Sevendust - Cold Day Memory (2010)

Asylum Records, April 20, 2010

Tracklist

1. Splinter
2. Forever
3. Unraveling
4. Last Breath
5. Karma
6. Ride Insane
7. Confessions (Without Faith)
8. Nowhere
9. Here and Now
10. The End is Coming
11. Better Place
12. Strong Arm Broken

Sevendust has been known for their solid track record in the alternative metal scene. This particular album had a lot of hype from the bands fanbase, and when you combine a fantastic vocal performance as always from Lajon Witherspoon with the return of founding guitarist Clint Lowery, the end result has to be good. This album remains their highest charting project to date. Alpha contained a few fantastic songs like “Burn”, and the experimental Chapter VII explored interesting new territory for the Atlanta alternative metal band, but you could tell that Clint brought something special to the band when he came back. In between that time, Clint had stayed busy with Dark New Day and touring as a temporary guitarist for Korn.

“Unraveling”, their highest charting rock single to date, showed that Sevendust is one of the most consistently talented groups to be part of the active rock scene. There are no bad songs anywhere on Cold Day Memory, however there are a couple of tracks on here that, while still good, didn’t quite live up to their full potential. Namely, these are “Confessions (Without Faith)” and “The End is Coming”, both of which had excellent buildup and verses, but choruses that weren’t so strong. I was listening to the first part of these tracks expecting to hear something amazing and they just came up a little short of that. However, elsewhere on the album, songs like “Unraveling” and “Karma” ramp up the anticipation with the introductory sections and each has just as strong of a hook as it were building up to be. “Better Place” and “Last Breath” also stand out nicely. The heaviest cut “Strong Arm Broken” closes out the album with a bang and really showcases Clint Lowery’s guitar work, proving that his return only made the band stronger. I’d say this album is on equal ground with their self-titled debut in terms of how I view it.

Looking at their subsequent releases over the decade, I see that this group has not looked back since in terms of consistent quality output. While the band may have albums like All I See Is War and Animosity that I enjoy more, Cold Day Memory is nothing short of another solid release from Sevendust. It earns a score of 8/10.