Sevendust: Animosity : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Variety doesn't count for a lot in hard rock. The Atlanta-based Sevendust get by on volume and the occasional vocal hook, aiming for melody and melodrama amid intense metal riffing. Animosity's scattered charms owe much to singer Lajon Witherspoon, who finds melodic inspiration within the band's angry and convoluted lyrics ("So much pain to ease my simple mind!"). But he's trapped within a rudimentary, modern metal formula, which makes much of the album sound like grinding, pedestrian background music. Still, the atmosphere is dependably dark and gothic - to match the leeches and forked tongue depicted within the CD booklet - as the ominous near-ballad "Xmas Day" finds some real weight within waves of desperation. The acoustic "Angel's Son" (also on 2000's Strait Up tribute to late Snot singer Lynn Strait) suggests the ambition of System of a Down and other contemporaries working to loosen the metal landscape with new ideas. But for most of Animosity, Sevendust are still struggling to set their desperation free.

STEVE APPLEFORD
(RS 887 - January 17, 2002)