When I took this promo cd in my hands, I couldn’t have imagined that it would be one of the best surprises of the year for me! Seventh Wonder is a band I listened to for the first time and they will definitely have my preference in the future. The five members’ band from Sweden was formed in 2000. “Mercy Falls” is their 3rd album and it promises to initiate fans and not only, to the world of melodic progressive metal.

It is a concept album and as long as I could comprehend, it is a concept story, lyrically relating to the dramatic story of a family living in the town of Mercy Falls. The compositions, 15 in total, are all very good and it is obvious that the work done in the album is great on all sides. The vocals of Tommy Karevic are excellent, as well as the extraordinary melodies and the ability of creating good compositions. An important element is that the duration of the songs is normal, with an average of 5 minutes, which is not tiring for the listeners. The technical qualifications are obvious without the exaggerating, annoying displays of “look what a god I am” long compositions of many progressive bands.

The quality, which is a well known element of the Swedish bands, is present everywhere in the album. All the songs are great, with personal preferences the following: ”Welcome to Mercy Falls”, “Destiny Calls”, “The Black Parade” , “Unbreakable”, “Break the Silence”.

If you are into progressive metal, especially bands like Symphony X and Shadow Gallery, you shouldn’t by any chance miss the opportunity to listen to Seventh Wonder; it is the best album the genre has to offer this year. But even for those who usually avoid the progressive genre because of its unjustified “chattering”, “Mercy Falls” promises not to let you down.