a commanding presence everywhere on the album – his vocals in the harder songs fall somewhere between southern-rock and thrash metal – but takes charge most during the slower songs. “Criminal”, another ballad about morality and pointing fingers, features a standout performance from Witherspoon that nearly drowns out the instrumentals from emotion alone.

Finally, the album ends on “The Day I Tried to Live”, a Soundgarden cover recorded as a tribute to the late Chris Cornell. The original is a grunge classic, and a bit of an odd fit for a bombastic alternative metal band like Sevendust. That said, the result is a pretty great translation into Sevendust’s style, even if it is a bit out of place on Blood.

Sevendust’s latest album has some great, catchy songs on it. Not every song is a winner, but the ones that are will stick around as live favourites for years. 

7/10