by Ally Arens
Seven Hours After Violet may be a new name in the metal scene, with the band making its official debut in April of this year and releasing their debut single “Paradise” in June, but they are already building up an impressive resume of gigs. Since making their public live debut at the recently resurrected Mayhem Festival on October 12th, just one day after their album release, they’ve also performed at Knotfest Brasil and supported BabyMetal within the past week. They already have some massive shows lined up for next year as well, with the band supporting Tool in Mexico in March alongside newly-announced spots at the Sick New World, Sonic Temple, and Rock Am Ring/Rock Im Park music festivals.
Acting as a metalcore/deathcore supergroup of sorts, the band - helmed by System of a Down bassist Shavo Odadjian and also featuring Left To Suffer’s Taylor Barber on vocals, American Idol alum Alejandro Aranda (f.k.a. Scarypoolparty) on guitar/backing vocals, and Winds of Plague members Michael "Morgoth" Montoya and Josh Johnson on guitar and drums - have come together to produce a heavy masterpiece of an album that is ready to take the genre by storm.
Throughout the 11-track album, with a runtime clocking in at just over 35 minutes, the S.H.A.V. crew take listeners on a rollercoaster of heaviness - blending a fusion of chugging, thrashy instrumentals with a variance of vocal styles. Barber and Aranda do a phenomenal job of harmonizing, almost seamlessly blending some gorgeous melodic moments with harsh, deliciously brutal screams; meanwhile, the instrumentals similarly go from soaring, arena-ready notes to guitar chugs and drum kicks that are just begging for a mosh pit or a headbang-over.
Seven Hours After Violet kicks off with the album’s lead single “Paradise”, setting the tone for the album to come. The track starts off full-speed-ahead with aggressive vocals, chugging guitars, and pounding drums, shifting to a full guttural scream moment about halfway through that later morphs into a full melodic soar soon after. Not only are the instrumentals top-notch, but the lyrics are poignant as well, with lines such as “Do you understand that this is the end of Paradise?” standing out.
The following two tracks, “Alive” and “Sunrise” also do a phenomenal job of blending melodic tendencies with harsher vocals - particularly the latter, which is one of the more rollercoaster-y tracks. When “Sunrise” first kicks in, it sounds like it’s going to be a more radio-friendly jaunt - until it isn’t. Around the two-minute mark, the instrumentals speed up and get a lot more gloriously thrashy and headbang-y.
This thrashing leads perfectly into track 4, aptly titled “Go!”. One of the shortest tracks on the record, clocking in at a mere two minutes and thirty-eight seconds, the track is a mosh pit waiting to happen and is sure to become a staple in the Seven Hours’ live set. Near the end is what I’m declaring now as one of the most iconic breakdowns since A Day to Remember’s now-infamous “Disrespect Your Surroundings” on “Mr. Highway’s Thinking About the End” - I’m not going to spoil it, but listen for yourselves and thank me later.
The next three tracks, “Float,” “Glink,” and “Cry…” are generally more melodic than some of their predecessors, but in this case “melodic” =/= “soft” - especially with the back-and-forth between vocal types found on “Glink.” “Cry…” also throws the listener for a loop as the guttural screams heard earlier make a return in the last 30 seconds, leading right into one of the thrashiest, heaviest tracks on the album in “Abandon”. Unlike most of the tracks that have a mix of vocal stylings, “Abandon” is fully screamed until the last 10 seconds switch back into the melodic realm - just in time for another standout moment.
“Abandon” leads into “Radiance”, a track that served as the second single from the album and was also my introduction to the band when I heard the song playing on Sirius XM’s Octane about a month ago. While a vast majority of the tracks would be (and have been!) right at home on their sister station Liquid Metal, “Radiance” is an outlier in that it features almost entirely clean vocals. The track’s soaring, anthemic feel is an instant standout, and is what inspired me to pursue this review in the first place - though I was surprised to learn through my listens that the track is the exception, not the norm, for S.H.A.V.’s sound, it is an excellent showcase of the versatility that the band can offer, and I can see it becoming an arena-rock staple.
The album’s closing tracks “Gloom” and “Feel” both return to an ebb-and-flow between heavy and light, and leave the listener wanting more while simultaneously feeling extremely satisfied at the ride. Seven Hours After Violet is one of the strongest debut albums I have heard in a minute, and I am extremely excited to see what 2025 has in store for them.
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