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| Alpha | 
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| Artist: Sevendust
Label: Asylum Records
Category: Music
List Price: $18.98
Buy Used: $4.47
You Save: $14.51 (76%)
New (44) Used (18) from $4.47
Avg. Customer Rating:  52 reviews
Sales Rank: 32011
Format: Explicit Lyrics
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
MPN: 100437
UPC: 075597999914
EAN: 0075597999914
ASIN: B000MGBTIE
Release Date: March 6, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
| • | Deathstar | | • | Clueless | | • | Driven | | • | Feed | | • | Suffer | | • | Beg to Differ | | • | Under | | • | Story of Your Life | | • | Confessions of Hatred | | • | Aggression | | • | Burn | | • | Alpha |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
Alpha, the latest outing from this veteran act is both good and maddening. Good because many of the riffs and the songs to which they are affixed are driven by an element of boogie--for lack of a better term--too often absent from contemporary metal. Maddening because the group often cops out and trades in original and challenging ideas for the expected mid-song freak outs that will no doubt send listeners over the brink once the band takes the stage but do little but inspire passive listening in the current setting. As good as Sevendust may be on the stage, this is the studio and they owe it to listeners to create an experience that will last them a lifetime. A few more risks and less of an allegiance to brute force may serve this band well as it does in the more subtle moments of "Deathstar" and "Driven." --Jedd Beaudoin
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| Customer Reviews: Read 47 more reviews...
 Ten Years Later, And Still In Their Prime. March 6, 2007
16 out of 18 found this review helpful
If 2006 was a tough year for the five men of Sevendust, you wouldn't know it on the first listen to "Alpha," their toughest and most cohesive album since 2001,'s "Animosity." Despite how quickly the album came together, not one shred of quality or integrity has been sacrificed. Perhaps they work best under pressure. Afterall, it was about this time last year that their previous record label had crumbled, not even half a year after the release of "Next," leaving them without tour support. Add to that a string of bad luck for drummer and song-writer Morgan Rose which landed him briefly in jail and with a difficult divorce, and it's easy to see why Sevendust sound so much hungrier than they have in years.
Beginning with the instant assault of "Deathstar," Sevendust sound leaner and meaner than they did on their previous effort, 2005's "Next." With guitarist Sonny Mayo now fully integrated into the fold for the making of this album, the band sounds more complete than they did before. "Alpha" is 100% Sevendust. Everything good that they know how to do, all at once. Songs like "Suffer," "Under" and the first single, "Driven" are classic Sevendust, effortlessly fusing their grasp of melody with the driving intensity that is now their signature. Rest assured, though, none of the songs on "Alpha" are a bargain for radio-play. In fact, they seem to have given up any hopes of being a popular rock band, and it definitely works in their favor. "Beg To Differ" and "Story Of Your Life" show that they are still the best at making the simplest, yet most effective heavy songs on the hard rock scene. "Aggression" is probably the most experimental moment, a slow-building piano-driven song that sounds like Sevendust's best attempt at covering Nine Inch Nails. Such a song shows that Sevendust are more than just that tried-and-true road-warrior band, and are capable of doing things you probably didn't expect them to do before -- like a nine minute song by the name of "Burn."
Is there a negative aspect to this album? Well, no. It's right up there with "Home" and "Animosity" as their best work. True, if you never liked Sevendust before, you're not going to change your mind here, but if you've been with them throughout the years, you're going to find that they haven't missed a single step and still rock like they're in their prime, when many of their former peers have fallen to the wayside. "Alpha" is simply a shing 12-song example of Sevendust at their best, and lord, I can only imagine what these songs must sound like live.
 Finally decided to write this... April 11, 2007
8 out of 11 found this review helpful
First, I'll get the good out of the way, as this review is mainly criticizing Sevendusts' latest 2 albums, Next and Alpha. But- to the bands credit, its great that Sevendust is doing what many others have never done... and thats starting out from their original hardcore roots (Self-titled, Home), evolving to explore their more melodic side (Animosity, Seasons), then reverting back to their true beginnings (Next, Alpha). Sevendust has done all these things extremely well. But something still seems lacking from their past 2 albums.
The issue here is that Sevendusts' ability to find their real sound has declined drastically since Clint has left the group. The first 4 albums, despite being reviewed well or not so well, have always had a unique and complete sound. For instance, the Self-Titled album is known for its in-your-face lyrics and heavy riffs. But what made it a truly amazing piece of work is the fact that it also had choruses that struck you and got stuck in your head so well you that you couldn't get the songs out if you wanted to. The raw heaviness, melodic choruses, the band's chemistry, morgan's amazing drumming, and the acoustics were all running on 4 cylinders. Further, look at Animosity (arguably their best album), and Seasons... some of the best acoustics ever recorded in my opinion... the band was on their A game.
So lets look at these past 2 albums... despite a few good tracks (Hero, Failure, Burn), Sevendusts' music has been getting progressively sloppier. If you take someone who has never heard of Sevendust before and ask that individual to listen to all their albums, out of order.. they'd probably place Next and Alpha chronologically as one of their firsts.. on par with "Home" (yea, you heard me right, "Home")... with Seasons and Animosity as their most mature and most developed.
