Review - Sevendust's Time Traveler's and Bonfires

Time Traveler's and Bonfires

Sevendust

Sevendust's follow up to last year's Black Out the Sun, is a stripped down, acoustic album comprised of twelve tracks (broken up into 6 newly written songs and 6 acoustic covers). Time Traveler's and Bonfires was financed in part by the fans through a funding campaign at PledgeMusic. Within a week some 2000 pledges doubled the campaign's goal amount and set the stage for the band to get this album out much quicker than their previous efforts. The funding campaign model is an excellent idea for bands like Sevendust who've known the struggles of dealing with big record labels in the past.

I'll be succinct, this album is a good album. It's a bit of a conservative step back compared their last album which was some of their darkest and heaviest material. The band is pairing this release with an all acoustic tour.

I've listened to the album a half dozen times and I find the 6 new tracks really lack definition. The real standouts are "Come Down", "The Wait" and "One Life" which have the feel of their last two albums. "Bonfire" is probably the weakest track on the entire album.

The second half of the album delivers the goods. The band sounds so much more comfortable with the material. Stripping down tracks like "Denial" and "Crucified" to the bare bones really showcases great musicianship and songwriting that sometimes gets lost in high gloss production. "Karma" still retains a kickass intensity that the band started delving into on their last two albums. "Black" one of the biggest hits of their career is on a whole another level. While I would've preferred a dirtier solo during the track, it cements the whole acoustic feel of the project.

For some reason, this album feels like an EP. The new tracks are good, not great. After their last album, I had really high expectations that they were embracing their dark side. This feels like a band at a standstill. IF you're a diehard Sevendust fan, you'll probably already have pre ordered this. If you're only a fan of their last two albums, you may just wanna wait and see where the band goes from this point on. - grownman