Seasons is the fourth studio album by American heavy metal band Sevendust. It would be the band's final album with TVT Records and was dedicated to the memory of Reginald Witherspoon and Dave Williams, the former was murdered in November 2002 and the latter died of cardiomyopathy in August 2002. Seasons was, for a time, the band's last album with Clint Lowery 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" and other special features.
Recording and production
In an unusual choice, Butch Walker 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: Connolly also compared Seasons to the band's previous albums: In retrospect, Morgan Rose has described Seasons as too commercial. This was due to Sevendust's loss of creative control with TVT Records 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 #14 in the US, selling around 68,000 copies in its first week. The lead single, "Enemy" reached #10 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks 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! noted, "...as these Atlanta, Georgia 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'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 would be released as the band's first live album, , in May 2004. Following the acoustic shows, Sevendust opened for Staind. They also joined Cold for a US tour in the spring of 2004. The album's lead single, "Enemy", had a music video which was shown frequently on Headbangers Ball in late 2003. It features former professional wrestlerChyna 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.
Produced & Recorded by Butch Walker • Co-produced by Sevendust Assisted by Rusty Cobb & Shawn Grove Recorded at Ruby Red Studios & Brannon Studios, Atlanta, Georgia Mixed by Jay Baumgardner at NRG Studios, Hollywood, California Programming by William Vignola Drum Tech: Mickey Wade • Guitar Tech: Brent Mullins Mastered by Tom Baker at Precision Mastering
