Country: Slovenia
Genre: Progressive metal
Format: Digital, jewel case CD
Label: Layered Reality Productions
Release date: February 21, 2025
Seventh Station was started by Dmitri Alperovich and Alexey Polyansky, students at the Rubin Academy of Music (later the Jerusalem Conservatory of Music and the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance). There must have been serious, intense studies, because their joining spawned wide ranging explorations of prog rock and metal. “Between Life and Dreams”, their 2016 debut, was operatic expansion comparable to Queensryche, Megadeth, Dream Theater, Frank Zappa, Yes, and Steve Vai. Probably too cutting edge for conventional benchmarks since it transgressed categorization, it attracted the curious with classically trained innovation.
One album (“Heal the Unhealed”) and one EP (“On Shoulders of Giants”) later, Seventh Station is still making their mark in an industry where no rules exist and there's always room for creating and experimenting. This EP has fresh perspectives from musicians from countries with different musical development periods: Israel, Slovenia, Turkey, and Ukraine. This cultural balance mixed with intricate songwriting and complex arrangements appeals to listeners everywhere from the U.S. to Europe to the Middle East to Slovenia.
From some of the band's lyrics, I gather the reason for their radical advancement is because they look deep, within and consider how to channel their collaborative ideas and genre-crossing bond. “On Shoulders of Giants” takes a huge step in that direction. While “Heal the Unhealed” leans closer to metal and rock, with industrial and operatic themes, pays greater attention to its classical features, including refashioned works by 20th century composers. Pushing the “artistic resistance” of underground music, the band choose composers who were musical dissidents.
To say the band has taken their unconventionality up a notch is an understatement. This time, they really went out of their way to create something as far from what we know of metal as they’ve gotten. The material, described as “free thinking art metal” is designed as an alternative reality to the collectivism and extremism we see in news and on social media. Since their first album, their composition has become much more theatrical, incorporating time changes and off-tempos with lightning precision and transitions from contemplative moments to soaring emotional intensity and heaviness. Davidavi Dolev in particular contributes with his ability to draw inspiration from Geoff Tate and David Bowie.
However, there are only a few examples of the band's skill and ability. If I was to discuss every nuance brought to these five tracks I would need an entire page to do so. Suffice it to say that this album has more tempo, theme, and mood changes than I've heard from an album of this kind. Additionally, the cultural backgrounds of the band members are given more weight than usual because each member seems to have contributed to the composition and been given reign to flavor the songs. Most likely the most boundaries I’ve heard crossed this far. –Dave Wolff
Lineup:
Dmitri Alperovich: Electric and acoustic guitars
Eren Başbuğ: Keyboards, editing, programming
Davidavi (Vidi) Dolev: Vocals
Alexy Polyanski: Bass guitars
Grega Plamberger: Drums, marimba, percussion
Track list:
1. Three Days in Dresden
2. Seid nüchtern und wachet... : VII. Es geschah
3. Tropical Limbo
4. Melodia Sentimental
5. Nagasaki Kisses
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