SEVENDUST

Even 30-something years in, SEVENDUST still feel less like a band you listen to and more like one that's family. The "7D Army" is strong decades after the band's 1994 debut, and you see it in the jam-packed rooms, ink, logos and lyrics etched into skin. There's something beautiful about a band with such a loyal and passionate following.

Eight million records in and counting, Grammy recognition, a handful of Top 15 records and streams in the hundreds of millions, SEVENDUST are still hot. They've always had a unique space in the hard rock and metal world, too, locking in with DEFTONES or DISTURBED while always remaining unique and singular.

Somehow, SEVENDUST are still finding new peaks, and on "One", their 15th studio set on Napalm Records, the band offers 10 tracks that, from the get-go, show big riffs, low-end rumblings and hooks that know exactly where to fall. They kick the set off with the album's title track, offering a brooding mix of heavy, swirling guitars, deep rhythms and an overall haunting texture. It's heavy, but as usual, vocalist Lajon Witherspoon brings a melody and beauty to the song with his soulful, emotive vocals. In it, he asks how to believe yourself when "all you love is gone."

The two early singles off the album, "Unbreakable" and "Threshold", both represent the album well, with SEVENDUST's trademark mix of crushing instrumentals alongside Witherspoon's soaring vocals. The latter crawls in slowly with eerie, ghostly instrumentals before exploding into a full-throttle SEVENDUST anthem.

Elsewhere, "Construct" and "Bright Side" fall into a more direct kind of anthem with big, open choruses built for rooms where the lights stay low and the volume is loud. They're the kind of songs that hit you in the gut. "Misdirection" pulls the curtain back a little with softer edges, more space and the band letting the air in without losing their grip on the core of it. That moment of restraint isn't in much of the album. For the most part, this record stays heavy and grounded in weight and loudness. It's all muscle and no wasted moments.

Lajon Witherspoon and company have created something magical in "One", and what's even wilder is that they're doing it more than three decades into their career. They're tightening things up, not that they needed it, and putting the finishing touches on something they've ruled for years.