Independent Release
Review by Tony Cannella
It’s time to turn up the volume with some authentic power metal, courtesy of Florida‘s Seven Kingdoms. The band has been at it since 2007 and released their debut album “Brothers of the Night” that same year. In 2009 is when current vocalist Sabrina Valentine joined and Seven Kingdoms released their self-titled album a year later. It was the album “The Fire is Mine” (released in 2012) where many people (myself included) began to take notice of the band as the dominant power metal band that they have become. Seven Kingdoms are back with a new 4-song EP “In the Walls” to continue their ascendancy to the top of the power metal hierarchy. “In the Walls” contains four songs and 21-minutes of some of the most powerful power metal as I have heard this year. Admittedly, with so many genres in metal splintering off and bleeding into many different genres (ie: symphonic power metal, symphonic folk metal, symphonic black metal, etc. etc.) it is refreshing to hear a band playing just simply power metal (although the last song “Stormborn” does at times touch thrash/death metal territory). Among the four songs we have two brand newbies (“In the Walls” and “Undying”) followed by two re-recordings of songs from their debut “Brothers of the Night” (“The Bloody Meadow” and “Stormborn”) back when Seven Kingdoms had a male singer; of course, the current Seven Kingdoms vocalist Sabrina Valentine adds her vocal magic to these two new versions. “Stormborn” is the heaviest song and features some male death style vocals on the track in conjunction with Sabrina‘s melodic soaring style it works just fine, in my opinion. I really can’t say anything bad or negative about what I have heard here; it is what I expected and that is a great thing. “In the Walls” is a fantastic EP which should set the stage for a new full-length album in the coming year. This reminds me why I fell in love with Seven Kingdoms after I heard “The Fire Is Mine”.
Rating – 89/100
Tracklist
- In the Walls
- Undying
- The Bloody Meadow
- Stormborn
Line Up
- Sabrina Valentine – Vocals
- Camden Cruz – Guitar
- Kevin Byrd – Guitar
- Aaron Sluss – Bass
- Keith Byrd – Drums