''Seasons'' is the fourth studio album by American

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band

Sevendust Sevendust is an American rock band from Atlanta, Georgia, formed in 1994 by bassist Vince Hornsby, drummer Morgan Rose and rhythm guitarist John Connolly. After their first demo, lead vocalist Lajon Witherspoon and lead guitarist Clint Lowery ...

. It would be the band's final album with

TVT Records TVT Records (Tee-Vee Tunes) was an American record label founded by Steve Gottlieb. Over the course of its 24-year history, the label released 25 Gold, Platinum and Multi-Platinum releases. Its roster included Nine Inch Nails, Ja Rule, Lil Jon, ...

and was dedicated to the memory to both Dave Williams (

Drowning Pool Drowning Pool is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Dallas, Texas, in 1996. The band was named after the 1975 film ''The Drowning Pool (film), The Drowning Pool''. Since its formation, the band has consisted of guitarist C.J. Pierce, ...

's original singer) who died of

cardiomyopathy Cardiomyopathy is a group of diseases that affect the heart muscle. Early on there may be few or no symptoms. As the disease worsens, shortness of breath, feeling tired, and swelling of the legs may occur, due to the onset of heart failure. A ...

in August 2002, and Reginald Witherspoon (

Lajon Witherspoon Lajon Witherspoon (born October 3, 1972) is an American singer and songwriter who is the lead vocalist of Atlanta-based rock band Sevendust. Members from bands such as Staind, Seether, Alter Bridge, and Diecast have listed Witherspoon and Sevend ...

's younger brother) who was murdered in November 2002. ''Seasons'' was, for a time, the band's last album with

Clint Lowery Clint Lowery (born December 15, 1971) is an American musician, songwriter and producer, best known as the lead guitarist and backing vocalist of the rock band Sevendust. He has also played in Dark New Day and Still Rain, and served as the tourin ...

as he left in 2004. Lowery would return to Sevendust in March 2008. A limited edition of ''Seasons'' was released. This includes a DVD featuring "

Black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have o ...

" (live and acoustic) and other special features.

Recording and production

In an unusual choice,

Butch Walker Bradley Glenn "Butch" Walker (born November 14, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. He was the lead guitarist for the glam metal band SouthGang from the late 1980s to early 1990s as well as the lead vocalist ...

was chosen to produce the band's fourth album. Although Walker had produced some demos for the band in their early years as Crawlspace, he had a largely pop-oriented résumé. In a 2003 interview, guitarist John Connolly described the album's overall approach: :"It's really heavy and just tons of melody. We're real big fans of melody and there's no reason that a heavy band can't have something to sing over, and we just really pushed it a lot farther than we had a chance to on the last few records." Connolly also compared ''Seasons'' to the band's previous albums: :"A lot more mature. A lot more focused. We just had a lot more time to spend with it. Working with Butch Walker in the studio just made us a lot more efficient, and we could move a lot faster. We wrote a lot of songs for this record. I think we just pushed better songs further along then we had a chance to with ''

Animosity Animosity may refer to: * ''Animosity'' (comic), an American comic book series published by AfterShock Comics *Animosity (band) Animosity was an American death metal band from San Francisco, California, formed in 2000. The band released three ...

''."Joseph, Jaso
Throwback Interview: Sevendust
ShockblastMedia.com (September 2003). Retrieved on 6-10-11. In retrospect,

Morgan Rose Morgan Jay Rose (born December 13, 1968) is an American drummer and a founding member of Atlanta-based rock band Sevendust. He is also responsible for much of the background vocals. He has also played drums for Call Me No One and Methods of Mayh ...

has described ''Seasons'' as too commercial. This was due to Sevendust's loss of creative control with

thinking that ''Seasons'' should be suitable for radio airplay. He noted in an interview, "When we finished our touring cycle for ''Seasons'', and our number one priority was to figure out a way to get out of the record deal that we had been stuck in for quite a while. Once we finally got out, our next priority was not to be stuck in the same position as far as creative control and to be able to make a lot of the musical decisions on our own."

Reception

Commercial performance

''Seasons'' gained substantial commercial success. It debuted at No. 14 in the US, selling around 68,000 copies in its first week. The

lead single A lead single (also known as a debut single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date. Release s ...

, "Enemy" reached No. 10 on ''Billboard'''s

Mainstream Rock Tracks Mainstream Rock is a music chart in ''Billboard'' magazine that ranks the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the United States, a category that combines the formats of active rock and heritage rock. The chart was launched in Ma ...

to become the group's highest charting single to date. The following two singles did not achieve such a high standard but nevertheless gained frequent airplay upon release. Despite mostly positive reviews, the album failed to sell as well as its predecessors, which all were certified gold.

Critical reception

The album gained overall positive reception from critics. Its approach to heaviness and melody were commended as was the band for their continued strength in songwriting. However, ''Seasons'' provided little diversity from previous albums. Amber Authier of ''

Exclaim! ''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features in-depth coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly Exclaim! print magazine publishes 7 ...

