7-10 Split

The Stars Have Fallen (2003)

Brian Shultz

It's odd, really. At first listen, I was ready to throw these guys into the overcrowded pop-punk / screamo pile and spastically drop a tall glass of orange soda on top of the underside of the CD. But as 7-10 Split's sound started to take shape, it came to me that The Stars Have Fallen is slightly more than that…though I'm still thirsty.

Around eighty-five percent of their sound is composed of latter-day Millencolin - riffs, tempo, and vocals all proudly represented, but all significantly more cohesive and just slightly more intricate, almost like a Strung Out-lite. The songs flow rather well, perhaps a little too much - the breakdowns of the songs are abrupt and half the time you don't know the next song has started until twenty seconds in. The growls they use are only occasional, but aren't used in any type of the aforementioned pattern. When they use them, it sounds like this cheesy Iron Maiden / Metallica fascination that they have, but more in a Sum 41 way than a Thrice way. Hell, the bridge of "Edwin Coy" sounds like Sum 41's half-joking hair-metal side project, Pain for Pleasure.

The band even attempts treading the dangerous waters of both melodic hardcore and chugging hardcore for a short time each. "Chainsaw Death Riot" is a quick, two-minute dose of their attempt at the first with effective shouting and a poppy chorus, and while dubbing it melodic hardcore is still a bit of a stretch, it's one of the best tracks on the album. The breakdown of "Death Yields Not to the Sweetest of Things" is like a Hatebreed parody, but I think they're being serious when they do it.

The lyrics and packaging, however…oh, the lyrics and packaging… For starters, you saw the title of the damn thing, right? Way too many times, the lyrics give off a sophomoric essence stronger than Macy's perfume department, like the chorus of "Heartless;" "never will find out, never understand / all my questions will go unanswered / you never wanted me, you never cared for me / and now I'm left with another broken…" This theme with some girl that looks like a sympathy-seeking, depressed Bif Naked with tear makeup runs through the artwork, and looks like it was designed by Hot Topic's marketing department. I'm seriously embarrassed every time I take it out in public. Honestly, did you have to put her on both sides of the CD case?

Irregardless, if this band can develop their sound and rework their songwriting, they could put out a great album. Otherwise, it could just be another case of wasted potential.

MP3
"The Stars Have Fallen"
"Chainsaw Death Riot"
"Heartless"