Sevendust was not a band I thought ’bout much in my youth. Yes, I did hear songs like “Enemy”, “Face to Face”, & “Prodigal Son” on the radio & I think I did check out their greatest hits album or Seasons from the library.
¿So why am I not doing those albums instead o’ the album we are looking @ today, their 2001 Animosity, which I had ne’er listened to as a kid? Well, 1st, I only really cared ’bout the singles from Seasons, so most o’ that album would fill me with just as much nostalgic indifference; & I barely paid attention to most o’ the songs off the greatest hits album if I e’er listened to it, I’m actually not sure. 2nd, it seems like most people don’t really like Seasons that much, & listening back to it, yeah, it’s not their best. The 1st song, “Diseased”, starts with what sounds like a Beavis impression. ¿I think they may be smoking weed?
Anyway, the biggest reason is that this album sticks in my head the most out o’ theirs because o’ an article I read years ago, but well into my adulthood, where somebody asserted this as the best nu-metal album. As someone who was familiar with this band, but hadn’t paid much attention to them, this caught my interest. In hindsight, I don’t think I’d call this my favorite nu-metal album o’ all time — & looking round online, it doesn’t e’en seem like e’eryone agrees that this is their best album, with albums like Home, their self-titled, & e’en their much later Time Travelers & Bonfires; tho this is the highest Sevendust album on Rate Your Music… @ a whopping 60th place, after a Mudvayne & Static-X album & barely above a Trust Company album. Trust Company isn’t e’en a real nu-metal band: they’re a post-grunge band — & a very weak 1. Then again, they put Deftones’ Around the Fur @ the highest. ¿Who the hell considers Around the Fur to be better than White Pony? If they wanted to be contrarian hipsters, they could’ve a’least picked Diamond Eyes, like normal Deftones fans. For the record, I couldn’t find the original article I read — tho I did find this amazing top 21 list from Kerrang!, which put Papa Roach’s Infest @ #3, just above Toxicity. I used to love Papa Roach as a kid & don’t e’en consider Toxicity my favorite System of a Down album & still think that’s insane work.
1. T.O.A.B.
The 1st song is titled, “T.O.A.B.”, which, according to the scriptures o’ Genius, stands for, “tits on a boar”; — I always thought the phrase was “tits on a bull”, but whate’er — &, indeed, this song is mainly Lajon shouting or speaking confrontational or insulting lines, such as the opening line, “¡die, you piece of shit!”, 3 times. Probably Sevendust’s biggest flaw are their boring lyrics, which are neither hilariously bad like the likes o’ Breaking Benjamin or Disturbed, nor genuinely insightful.
This song is your average banger that doesn’t have much to stick in the memory, other than the weird effect given to the guitars that make them sound like a machine sucking in air. I do like the chorus, with the slow shout followed by the softer voice in the background quickly sputtering out, “a motherfucker without a life that’s always getting something”.
Grade: B
2. Praise
I believe this is the biggest single from this album & the song I remember the most. It is likely the best song on this album, too: it is full o’ so many interesting hooks & pieces, from the opening simple but memorable low riff faded back in the background, followed by a short pause, & then accompanied by much louder drum beats & a weird squeaky riff, only to return to the quiet, deep riff as Lajon sings in a similarly quiet, deep, menacing-sounding voice, only to get louder himself in the 2nd half o’ the verses while someone else shouts @ the start o’ each line in the background ( technically, the 1st verse gets a li’l louder in the 2nd quarter beforehand: you can barely hear accompanying Lajon a particularly raspy & reptilian-sounding voice singing Lajon’s lines in sync ).
There are many other fun things in this song that I could mention, like the instrumental bridge, or the way this weird, catchy, high-pitched riff plays in the background during the latter half o’ the latter 2 choruses.
& in contrast to what I said ’bout the previous song, this song’s lyrics are much better, using mo’ philosophical-sounding lyrics in the verses, which actually make them sound creepier than just insults. The highlight is the chorus, where Lajon repeats the lines, “I’m not what you… / I’m the one who…”, which is a simple but poetic & clever way to contrast this other’s expectation o’ the protagonist being subordinate — having things done to him — with the protagonist’s insistence on being dominant — being the one doing the things.
Grade: S
Music Video
A pretty weak music video, honestly: you just have your standard jamming out on a dark stage interspersed with some confusing — & yet still not particularly inspired — footage o’ a bunch o’ faces shouting @ each other in varying angles.
Grade: D
3. Trust
In contrast, this song is pretty boring. While I like the melody o’ the line, “& steeeeal everything… from the truuth”, the rest o’ the song feels rhythmless & needlessly sluggish, especially the prechorus, which is just lame: it’s just someone shouting the song title, “¡TRUST!”, as if the band didn’t trust the audience to glean the theme o’ the song without it, followed by a random, high-pitched, squeaky riff.
