7Days Into Forever

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by Erik Tweedy
Staff Writer

7Days is the brainchild of guitarist and composer Markus Sigfridsson and comprises a bevy of some of Europe’s finest progressive metal musicians. Classify this as an all-star release by musicians that most in America have never heard of. The history behind this band is short-lived, dating back to 2006, and the first 7Days project by Sigfridsson resulted in the Weight of the World release. The success of that release prompted Sigfridsson to dig up more material for a second all-star project. Into Forever features many of the same musicians from the Weight of the World release and introduces the excellent vocals of Erik Tordsson and Caroline Sigfridsson, who are prominently featured on the new release.

Into Forever gets things kicked off with the rain-soaked “Through Dark and Light” intro that leads into the title track, featuring all the elements that make European progressive rock and metal so great: Soaring vocals, mesmerizing keyboards and blazing guitar solos, backed by a pounding double-kick rhythm section. This is good stuff! The angelic vocals of Caroline Sigfridsson are not overused here and compliment the vocals of Erik Tordsson, Thomas Vikstrom and Christian Liljegren. There are numerous bands out there that try to do the male/female trade-off singing and fail miserably. This is not the case for 7Days, and the alternating male lead vocals also is a welcomed change.

Several tracks run at a blistering pace with Daniel Flores pounding his ass off, and “Enter a Dream” might be the fastest of them all. Killer drumming supported by smoking-hot solos on this five and a half-minute barnburner that rolls into an oddly placed 60-second keyboard instrumental that doesn’t seem to serve much of a purpose. That aside, Into Forever is a very solid release and one that feels fresh and does not try to clone the Dream Theaters of the world. With everything progressive, there always will be comparisons to other bands; that is just the way the ball bounces. But 7Days have done enough here to stand out on their own, and any band that can throw down a 20-minute epic like “Final Wisdom” is good in my book.

Band:
Markus Sigfridsson – Guitars, Keyboards
Daniel Flores – Drums
Kaspar Dahlqvist – Keyboard solos
Andreas Passmark – Bass
Thomas Vikström – Lead and backing vocals
Caroline Sigfridsson – Lead vocals
Christian Liljegren – Vocals
Erik Tordsson – Lead and backing vocals

Track Listing:
1. Through Dark And Light
2. Into Forever
3. The Innocence In Me
4. You Hold The Key
5. Enter A Dream
6. Crossing
7. We Cry No More
8. Under The Sun
9. Scattered Mind
10. Final Wisdom
11. What Matters

Label: Liljegren Records

Website: http://www.7-days.se

Hardrock Haven rating: 8/10