Following up their fantastic third album Animosity was a tall order, but of course Sevendust rose to the challenge. While their latest album Seasons doesn't quite match up to its predecessor, it's still another excellent work from one of today's best hard rock bands.

What was great about Animosity was the band's realization of how much strength they had in making melodic songs, so they combined that more than ever before with their strength for making heavy rock. What they came out with was a perfect mix of both. Seasons takes the band's melodic nature even further, creating even more songs that can easily be sung along with. In fact, this album is so melodic that I imagine they had difficulty selecting just one for a first single. But, as can be expected, a bit of their heavy, raw edge had to be sacrificed - not too much, but some.

The track they chose for a first single, however, turned out to be one of the heavier ones. Enemy has a catchy chorus that's easy to sing along to, but the frantically angry verses have Lajon Witherspoon growling threats as Clint Lowery delivers punishing guitar crunches. The style of this song somewhat reminds me of Bitch, so this one should appease plenty of fans and newcomers alike.

Most of the album has a good mix of heavy and melodic; Sevendust really knows how to combine their two styles seamlessly. This happens immediately with Disease, which employs well-placed shouts before conveying dejected sentiments through a strong, catchy chorus. The title track stays more consistent, remaining medium-paced but with heavy guitars keeping the volume high. Separate has probably the album's strongest chorus - one that should easily get stuck in your head - and there is some all-out adrenaline toward the end, making this a mandatory volume-cranker.

As usual, Sevendust fills this album with lots of emotion whether slowing down or rocking out. Broken Down rocks hard, with passionately delivered pleas: "If I can feel again/ Will you tell me now or wait til I'm broken down again?" Same goes for Honesty: "So go and leave me with my last regret/ Let me feel the way you left me dead/ Too blind to see/ You stole my honesty." And be sure to have a lighter handy at concerts for the slow but powerful Skeleton Song.

After a couple more tracks in the usual style, they finally return to a more aggressive level to close the album. Though I think the profanity-laced Face To Face is beneath the band at this point, it adds to the energy these final hard rockers provide.

Seasons could use a couple more standouts, but overall it's a great album. The DVD they include is pretty cool as well. You get to see some making-of footage (which includes analyses of a few songs by the band), a fairly amusing hijinks video, and a sweet acoustic performance of Black. Seasons shows a band remaining focused on producing solid hard rock, and I doubt that focus will go away anytime soon.



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