(written by Islander)
“If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”
(Isaac Newton, in a letter to Robert Hooke, 5 Feb 1675)
We begin with that famous quotation because it is likely the source of the name that the unconventional international band Seventh Station gave their forthcoming new EP, On Shoulders Of Giants. They chose that name because the five songs on the record honor five great musical artists of the 20th century, many of them classical composers. Standing on those shoulders, Seventh Station have given the compositions their own distinctive twists, transforming the original works into expressions of contemporary metal that are as unorthodox, indeed mind-bending, as Newton’s theories must have seemed when he envisioned them from the shoulders of the giants in his own fields.
At the very end of this admittedly very long feature we’ve included a track-by-track commentary (a fun-loving one) by Seventh Station vocalist Davidavi (“Vidi”) Dolev that sheds light on what inspired each song on the EP and what the band sought to accomplish with each one. Although it’s at the end, you should really read it first if you want want a deeper understanding of what you’re about to hear. Just reading it, without listening, is also kind of a dazzling experience, and undoubtedly will leave adventurous listeners intensely curious about what’s coming. (That was certainly the effect it had on us before we started listening).
But Vidi Dolev‘s comments only hint at what the songs are going to sound like, leaving the door open for someone rash like me to offer up some descriptive verbiage, while humbly acknowledging that there’s really no substitute for listening first-hand.
photos by Luka Rudman
It’s also worth knowing something more about the members of Seventh Station if you’re unfamiliar with them. The band was formed and is led by Slovenian guitarist Dimitri Alperovich, and the lineup includes, along with vocalist Vidi Dolev (from Subterranean Masquerade) Turkish keyboardist Eren Başbuğ (known from his work with Dream Theater, Jordan Rudess), Ukrainian-Israeli bass player Alexy Polyanski (Jerusalem Academy Of Music And Dance), and Slovenian drummer Grega Plumbeger (Cordura).
Seventh Station are quite open about what they’ve done on the EP. While honoring their musical heritages, Eren Başbuğ has told us they were inspired “to go rogue, breaking free through the walls of the conservatory,” and “to conquer progressive seas” through “a musical crusade.”
The minds of the original composers were daring. They were nonconformists and free-thinkers, and Seventh Station decided to honor them by being daring themselves, even at the risk of losing people with shortened attention spans or more conventional tastes. In choosing metal for their medium, they were also inspired by “the spirit of the underground as an artistic resistance,” and so the inspirations intertwined, with unpredictable results.
Someone who is knowledgable about classical music and trained in its traditions might have been the best kind of person to assess what Seventh Station have done with the five pieces they chose as the basis for their own transformations. For better or worse (most likely the latter), you won’t get that kind of perspective in what follows, just the impressions of a metalhead who’s had only glancing encounters with classical music and no familiarity with the original compositions (other than the last one by Vaughan Williams).
The EP’s first piece, “Three Days in Dresden,” is based upon String Quartet No. 8 by the Russian composer and pianist Dmitri Shostakovich, which he wrote during three days in Dresden, Germany. Seventh Station have rendered it in layers of shrill, wildly darting and weirdly quivering instrumentation, scatter-shot and head-hooking drumwork, gigantic low-frequency punches, and sudden crashes. The music is intricate, elegant, technically accomplished, and thoroughly berserk, a bit scary and undeniably exhilarating. (A fellow metalhead characterized Seventh Station as “like if early Mr. Bungle, Secret Chiefs 3, Spastik Inc, etc. started a prog metal band,” and when you hear this opening track you’ll get why that fits.)
The second track, “Seid nüchtern und wachet… VII. Es geschah,” is based upon the “Faust Cantata” by the German composer Alfred Schnittke. It does indeed sound Faustian. Ominous sounds of rumbling and warping inhabit the low end. Dissonant piano chords break through. Throbbing bass tones and big beats move it forward. Most Faustian of all are the strange and sinister vocals — providing gasps, snarls, and startling theatrical singing that soars quite high. But this song too begins to sound not just infernal but elaborately demented, and it expands in sensations of diabolical frolic and menacing grandeur. In its own distinctive way, it’s even more head-spinning than the delightfully crazed opening track.
For the third piece (and the EP’s longest one), “Tropical Limbo,” Seventh Station found their inspiration in the fourth movement from the Concerto for Marimba and Strings by German composer Eckhard Kopetzki. In this one, drummer Grega Plamberger really shines as he fluidly shifts from drums to marimba and back. Seventh Station add to the song’s increasingly spellbinding (and chilling) effects with other instruments (some of them flute-like and woodwind-like in their sounds), including a dreamlike piano motif.
For a while, the slow pace and relatively simple instrumentation creates a stark contrast with the EP’s first two pieces, but have no fear, eventually Seventh Station throw open the doors to their asylum and launch us into the exhilarating fray. The music sounds to these ears like an amalgam of pumping folk dances, big band jazz, marimba jubilation, neoclassical extravagance, and freakout-prog. Things do get slower and more dreamlike, spellbinding again even with a big bass menacingly humming along, an intriguing and eerie interlude before the party re-starts.
