From their habits, you'd think that rock radio stations are desperate to combat the rap influx into popular music. In the late '80s, a rock band could sing "Row, Row Your Boat" and get on the Top 40. Lately, the album-oriented stations will throw anything on the airwaves, as long as the single brings in requests.
Sevendust pulled the feat off last year with the single "Black" off their self-titled debut CD. The racially-charged track single-handedly made a name for the quintet. The band remained just that - a new name with one song - despite a flurry of controversy surrounding the track "Face." The song's controversial chorus incurred the wrath of feminists with its tale of sexual deviance.
The band's second disc, "Home," has been met with a mediocre response. The first single, "Denial" is doing well on the Rock charts, but the disc itself failed to make the Top 100 chart in CD sales. Regardless of whether or not the band has struck the big time, their sophomore effort exhibits the tight song writing and hard rock punch that continually puts the band on radio playlists.
The CD starts with the title track, a jerky conglomerate of staccato guitars and growling vocals. Lead singer Lajon Witherspoon, drummer Morgan Rose and guitarist Clint Lowery blend their vocals in a rare display of harmony. The music, however, resembles a new driver behind a manual transmission. The constantly switching cadences are uneven at best.
In contrast, the current single "Denial"'s transitions are smooth throughout, making the track one of the best on the album. Witherspoon's previous job in an R&B outfit comes through on the chorus, "Denial seems it had to come / Relied on me to say it all / Denial has left you all alone."
Sevendust's biggest strength comes in Witherspoon's vocal versatility. From the subtle to the extreme, Witherspoon makes it look easy.
After "Denial," the disc runs into a group of usual Sevendust tracks. "Waffle," in particular, is average, despite the addition of a pseudo-techno loop in the background.
The end of the disc breaks the group out of the rut they've been developing over the past years. "Licking Cream" is the eye opener, with guest vocals from Skin of Skunk Anansie-a perfect match to Witherspoon's soulful aggression. Her voice can match Witherspoon line for line, soaring to highs in the chorus, yet reaching the same depths of the Sevendust frontman. At the conclusion, Skin sings the chorus above Witherspoon's rough-styled refrain "Too Beautiful." The result is an awe-inspiring blend that is nothing short of miraculous, especially considering the disc is a hard rock album.
The next track, "Grasp," drives home the point illustrated in "Licking Cream." Sevendust is much better when they take their foot off the gas pedal every now and then. The slower tempo suits the band well. They don't sacrifice their extreme sound in the process, and the flow of the tracks with a slower tempo is much easier on the ears.
A second guest vocalist comes on the final track of the disc, in "Bender," featuring Chino Moreno of the Deftones. Moreno does his usual screeching, but the rest of his harmonic contribution practically goes unnoticed. In fact, if it weren't for the liner notes denoting which singer sings which words, it would be nearly impossible to tell the difference between Witherspoon's and Moreno's voices.
"Home" resembles Sevendust's debut in many ways, but finds the group expanding sounds in several areas. The slower sounds are a marked improvement on the generic sounding first half of the disc. Hopefully, Sevendust will experiment more in the future, before rock radio finds another hot one-track band to take their place in the rotations.
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