The night that I first read Timo Tolkki’s public addressing on the state of Stratovarius and the band coming to an end is the night that I first listened to Seven Tears. The first track “Twist of Fate” immediately with its speedy power metal opening brought me all the way back to Twilight Time by Stratovarius. I got really into this song and wondered if Seven Tears could be the second coming of Stratovarius? The vocal delivery in this track was even very similar to that of Tolkki’s at the time. As the album went on the tone lightened up a bit as a major AOR element crept into the picture as well as some progressive arrangements. It turned out we did not quite have another Stratovarius in the making but their early influence is there and I will say that something very good is brewing up here. I will get back to Stratovarius later.

Seven Tears, hailing from Sweden, are a youthful bunch, with members as young as 19 years of age. It is very cool to hear such young guys play and sound a bit reminiscent of Journey and Boston at times as well as more progressive metal bands like Evergrey and Symphony X. There is no shortage of melody on this album as it is very present throughout each song. One thing I wanted to comment on was the great use of backing vocals by the band on these songs; they compliment the music very well. “Faded Memory” and “Dream of Insanity” were stand out tracks to me as well in addition to the opening. Nothing on this album made me jump out of my skin but it has me eagerly waiting what is next to come. Thinking back to Stratovarius their first three albums Fright Night, Twilight Time, and Dreamscape, were not out of this world amazing but very essential in laying down foundation and leading the band into classics such as Episode, Destiny, and Visions. Although Seven Tears strays a bit away from the typical Stratovarius formula I feel that In Every Frozen Tear could serve as the ground work that will lead this band into a successful future possibly blowing up to become one of the bigger European metal bands down the line. These guys are young and on the right track, it is up to them to stay on that track and keep charging forward or derail into obscurity.