The fourth track, “Melodia Sentimental,” is based upon a composition of that same name by the Brazilian composer, conductor, cellist, and classical guitarist Heitor Villa Lobos. It’s in line with the construction of the EP as a whole, by which I mean Seventh Station continue to throw listeners off-balance. Here, they seductively feature a classical acoustic guitar performance and smoky but also soaring singing (if this is all Vidi Dolev, it’s really stunning what he can do with his voice), with maybe a bit of mimicked accordion and clarinet in the mix. It does sound sentimental, even romantic, and maybe a little sad too — and definitely Brazilian.
And finally, the fifth piece “Nagasaki Kisses” is based upon the first movement of British composer Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Sixth Symphony. It’s close in length to “Tropical Limbo” and maybe the EP’s greatest spectacle. Orchestral strings play a big role, as do fretless bass tones, but of course the band lead us on lots of dazzling and strange twists and turns, venturing outside traditional classical music, flowering the stage with a multitude of instrumental accents, some discordant, some mesmerizing, some light and bright, some heavy, and all of the permutations truly head-spinning. (There are a few vocal appearances as well, and they are again wide-ranging.)
The ebb and flow of the music creates fascinating contrasts and complements, and eventually it becomes simply sublime and then elevates in a way that’s hopeful and joyous — a fitting end to a remarkable record.
Just one trip through the varying wonders of On Shoulders of Giants will likely leave you convinced that Seventh Station could do anything they put their minds to, take any song or composition you might throw their way and transform it into a mind-bending thrill. “Avant tech/prog” is one decent way of categorizing the EP, but only because it doesn’t force the music into any sharply defined confines. That’s appropriate, because Seventh Station are such remarkably ingenious, daring, and idiosyncratic adventurers they would tear up the fencing very quickly anyway and rush away toward the strange far horizons where their muses will lead them.
CREDITS:
The bass and vocals were recorded by Tom Goldstein at Tom Goldstein’s Studio (Haifa, Israel); electric guitars were recorded at Dmitri Alperovich’s home studio (Brežice, Slovenia); keyboards were recorded at Eren Başbuğ’s home studio (Ankara, Turkey); and the drums, percussion, and acoustic guitars were recorded by Matej Gobec at Cosmosonic Studios (Ljubljana, Slovenia), where Gobec also mixed and mastered the record; with special guest trumpets by Tandoruk Yalçın on “Nagasaki Kisses” recorded at Studio79 in Berlin, Germany.
On Shoulders Of Giants is completed with photography by Luka Rudman, illustrations by Disturbing Grace Designs, and design by Tom de Wit at Layered Reality Productions.
MORE INFO:
On Shoulders Of Giants drops this Friday, February 21st, digitally and on CD through Layered Reality Productions. Find preorders via the links below. And for extra fun we’ve also included a playthrough video for “Three Days In Dresden” and a live performance of “Tropical Limbo“.
Seventh Station is booking festival performance and tour dates throughout 2025 in support of the EP, including a newly confirmed run of dates through the UK supporting Imperial Age and Grotesco Karma (April 29th through May 4th), and you’ll find the current confirmed dates below as well, with additional shows to be announced shortly.
And then finally we have the promised track-by-track commentary — well worth reading now if you didn’t do that before listening.
PRE-ORDER:
https://seventhstation.bandcamp.com/album/on-shoulders-of-giants
https://www.layered-reality.com/product/seventh-station-on-shoulders-of-giants-pre-order/
SEVENTH STATION:
https://www.seventh-station.com
https://seventhstation.bandcamp.com
https://www.instagram.com/seventhstationofficial
https://www.facebook.com/SeventhStation
SEVENTH STATION Tour Dates:
4/13/2025 Art Rock Festival 2025 – Reichenbach, DE
4/29/2025 Waterfront – Norwich, UK w/ Imperial Age, Grotesco Karma
4/30/2025 Rebellion – Manchester, UK w/ Imperial Age, Grotesco Karma
5/01/2025 Ivory Blacks – Glasgow, UK w/ Imperial Age, Grotesco Karma
5/02/2025 New Continental – Preston, UK w/ Imperial Age, Grotesco Karma
5/03/2025 Asylum – Birmingham, UK w/ Imperial Age, Grotesco Karma
5/04/2025 Underworld – London, UK w/ Imperial Age, Grotesco Karma
11/13/2025 HRH Prog Festival 2025 – Great Yarmouth, UK
TRACK BY TRACK COMMENTARY (By Vidi Dolev)
Hey No Clean Singing Readers! Nice to write to you!
