SEVEN TEARS – In Every Frozen Tear

The roots of Swedish band Seven Tears go back to the start of this century. A band that was born in the mind of two young boys, then called “Demonslave.” The band later changed their name to “Atlantica” and made a demo tape that gained them a lot of attention in the Sweden Rock Magazine. But, it wasn’t until a few line-up changes were passed that the band started to find their sound. They renamed themselves to Seven Tears and made a second demo entitled The Story Unfolds. The mix of a darker type of Melodic Rock and some kind of Progressive AOR gained them a record deal with Frontiers Records, and in late 2007 they released their debut album In Every Frozen Tear.

”Twist Of Fate” is the song that opens this record. It’s quite a standard song; straightforward Melodic Rock with dominating keyboards and killer sing-a-long lines. What’s very cool with this song is the “attacking” progressive style that appears in the guitar/drum section during the verse. A cool guitar solo appears midway in the song, featuring a lot of great tapping. There’s fantastic playing by guitarist Jonathan Carlemar, although there seems to be some missing notes in-between.

A power ballad that sure has the ability to stand the test of time like any 80s ballad is the fifth song from this record: “All Alone.” It starts out with an atmospheric keyboard/guitar intro that leads into a climax with the entire band playing the chorus melody. The song relies on the keyboards, which plays a very important part of Seven Tears. Try to picture a crowd of thousands singing this tune together — priceless!

In Every Frozen Tear is a respectable debut album. It tosses out heavy riffs, majestic keyboards, and great sing-a-long choruses, which will be the ultimate thing for those that follow the likes of Europe and Journey. Sure it’s a more Progressive Melodic Rock you’ll get from Seven Tears and it’s quite amazing that such a young band can make a musically strong debut album like this! Unfortunately, the production of the record is somewhere in-between. It’s good, but at times it sounds too thin. Sure it’s great not to hear an over-produced album once in a while, but there could have been more time devoted to the mixing of this one. The drums do not sound as grandiose as they should. With a more distinct drum sound, this record could have been taken much further. The guitar solos sound fantastic, but the rhythm guitar is a little diffuse, which is quite a shame actually! There’s nothing to put a finger on concerning the keyboards. The keyboards are actually the very backbone of Seven Tears; pushing out the melodies through a storm of heavy, and at times, Progressive rhythm attacks.

Seven Tears has a lot of potential and will have an interesting future, that’s for sure. Picking up a copy of this release will indeed be money well spent!