Frontiers Music [Release date : 04.09.26]

“Seven Spires”, says Sascha Paeth, “are one of the few new real personalities in metal”.
And you would need an abundance of personality and indeed, confidence to assemble such a suite of music as this.

Master Key is a new 3CD release from Boston symphonic metal band, Seven Spires.

The only time I’ve come across such a treatment of a band’s material was when Wang Chung released their 4CD magnum opus, Orchesography, in 2019.

The treatment is similar but not the same. And of course, Wang Chung aside they’re not the first to record in an orchestral setting. Several rock bands, like Deep Purple and Procol Harum, and musically more related bands like Within Temptation and Nightwish have embraced the approach.

This mix’n’match boxset is closer to the Wang Chung effort.
It comprises:
CD 1. Seven Spires 4th album, A Fortress Called Home, from 2024.
CD 2. A complete collection of instrumental versions, and
CD 3. Orchestral versions of selected songs, plus live recordings made during the band’s recent tours.

Obviously the orchestral thing is the focus. Arguably, Seven Spires are one of only a few bands whose song structures can carry the weight of an orchestral treatment.

The album’s music already features waves of power chords, thunderous percussion, and powerful chorale arrangements. It’s all very detailed, very musical, and delivers with an epic emotional heft.

Singer/writer, Adrienne Cowan can switch from clean to harsh vocals in the blink of an eye, and she carries a tune like she means business.

And it’s clear, even this early in their career, that Seven Spires steadfastly refuse to rest on their laurels.
Is a 3 CD approach overkill? Well yes, it is. But will it find fans? Well yes, their established fanbase grows larger with each album.

A few tracks from that CD1 : the dark, complex, ‘Love’s Souvenir’, ‘Architect Of Creation’ and ‘Impossible Tower’ are where extreme worlds exist, and sometimes collide. They show off a musical meticulousness, with lots of purpose, building a tension that’s as taut as a drumskin.

And of course, there’s plenty of what we used to call “user friendly” material, symphonic metal entry-level songs. Songs like ‘Portrait Of Us’, and the perfectly pitched, perfectly framed ‘The Old Hurt That We Left Behind’. Each designed to ease us down into the band’s almost unique musical world, manifest primarily through Cowan’s vocals.

Choirs and strings stand in for her vocals on CDs 2 and 3.

It’s a bold idea, and with patience, it works.

It lights up the listening experience, and strengthens each piece of music, letting each composition stand on its own. We’re listening to the melody and the arrangements, not the lyrics.

Makes you realise just how much emotional weight, and dramatic content, is being carried by the music alone. Like movie music. Hans Zimmer and Danny Elfman might come to mind as you listen to this disc. Composers who are noted for their dramatic scores (and who both started life in rock bands).

CD3 includes half a dozen or so live recordings of songs taken from the album. Most from the band’s Tilburg gig last year, the remainder from their 2023 Live From Montreal concert.

Jack Kosto, the band’s guitarist, has produced and arranged the live versions as well as the studio stuff. He has the obsessive’s eye for fine textural detail.
He makes sure the moods and images don’t shift too far from the band’s widescreen style of symphonic metal, mainlining us into a world of romantic imagery with the immense ‘Succumb’ and the escalating operatic rush of magnificent closer, ‘Gods Of Debauchery’.

A fine investment. *****

Review by Brian McGowan

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Power Plays w/c 31 August 2026

JEFFERSON STARSHIP Jetpack (indie)
SHOGUN MOJO Under The Gun (Frontiers)
NOT MY WIFE Best Friend (indie)
BEN POOLE Time Has No Mercy (Gypsy Soul Records)
NIGHT TALKS Window Shopping (indie)
CHEZ KANE One Day (Is All That It Takes) (Frontiers)

Featured Albums w/c 31 August 2026

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Singer Songwriter)

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