Spidergawd's VII, as the Roman numerals state, seventh album already. These hard rock heroes from Norway simply continue making good music. This band is highly recommended live, their shows are super energetic and fun to watch.
The album VII was released in November 2023 and certainly did not pass me by. High time to sit down and write a review for this underrated band, because not much is written about them online or about the album.
This review will not come as a surprise to the ones, who have been following this blog for a while. The opening track of the album "Sands of Time" was song of the week a few weeks ago. The video clip for Sands of Time is awesome. I think that Sands of Time is the song that everyone will remember from the album, it has a very high sing-along quality to it, just like that other song that is on everyone's favorites list "Is This Love..?". This is exactly what you can expect from a good hard rock hit. It's a shame that we no longer live in a time where these kind of band make it into the charts.
"The Tower" starts with a tune that reminds me of a circus act, it's an interesting start to a song, but that circus tune quickly gives way to the guitars and drums that this band is known for. Talking about drums, I love the drummer, I cannot get over it. He's one of the best drummers I've seen. And the drums in this song are really brilliant and very much in the foreground.
The guitar riff of "Dinosaur" is really catchy, you could almost dance to it, it becomes something very artistic. This song seems to be harder, but to me it sound a bit flat. It's still incredibly well done, but not my favorite of the album.
Kenneth Kapstad's drumming skills are also amazing in "Bored To Death" which features a full drum "solo". The other special thing about the band, is the saxophone, certainly comes to the forefront in this song at the beginning of the song. I think it's so cool to see an instrument that you don't immediately associate with rock being featured in a hard rock band like Spidergawd.
I have been talking about the drums for a while now, but is is one of the things that stands out. Now let us talk about the guitar solo in "Your Heritage" it gave me goose bums. The guitar work of this band is a pleasure to watch as well. The band and the harmony within the band is just right, there is room for all the artists to show their qualities. Such respect between all bandmembers. Giving every instrument its time to shine also makes it that the album is not a boring listen.
I want to skip on to the last song, because when I first heard this, it blew me away. It was unexpected, going a totally different way then the rest of the album. In a sense it also ties the album nicely together. Especially in regard to the lyrics, we came full circle. I really want to highlight the intro of the song, the amazing saxophone solo, the likes of the jazz music from the anime series Cowboy Bebob, of which I also have such fond memories. This is definitely one of the more unique songs of the album, and one of my favorites.
In conclusion, if you made it to the end of this review, mandatory listening of this full album for you. And thank you so much for reading, I hope you will enjoy this albums as much as I have. It really makes me happy, even is it just thinking back to the show that they played in Burgerweeshuis Deventer a little while ago. And just seeing Boyfriend enjoying the heck out of this band. One final note on this album, the incredible cover art, it is such a unique piece of art made by Emile Morel, who I believe has done all the covers for the albums. I can keep enjoying looking at the art as we have the vinyl at home, which came with a large poster as well, which is now framed at our office.
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