One of the greatest in music said that you should find your own unique sound in order to be noticed. Three guys from Seven Circles (Andreas Lantz - vocals and keyboards, Tomas Kronvall - guitar, Djoni Deidesgaard - drums) understood it their own way. They profess a modern eclectic approach in music, playing slow, melodic tunes, with plenty of keyboards, which at first remind you of British heroes: somewhat of Oasis, somewhat of Radiohead and even Muse. But the guys have definitely grown on Scandinavian music traditions, a careful ear can even hear the traces of German Rammstein, and they skilfully combine their influences to get this kind of interesting result. It makes you imagine some visual pictures of Tolkien stories and even remember dark, intricate and such native songs of Dead Can Dance. In a word, wonderful, thoughtful music you will probably like if the names I have mentioned mean something to you. But being a diehard metal-head, I would pass it by if it wouldn’t be for something else.

Dissonance. Something surprising and suspicious. This makes these somewhat monotonous songs (they need some difference) really shine. It’s the vocals. No Luciano Pavarotti, not even Timo Kotipelto, Tobias Sammet or Michael Kiske – these are gothic vocals with beautiful deep overtones. It’s a bow towards traditional dreadful suffering voices in doom and gothic metal. (This guy has a chance to follow Aaron Stainthorpe)! Mixed with relatively light melodies it leads you to a cognitive dissonance. This is two in one, which can’t be united, can’t be combined without a risk of total anarchy. They risked and the result is far from usual. This combination is one of the highlights of the record. And if you too can’t imagine how it can be mixed, listen to this four song demo. As for the rest, let’s wait for their debut release.