It’s too bad, ’cause the music isn’t bad: I like the opening faded strings, — tho, in contrast to e’erything else in this song, I wish it were elongated mo’, as it only lasts like 2 beats — as well as the moody, dour basslines during the verses, which make a good contrast to the higher-pitched, pleading singing & the great basslines during the bridge — only to be ruined by mo’ “¡TRUST!”s & squeaky riffs.
The lyrics also go too far into the poetic sphere to the point o’ pretentiousness, especially considering this song is apparently just ’bout him being a homewrecker leading another woman into cheating on her husband. Homewrecking isn’t great, but it doesn’t sound like you knew this other man or that you raped this woman: it sounds like she was the one who broke someone’s trust.
Grade: D
4. Crucified
OK, I change what I said on the 1st song: this song’s lyrics are hilariously bad. Mainly, ’cause it combines the pretentiousness o’ the previous song with the vulgarity o’ the 1st song, following the melodramatic middle-school poetry o’, “so much pain to ease my simple mind / no hope, I’ve been crucified / & no one seems to care”, pleaded out, followed immediately by, “don’t you feel like a BITCH”, with the “BITCH” part shouted in the background with an echo. Then we get the 1st chorus, with mo’ adolescent poetry — “the 1st time I knew you lied / I ended up crucified”, followed by the line, “suck a dick”, repeated several times from a deep, low voice.
& the poetic lines are so vague, I have no hope o’ figuring out what this song is ’bout, especially since Genius themselves gave up on saying anything ’bout it. I’m assuming that the protagonist’s claims o’ being crucified are metaphorical & this song isn’t ’bout someone back in the Roman Empire days being falsely accused o’ a crime & executed. My best guess is that this song is a classic “my bitch girlfriend cheated on me” song & that having been “crucified” is the protagonist feeling very sad ’bout being cheated on.
& yet despite all this, the song is catchy thruout, especially the way Lajon sings the chorus. Hell, e’en the “don’t you feel like a BITCH”s & “suck a dick”s are catchy. & the music is… serviceable, with a few catchy parts here & there. Honestly, the production on this album is so good that this band could do the most basic bitch beats & riffs & it’d sound 1000 times better than pretty much anything P.O.D. or Five Fungal Disease Panics did.
Grade: C
5. Xmas Day
This is a much better slow song than “Trust”: that Alice-in-Chains-esque string melody & that chorus melody helps, as well as the excellent way Lajon sings the chorus. Also, tho I can’t be sure, as Genius gives no annotations & the lyrics are allusive, this song seems to also be ’bout the same thing, with the protagonist in love with this woman, but feeling the need to leave her for her own good, specifically with the line, “& this love must die”, @ the end o’ the 2nd verse. It’s lyrics are also much better than “Trust”’s, with much mo’ imagery & description, like the line ’bout the woman sleeping with the phone on her chest, having fallen asleep waiting for a call that wouldn’t come.
Grade: A
6. Dead Set
I like the noisy, instrumental music. Too bad the lyrics are basically just ✝︎-rock. We have your standard ambiguous lines ’bout how the protagonist can’t be saved & needs to be relieved & dodges the grave, & so forth, but then we’re jumpscared with the line, “God save the child who lives like a whore”, which is an interesting case o’ being melodramatic while also revealing how weak the problem is, connected with the knowledge that this is in reference to the adult protagonist. Like, yeah, I guess sleeping around too much can be a problem, especially if you’re not keeping yourself protected… but not on the same level as a child going around being raped left & right.
Grade: C
7. Shine
this is the last time i will talk to you
i feel like i’m in a blocked state of mind
¿am I getting thru?
No: I have no idea what you’re talking ’bout. Sorry.
Vague lyrics ’bout “being in a freefall” & how hard it is for the protagonist “to shine”, whate’er that means, — reminds me o’ the similarly vague “Colors” by Crossfade, but without the condescending pity for someone else, so there’s that — the music is fun banger music & I particularly like the singing melody on the chorus with the grinding riffs ’hind it.
Grade: B
8. Follow
In the middle o’ listening to this song I found myself jumpscared by the 1, the only, Aaron Lewis, lead singer o’ the infamous Staind. Howe’er, his whininess is mostly missing from this song, so it doesn’t really hurt the song in any way. It’s just an interesting bit o’ trivia, I guess.
I’m not really sure what to say ’bout this song other than that it’s not bad, but not 1 I’m eager ’bout. I wouldn’t call it boring or uninspired: there’s some spooky synths that weren’t really there before & there’s plenty o’ variations to how the singer sings to keep it from getting stale. The drawn out pre-chorus followed by the marching chorus is mildly catchy.
The lyrics are fortune cookie gibberish, — with such sharp lines like, “living to love could remind you”, “you can’t fake everything that reminds you how you feel”, & “time will tell what’s inside you” — howe’er, which, combined with the constant refrain o’ “you can’t know, follow”, gives me my best guess that this song is ’bout a cult leader. If that’s the intention & the cult leader’s gibberish is s’posed to be seen thru an ironic lens, I think Lajon is too subtle & he — & Aaron, for that matter — could’ve sounded less genuine in their singing. My fear is that this song is actually meant to sound deep.
