Closing out the "Best of" portion of the proceedings are a pair of songs from Seasons, released in 2003, "Enemy" and "Face to Face." I believe these are the first songs I've heard from this album, and they are pretty good. Both of them play up the combination of the heavy and the mellow shifts within the same song. Both are also noticeably heavier than the entries of Animosity. I would have to take "Face to Face" first of the two, it has an overall feel that is incredibly aggressive and induces an involuntary head rock to the beat.
The last four tracks are B-sides and bonus tracks from the Seasons sessions. The first two are original recordings. The initial offering is a heavy rocker called "Coward." It is followed by the more mellow "Rain." Both of them a good tracks, and easily match up to those that originally made the album proper. The final two are cover tracks. First up is Marvin Gaye's "Inner City Blues," which, if you didn't know, might think is another original as it certainly doesn't sound like Marvin Gaye. It is rocked up, yet retains a soulful core, this is an excellent cover track. Finally we have "School's Out," originally by Alice Cooper. This new Sevendust version was produced by Jay Jay French and Mark "The Animal" Mendoza of Twisted Sister fame. This has an old school feel, but is definitely heavier, with a slightly punk sound to the chorus. Another good cover.
Bottomline. Overall, this is a good collection. Fans probably already have most, if not all of these songs, but it is great to have them collected like this. On the other hand, if you are not familiar with Sevendust, and have a thirst for some straight up hard rock and metal, none of that nu-metal stuff, this would serve as an excellent introduction to one of the most consistent and hard rocking acts on the planet. Plus, they put on one hell of a live show!
Recommended.
Article comments
1 - George Dionne
I've always been a big fan of Sevendust. I think one year they opened for every rock band touring in my area.
I agree that the hits collection was oddly timed, but not so much for the record company. They knew it would go into direct compitition with Sevendust's new album.
Their last TVT release was really good. I think on Next they tried to do a little of what they were doing there, and also revisting their earlier sound.