This shows just how much Clint provided for this band. He was basically the melodic and acoustic brains for the group. In his absence, i've been hearing Morgan getting a lot more "scream-time". I, for one, really appreciated his screaming back on the earlier albums, when it was less often and more intense... but now after hearing it track after track.. each song sounds exactly the same as the other. I love Burn.. but the rest i just sort of like or honestly just can't listen to.
I'm not writing this because i hate the band. Sevendust has always been and will always be one of my favorite groups. Save your money and just download Burn off Itunes.
 Sevendust At Their Finest March 20, 2007
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
Before this album was released, I was reading a lot of reviews saying that its sound is a return to the style they had on their 1999 album, "Home." But that seemed slightly inaccurate to me because I thought that their last album, "Next", was more of a return to that sound. THIS album seems more balls-out heavy. I've also heard several Sevendust fans including my good friend say that this is possibly their best album yet.
While I must admit that this is an awesome album, I think "Animosity" will always be their masterpiece to me. However, I can say that its probably their best album since "Animosity." The second you press play on your stereo, the album bursts into the fast n' heavy tune "Deathstar." The album's first single is "Driven" and it reminds me a lot of "Ugly" from their last album. "Burn" clocks in somewhere around 9 minutes long, but to me this track seems like 2 songs put together as a medley rather than being just one long song. But it's definitely among the most powerful songs they've written. The album closes with the title-track "Alpha" and it's one of those very heavy "f-you" type songs. This album is a very good example of Sevendust at their loudest and heaviest. My only complaint is that the album didn't offer up much variety. Even though I prefer Sevendust to be heavy, I think 2 or 3 melodic songs are necessary to balance an album out, but this album is pretty much one cruncher after another. This album also doesn't offer up much of a change in the band's style, but I think that's ok because Sevendust sounds good as they are. This is definitely a great album by the band that you should consider picking up.
Alpha is Sevendust's Best Album to Date and a Masterpiece March 9, 2007
I have never posted a review for an album before, but had to review Alpha from Sevendust, as I am a longtime fan of theirs, and own all of their albums, and Alpha is a bona fide monster of an album. In my opinion, Alpha is Sevendust's best and most compelte album, and it is one of the best metal/rock albums that has ever been made.
All of the reviews that have given this gem of an album 5 stars, I think have hit the nail on the head. I don't think there is one bad song on this album, and there are at least 6 or 7 downright legendary songs on this CD. More on that in a second.
Strangely, and It doesn't seem like everyone shares these feelings, but I think that every album they have put out has been pretty much excellent in my opinion. I also think that Next although a bit uneven, with a little too much screaming in some places (I prefer Lajon's majestic vocals), was their best work, up until Alpha. It contained, I believe the best individual songs that they have ever written. Between Failure, too ugly, See and Believe, Pieces, and This life, as well as Silence and Hero, I thought Next was just bonecrunching and outstanding. Then again, Seasons and Animosity were outstanding as well, but Next was better in my opinion. Strangely I thought Home was the weakest of the albums even though Denial is one of the greatest songs ever written, and to this day remains that way. that being said, Home is a great album.
Alpha outdoes Next, and everything else they have done every way. Burn may just well be one of the greatest songs ever put on a CD. ANd Under, confessions of hatred, Aggression, Driven, Feed, Suffer, Beg to Differ and ALpha are all masterpieces or near masterpieces. Death Star is great as well. I think I named pretty much the entire album. It's that good.
Even the screaming, for some odd reason does not phase me too much on Alpha. It just fits a little more smoothly. What bothers me about the way Sevendust gets treated is that for some reason, if Sevendust revert to their majestic vocals only, they are somehow seen as softer than they were. And if they go in hard as nails, they are called repetitive, and not evolving. I don't get it, every band evolves,and is allowed to evolve, all except for Sevendust. It just seems that they are the only band that is not allowed to evolve musically. I hear people complain that Sevendust needs to make up their minds as to whether they want to be hard as nails or melodic.
Well, I say this. Sevendust doesn't have to do a g-----n m------f----g thing. The diversity of their albums is what makes them so outstanding. On their worst day, they are the best band out there, and on their best day, they are simply one of the greatest bands of all time. ALpha accomplishes all of the things that I am sure they wanted to do, and brings it all together, and it's one of the hardest albums I have heard. I don't care what anyone says, screaming does not make an album hard. It's the bonecrunching distortion and double bass that does it. Alpha is as hard musically as music can be. Period.
One final note. Sevendust are gifted, they have a right to hit us between the eyes in different ways every time they come out with something new. So if their next album is unplugged with no screaming and just singing, it will probably be a masterpiece in its own right. That being said, as long as they keep returning with the super hard albums, I look forward to everything they put out. I'll keep being a fan. Maybe this is more of a diatribe than a review, but I don't care. I just hope that everyone that reads what I wrote comes to only one conclusion. That they need to buy Alpha, and support this legendary band. Thanks for your time.
 Mediocre But Not Mild March 7, 2007
4 out of 9 found this review helpful
First the good news: this is not an acoustic album. Yay! On this album Sevendust returns to the grinding riffs witnessed on their self-titled album (and back when they were named Crawlspace). Now the bad news: there is not much on this album to love. Most songs are mediocre. If you are a Sevendust fan, then celebrate the band's creative efforts. If you're new to these guys and their music, then I'd pass on this one and buy the self-titled album instead.
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