Grade: C
9. Damaged
The contrast o’ the driving bass & riffs gainst the slow singing, contrasted further with the shouted “¡GOD!”s in the background, in the verses is interesting. The chorus is mildly catchy, but not in a way different from a lot o’ the other songs on this album. & while the lyrics are abstruse as always, this time I can gauge what this song is ’bout: it’s your typical emo song o’ self hatred, but angry, loud, & MANLY, as is common in nu-metal.
Grade: B
10. Live Again
Ooo, this is a good 1. We start with slow, sparse lyrics chopped up with commas — “feeling nothing, lonely, empty” — a line that sounds like what it says, & then we get a darkly melodic pre-chorus and chorus. Lyrically, this is another song ’bout self-hatred, but with less wallowing & mo’ trying to coach oneself into fixing oneself — the titular living again. As weird as this mix o’ such a dark sound & arguably uplifting lyrics ’bout self improvement are, I kinda dig it: after all, it’s from the point o’ rock bottom & the painful struggle to improve oneself, without any guarantee that this “living again” will e’en work: it’s mo’ a warning ’bout what worse things could come rather than hope for better things.
Grade: A
Music Video
This music video alternates ’tween grayscale footage o’ a woman hanging round dirtbag men till she decides to throw them off, which is when color begins to gradually appear, & the band jamming in the same red & black studio from the “Praise” music video. Nothing amazing, — & the morality tale o’ a woman learning to not let herself be used by men is kinda schmaltzy — but effective.
Grade: C
11. Beautiful
I’m not feeling this 1, tho. We have an outright annoying, beeping riff in the background & a forgettable chorus with vague Linkinparkesque emo lyrics ’bout “need[ing] something beautiful” & “i need something to feel real again before i go numb”.
Also, this is a nitpick, but it’s absurd when the singer keeps shouting ’bout needing to slow down or singing ’bout seeming to go “200 miles per hour” while singing so slowly. If this song is ’bout feeling frantic anxiety then it should sound, you know, anxious; not a sluggish dirge o’ depression. Later, we get the constant refrain o’ asking, “¿are you alive?”, which seems like the opposite thing to ask someone who needs to “slow down”.
Grade: D
12. Redefine
The verses & choruses sound like they belong to 2 different songs: the verses sound like they belong to your average banger with drill-sergeant-like shouting @ someone, — possibly oneself — with such lines as, “connect your face to the fist”, & then the chorus is this slow, drawn-out pleading o’er desert-like drums ’bout how the protagonist needs someone — possibly themself — to stay alive for them. Nowhere in this song is there any hint as to how this connects to the title, “redefine”: the chorus-ending line, “you’re holding me back”, seems to imply a failure to redefine oneself.
Honestly, the desert drums are the only thing that bumped this up to a B. I just think they sound neat.
Grade: B
13. Angel’s Son
It says something ’bout how good Sevendust are that they can make such a schmaltzy song & it still sounds pretty good. It’s that Alice in Chains inspiration, I tell you. It’s also the sparse strings peppered with the occasional deep bass & beats & Lajon’s melodic voice.
OK, having said that, I cannot ignore that this song is apparently ’bout the tragic early death o’ funk metal punk band Snot’s lead singer, James Lynn Strait — technically the only proof I’ve seen is this song being on a compilation album dedicated to him, which seems like good proof. Now, I love Snot & I obviously don’t think it’s bad @ all to give tribute to its lead singer, but… as someone who loves Snot, I find this song peculiar, especially the way it describes the lead singer who shouted such lines in his songs as “¡MY BALLS, YOUR CHIN!” & the great opener to their introductory song, “¡fuck the record & fuck the people!”, as an “angel’s son”. I’m not implying that Strait was a bad person @ all: but if I were the lead singer o’ a punk band like Snot, I probably wouldn’t want to be remembered as an “angel’s son”. I mean, imagine if somebody made a song like this ’bout Ozzy Osbourne after he died: it’d be weird, ¿right? I dunno.
Grade: B
Music Video
As goofy as it is, I like the way the band is playing in various places in the hospital, such as the guitarist strumming his guitar while sitting in a waiting room chair or outside the hospital front door — @ 1 point accompanied by a whole string section — & Lajon singing outside the operating room window or in the middle o’ the hospital aisles.
Grade: A
Conclusion
This article & me trying out this album did give me a better appreciation for this album & this band & some o’ the subtle elements, like the particular melodic way Lajon Witherspoon sings, that are easy to miss when you’re a dumb kid who just cares that it’s loud & angsty. For 1, the production on this album, a’least, is much better than most nu-metal bands, which very crisp drumbeats & sharp guitar riffs, which made this a great cleanser from the P.O.D. songs we listened to last month, which were all o’erproduced into blaring mush. The writing is this album’s weakest point — tho, to be fair, not as weak or clumsy as what you’d oft find in a Disturbed or Drowning Pool album.
Grade: B
