Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Entry 063: "Thunder Seven"





Dear Internet,

                Hello, again.  I feel like I just talked to you.  Maybe it is just my imagination.  Perhaps I should just go straight into telling you about Triumph's album "Thunder Seven."

                Thankfully, "Thunder Seven" is the seventh album put out by the heavy metal band.  Otherwise, the first question would be "What happened to the other six thunders?"  Well, I do not have an answer for than anyway.  I think this might be the only album I have of Triumph.  At first I though the band's name was the name of the album and the album's name was that of the band.  At the risk of sounding like an old man, the title of the work is more important than the name behind it.  Music albums and books as well have a tendency to randomly choose if the title or artist is more important from one entry to the next.  It gets even more confusing if you approach a book at the store and the title of the book is a character's name.  Music albums are definitely worse when it comes to this because the bands can name themselves and their albums after any little thing to strike their fancy.  But I digress and should be talking about "Thunder Seven."

                The music is clear metal rock.  I did not say clearly metal rock because there is a difference.  Unlike Pitbull Daycare which almost prided itself on making as much noise as possible, Triumph knows how to mix the various sound levels.  The guitar does not drown out the drums, nor do the drums beat so hard to kill the synthesizers.  The vocals are clear and understandable, which is important especially when lyrics are no longer cared about.  You do not believe me?  Then how did a South Korean pop song become an international sensation despite the works being in Korean?  "Thunder Seven" has a high level of technical skill which is apparent n the instrumental tracks like "Midsummer's Daydream," but that should be expected from a band that had been financed for six previous albums.  

                The good part of "Thunder Seven is that it is good old rock and roll.  There are no gimmicks or tricks to the music.  There are no audio samples playing from a computer, no Auto-tune robotic voices hiding poor singers, and definitely no "WUB WUB WUB."  However, describing what it is by what it is not is a poor way of saying nothing.  The core of "Thunder Seven" is the lyrical songs.  The songs deal heavily with the passing of time and having to keep up with it.  Three of the ten songs have "time" in their name.  The album for the most part approaches the problem of keeping up appearances and having to deal with the world forcing broken molds upon people.  Having to change oneself to fit the passing and illogical moods of the time is something that is just as foolish as the trends that are followed.  "Stranger in a Strange Land" makes a nice dig at a specific artist that ate and fed into that idiotic plate.

                The songs are all enjoyable to an extent.  The only strike that I can have against it is that I want more specific things after having listened to the album.  I wished "Midsummer's Daydream" to have lasted longer because it is such a beautiful acoustic guitar solo.  Other than that song and "Stranger in the Strange Land" the second side was not as strong as the first.  This album is good, very good, but for some reason, there is a missing element that the album lacks.  I wish I could place my finger on it, but I cannot.  Maybe if some of the band's other strong songs from other albums were here, I might say otherwise, but I cannot since I do not know what those other songs even are.

Yours in digital,
BeepBoop

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