'' noted, "...as these

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

natives release more discs, they start to blend into each other. They take small steps into a new direction but they aren't willing to take a leap of faith into something radically outside of the style that has given them success to date."

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

's Alex Henderson described the album as "far from a happy CD, but it's a compelling one -- perhaps too dark for some listeners, but compelling nonetheless" and added, "Sevendust continues to live up to its high standards throughout the band's fourth album."

Touring and promotion

Building up to the release of ''Seasons'', the band performed lengthy acoustic sets in various cities and had listening parties for the new album. Their performance at the

Georgia Theatre Georgia Theatre is a live music venue and event space in Athens, Georgia. Many prominent national and local acts across all genres have performed at the Theatre, including rock, folk, country, indie, alternative, hip hop and electronic. The venue i ...

would be released as the band's first live album, '' Southside Double-Wide: Acoustic Live'', in May 2004. Following the acoustic shows, Sevendust opened for

Staind Staind ( ) is an American rock band from Springfield, Massachusetts, formed in 1995. The original lineup consisted of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Aaron Lewis, lead guitarist Mike Mushok, bassist and backing vocalist Johnny April, and dr ...

. They also joined

Cold Cold is the presence of low temperature, especially in the atmosphere. In common usage, cold is often a subjective perception. A lower bound to temperature is absolute zero, defined as 0.00K on the Kelvin scale, an absolute thermodynamic ...

for a US tour in the spring of 2004.SEVENDUST/COLD Tour Dates Announced

Blabbermouth.net Blabbermouth.net is a website dedicated to heavy metal and hard rock news, as well as album and music DVD reviews. Blabbermouth.net was founded and is run by Borivoj Krgin. The first version of the website was launched in March 2001; in Octob ...

(March 7, 2004). Retrieved on 6-10-11. The album's

, "Enemy", had a music video which was shown frequently on ''

Headbangers Ball ''Headbangers Ball'' is a music television program that consisted of heavy metal music videos airing on MTV and its global affiliates. The show began on MTV on April 18, 1987, playing heavy metal music videos from both well-known and more obs ...

'' in late 2003. It features former

professional wrestler Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...

Chyna Chyna (born Joan Marie Laurer; December 27, 1969 – April 17, 2016) was an American professional wrestler, bodybuilder and television personality. She first rose to prominence in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) in 1997, where sh ...

in a comical yet violent street brawl against an armless man. Two more singles were released and gained substantial airplay. The track "Separate" was also included on the '' MTV2 Headbangers Ball'' compilation in 2003.

Track listing

B-sides

* "

Inner City Blues "Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)", often shortened to "Inner City Blues", is a song by Marvin Gaye, released as the third and final single, and the climactic song from his 1971 landmark album, '' What's Going On''. Written by Gaye and Ja ...

" (

Marvin Gaye Marvin Pentz Gay Jr., who also spelled his surname as Gaye (April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984), was an American singer and songwriter. He helped to shape the sound of Motown in the 1960s, first as an in-house session player and later as a solo ar ...

cover, bonus DVD audio track included with ''Seasons'')

Personnel

– lead vocals *

– lead guitar, backing vocals, co-lead vocals on "Skeleton Song" * John Connolly – rhythm guitar, backing vocals *

Vinnie Hornsby Vince Hornsby (born October 22, 1967) is the bassist and one of the founding members of American rock band Sevendust. Music career Sevendust Before the formation of Sevendust, Hornsby was in the band Snake Nation along with Morgan Rose, also of ...

– bass *

– drums, backing vocals

Production

*Produced and recorded by

, co-produced by Sevendust *Assisted by Rusty Cobb and Shawn Grove *Recorded at Ruby Red Studios and Brannon Studios, Atlanta, Georgia *Mixed by

Jay Baumgardner Jay Baumgardner is an American record producer, engineer and mixer. He has worked on albums by The Regulators, Seether, Superheist, Ugly Kid Joe, Bush, Helmet, Sevendust, Papa Roach, Endwell, Coal Chamber, Drowning Pool, Godsmack, Three Days ...

at NRG Studios, Hollywood, California *Programming by William Vignola *Drum tech: Mickey Wade / Guitar tech: Brent Mullins *Mastered by Tom Baker at Precision Mastering *Executive producers:

Jeff Hanson Jeff Hanson (March 3, 1978 – June 5, 2009) was a singer-songwriter, guitarist and multi-instrumentalist,Steve Gottlieb, and

Jay Jay French Jay Jay French (born John French Segall, July 20, 1952) is an American guitarist, manager, record producer and founding member of the heavy metal band Twisted Sister. He is a columnist, author and motivational speaker who oversees licensing and i ...

Charts

Album

Singles

References

{{Authority control 2003 albums Albums produced by Butch Walker Sevendust albums TVT Records albums