I accidentally land on The Lover when, surfing the net, I was looking for the latest releases of the year. What caught my attention was the album cover and it didn’t take me too long before realising that beyond that captivating cover there is a really great album. The woman that is burning for love at the center of the album cover represents the message of Septa, the four-piece alternative rock band from Odessa, Ukraine, that is in line with what is written on their Bandcamp page: "Love each other....”. Intriguing message, exactly like the album. Eugene Tymchyk, Alexander Kostuchenko, Alexey Sulima and Alexander Bezusov define themselves as an alternative rock band since they constantly push the boundaries experimenting new sounds, influenced by other genres, such as post-hardcore, noise rock and trip hop. The Lover is their full-length debut album and I simply love it.
I'm on my fourth listen of this five-track release and there's no doubt that these guys surprised me. I recognise influences or similarities with the style of bands like 30 Seconds to Mars and Deftones and the alternation between clean and soft rock guitar riffs with more aggressive metal and hardcore elements is brilliant. In a running time of approximately 35 minutes Septa will let you make a sonic experience where variety is a key word for both the several music styles implemented and the different ways the vocals are sung as well.
The opening '12th' is the appetiser and gives you the overall idea of the album. It's mainly a post-rock/post-metal track and the quick interplay between the two styles set the start to the album dynamics. The whispered vocals at the beginning are amazing. The following 'Enter The Butterflies' is one of the milestones of the album that is quite immediately going to conquer you. And at this point I understood why Septa defines itself as an alternative rock band. 'Enter The Butterflies' is a great sounding track where everything is well balanced and the rhythm change at about the third minute is brilliant. I drove at night singing this song and you cannot imagine how much I loved it. 'Discouraged One' is where 'Enter The Butterflies' continues and evolves from prog rock into a huge wall of sounds made of grind and hardcore punk music. Isn't it unexpected?
Then we hit one of my favourite tracks from The Lover, 'Her Body Still Sings', a song title that intrigued me before listening to it and when I pressed play, well, it was instant love. This track expresses the ability of Septa of producing great post-rock music. The clean guitars create a moody atmosphere and the diverse blend of sounds makes this track captivating, involving and so sexy. It ends with vocals that repeat continuously “As we dance at the moonlight”. 'Her Body Still Sings' is the best dance you can have. The Lover ends with 'Widower' and 'Eulogy (Epilogue)'. I particularly like 'Widower' and even where the influence of Deftones is more evident, Septa has been able to craft it in a unique way.
It's quite evident that I like this album and those of you that are in love with aggressive forms of alternative rock and metal, will be surprised in front of a variety of sounds so well mixed. This album is for music lovers and for those that have to ability to go beyond the classic rules. The Lover is really a superb alternative album.
Highly recommended.
