7 Seconds
The Crew

THE REVIEW

I have never particularly loved melodic punk rock, I erroneously always associated the genre with Green Day and the last scene of punk made in MTV. When my heart was only and exclusively open to metal music, I saw punk musicians as a group of terrible players and nothing more, fortunately after several years I managed to understand that technical musical virtuosity in 95% of cases only makes a song unlistenable. Moral of the story? Long live 7 Seconds!

It was 1984 when two brothers from Reno (Nevada) formed this band, right in the best period of American Hardcore, following the good principles of straight edge, not coincidentally at the same time as their "positive cousins" from Washington, Minor Threat, became the godfathers of American punk.

"The Crew" was their first album, undoubtedly the purest, most furious, and fastest work that 7 Seconds have ever executed. Musically naive and fresh, composed of simple and effective songs, few riffs per song but with a lot of energy. All this is fully justified, both by the genre and the age of the musicians. You can hear the voice of Kevin Seconds, he was still a kid; but let's be clear, a kid with talent and many good ideas. Sometimes "sinister" melodic choruses are the ingredient that makes all this an excellent album, unusual and completely different from the punk standard of the moment.

Of the 18 songs on the record, only ten exceed the minute, and of these only two reach a record of two minutes, all the others range from thirty to fifty seconds.

The lyrics of the record are based on reaction, rejection of drugs, rejection of alcohol, anti-racism, refusal to conform to American society. They try to encourage youngsters not to be weak and to remain themselves despite what others thought, without falling into the traps of conformity, not having to wait until 21 to get drunk in bars but to be naturally active, not to be fooled by stereotypes and to try to live a healthy and long life to be proud of.

Positive hardcore seems like heresy just thinking about some of the fundamental punk bands "live fast die young" just recall the Germs of Derby Crash or Poison Idea of Pig Champion, nevertheless in America the movement gave a turn to many youngsters, making the genre almost more popular than nihilistic punk. Even though my lifestyle cannot be properly labeled with the adjective positive, I can still deduce that the themes of 7 Seconds are valid and relevant, and I believe they will be forever.

In conclusion, I can say that this album is indispensable in any collection, healthy music in every sense...