Album Review/ Electro Rock : Seven Nation Army’s ‘Electro Time’

Travel to the disco/ rock n roll decade with Seven Nation Army’s latest release, ‘Electro Time’. The album sounds exactly as its title suggests. Teeming with fresh and colorful electronica and grooves that keep you flowing for days. It’s a modern disco and retro rock n roll party! And we’re all invited for it! The band was founded by guitarist Jarek Balsamski to explore the rock sound and maybe take it to places it’s never been. And true to that, this band has a very explorative sound, fluid and flowing, never in a hurry to attain a definition or description. The Seven Nation Army is all about the journey. See it all in this latest collection. 

‘I Don’t Care - Electro Time’, opens the collection. It immediately transports the listener to the 1970s era of Pink Floyd, David Bowie, and Talking Heads. That retro-futuristic sound with the pioneering drive. That’s the whole vibe of this song. That and all the spectacular grooves that ride through it. The vocals are especially confounding, a cerebral warp and a psychedelic suggestion. We see it flow into ‘L.S.F - Electro Time’, a curving vocal line that is artful and abstract. 

‘New Life’ has an instrumental cast that is reminiscent of Joy Division’s post punk with cold, minimal electronics. The riffs are pronounced, driving to flat peaks and burning depths. Some of the darker songs like ‘Power and Money - Electro Time’ and ‘Get Out of My Life - Electro Times’ have a very 80-90s alt rock sound. The power, the tight basslines, the roaming synth circles, and a vocal sound that glows all around you. It touches upon the sounds of Depeche Mode and The Chemical Brothers era. There’s an edgy quality that was awakened sharing these decades which they revive with these tracks. 

The disco drifts across a rock backdrop. That’s the highlight of this album. We see it well-formed in ‘Foolish Game - Electro Time’, ‘Something Changing in Me - Electro Time’, and ‘Gone Away - Electro Time’. The sounds converge and diverge as if in a kaleidoscope. Not mainly in a colorful way but in every way; rhythmic, textural, and progressions. They remind us of artists like New Order, The Cure, Stereolab, and Radiohead. The pulsing hypnotic lines, with rolling, evolving bass patterns. It’s fresh, potent and powerfully cerebral. 

The album ends with ‘Future - Electro Time’, the final progression of the style, that contains slicing and sharp basslines that swipe through the hypnotic fog of chords and vocals. The synth melodies twinkle, its sparkle contrasted by fuzzy riffs and deep, tunneling basslines. Such a prolific and spanning album. A must listen, especially if you like that compelling, cerebral, retro-futuristic sound. Listen Now! 

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The album is available for streaming on popular sites like Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, and Amazon Music! 

You can listen to ‘Electro Time’ by Seven Nation Army here -