Rating:
Genre:
Rock
Release Date: 10/11/2005
The faithful know the story, but here's the short version. In late 2004
Clint Lowery left
Sevendust to join the unimpressive
post-grunge outfit
Dark New Day, and was promptly replaced with ex-
Snot guitarist
Sonny Mayo. Then
Sevendust departed longtime label
TVT in favor of a
Universal-distributed indie startup called
Winedark. The net result of these changes? Not much. On
Next Sevendust still alternate heavy, jaggedly rocking
alt-metal with turns toward introspection or balladry.
"Hero" opens the album with a stuttering guitar riff and
Lajon Witherspoon rasping, "Stop, drop, roll, get up, take a crack at me/Like every other motherf*cker that I've seen today," through clenched teeth. Is his anger aimed at
Lowery? Unclear, but it's a powerful song nonetheless.
"Silence" and
"Desertion" back that aggression up,
"This Life" is
Witherspoon's synth-supported tribute to his newborn child, and
"Never" employs some processed instrumentation for an
industrial metal feel.
Sevendust play with feeling throughout, and
Witherspoon once again shows that he has more range than most of his loud
rock contemporaries.
Sevendust might have pressed harder on the new wounds inherent in
"Hero," but for the most part
Next is another capable effort from the band.
~Johnny Loftus, All Music Guide
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