Today we celebrate the release of our third record On Shoulders of Giants. As we are giving birth to these five mutated babies, you would not believe how painful it is to deliver them. Push push push, this record goes against the tides of today’s social media rhythm and trends, so it might as well be considered our little protest against the nowadays attention span. We do realize this record’s listening experience is demanding, especially with all these notifications popping up left and right on your phones, but hey! If you’re here with us, you are probably seeking what we seek as well: a strong, empathetic, meaningful and long lasting relationship with art and music. We would like to take you out to dinner before our invitation back home, to come upstairs and spin some records – this is On Shoulders of Giants, track by track:
1. Three Days in Dresden:
We pick right back up from our last record Heal the Unhealed and switch gears jumping to the left lane on the Autobahn, right on the action. THIS. IS. PANIC! You know the phrase ‘Just because I’m paranoid, it doesn’t mean they’re not out to get me’? Well, Dmitri Shostakovich was definitely right about that as the Stalinist state gave him some uniquely hard times throughout his career to the point where he traveled to Dresden and wrote this piece in three days for a German film, dedicated it to the victims of fascism and war (sounds like we can dedicate it today as well, right?), all with a plan to commit suicide right after writing his epitaph, this String Quartet No. 8. The level of emotion in this piece is beyond repair as a broken man bursts completely throughout this second movement. We were wondering if it was written today, would he choose the power of distortion and modern recording abilities to push the panic even further? Our guitar player, also a Dmitri, arranged this chaotic explosion of technique leaving us, the instrumentalists, in a state of panic as we strived to play this piece as best and as fast as it was written. We wanted to start the record with a punch in the face, hoping it leaves a mark.
2. Seid nüchtern und wachet… VII. Es geschah:
I’m a big fan of Alfred Schnittke, I see him as a cross-genres polystylist and a generalist, way ahead of his time. His influence on film-music and the world of cinema is astonishing and so, with his work the “Faust Cantata”, he acclimated into one the most dramatic neo-operas of our time. Especially after hearing the interpretation of the singer Iva Bittova and the Hradec Kralove Philharmonic, we simply had to produce a rendition of this significant work. It sounded to us like the perfect horror film, and we had to give it our own twist. As part of the “progressive” values, I was seeking a challenge, and I love exploring languages. I wanted to explore the phonetics of the German language, which to me sounds very dramatic. It wasn’t about nailing the accent as much as exploring what kind of sounds could this language birth in terms of expression. I love the old horror silent films made in Germany a hundred years ago and I was curious what kind of character could I shape through these foreign sounds that might suit these films if only they could speak. I went all the way in and I’m guessing the result is a tiny bit controversial, but then maybe this entire record is controversial as well? If you’re feeling slightly uncomfortable while listening to this track, our job here is done.
3. Tropical Limbo:
Very proud of this track, in which lies a perfect opportunity to introduce to you our drummer Grega Plamberger. Grega’s ability to seamlessly shift between the marimba and drum set live and on the record is, as far as we are aware, a performance unlike anything done in metal before (and if I’m wrong and there’s more marimba metal out there, please correct me as we would love to hear it). Grega is a classically trained percussionist, and we have been wanting to explore this part of his talent for a while. This piece is a rearrangement of the fourth movement from Concerto for Marimba and Strings, by the living and breathing composer Eckhard Kopetzki! While the other composers might be rolling in their grave if they didn’t like our twists and turns, Kopetzki can still track us and hunt us down. Eckhard! If you are out there, we hope you enjoy it!!
4. Melodia Sentimental:
And then there was silence… The cortisol levels went down, as the composition of Brazilian Heitor Villa Lobos took over our hearts. Nostalgia, oh sweet nostalgia, it is time for you to take place, looking back, or perhaps looking forward with hope, soft as a kiss, and what language is softer and more tender than Portuguese? Once again, I wanted to experiment with new phonetics = new acoustics = new sounds, and to me it sounded like the language of love. I was reminded of 2017 Eurovision winner Salvador Sobral, what a magician. I believe each composition has its own accent which comes from the culture and the language that is spoken in its area, and I wanted the music to caress and to comfort, when we started working on it the entire song sounded to me like big soft fluffy lips, but when listening now, I can’t help but think I might have added some weird melancholy to it… These fluffy lips might hide unbrushed teeth the morning after, I hope this kiss still tastes good…
5. Nagasaki Kisses:
Did someone mention the Atomic Bomb?!
How can we not end this record of 20th century shenanigans without some black rain?
In my opinion, saving the best for the last, an epic radioactive jewel of the crown, both the record’s crown and the British one as we chose to render the first movement of British composer Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Sixth Symphony. This piece is hinted to be inspired by the nuclear attack on Japan. This track is the longest of the record, and it is full of dark humor. It’s a huge piece when it comes to our Keyboardist Eren Başbuğ’s keyboard arrangements; we were shifting here back and forth between metal and modern jazz, big choirs, trumpets and some experimental guitar tones, the “jazz” you’ll hear is more of an influence rather than a lounge jam. There is also a lot of voice work here, the guys entrusted me with. This time, in complete gibberish, taking one last step into the world of phonetics trying to orchestrate the piece as an instrument and not as a soloist – I’ve been wanting to try it for a while now, as this is something that could not take place in other projects of mine. This is one of the reasons I love working with the “Seventh Station hat” on – at first it might be funny looking, but after you try it on you’ll discover that artistically anything is possible.
When you are scratching your head thinking “what the fuck did I just listen to?” it is not lice, it is our art… and we sure do hope you’ll spin it again.