Revolution on Hold

7 Miles to Pittsburgh

7 MILES TO PITTSBURGH are a Dutch Rock Outfit from Eindhoven. Throughout the years there […]
By Jean-François ''Jackal'' Poulin
November 29, 2019
7 Miles to Pittsburgh - Revolution on Hold album cover

7 MILES TO PITTSBURGH are a Dutch Rock Outfit from Eindhoven. Throughout the years there has been a lot of bands from that area and a lot of bands are recorded some live albums in that same very city. This band is formed by two former ELEGY members, Martin Helmantel et Dirk Bruinenberg. At the helm they have a veteran of the Dutch scene by the name of Andrew Elt; a well-traveled veteran.

This is the follow-up to the their self-titled debut back in 2017. They spent most of the summer of 2018 and well into 2019 in recording this very album. Persay, the production isn't top notch, I felt that the vocals were a bit overshadowed by the other instruments. It seems like the vocals weren't mixed well as to the volume. I don't know much about production but I felt sometimes you couldn't hear properly the lead singer because the sound of their instruments were a bit too loud. The other instruments sound fine, I have no problem with the resonance of some great musicians but I felt the singer deserved a bit better.

The album is a bit all over the place, it felt really disorganized. Most of the songs have all different styles to them, all in all, the band does not have their sound as of yet. They seem to try and experiment from one song or the other and it really hurts the overall flow of the album. You can go from a Hard Rock song to a ballad, then a Prog Metal song. I wouldn't say that there is no rhyme or reason, I only felt confused to be honest. The album lacks that consistency and even if I listened to this album three times, I just couldn't get into it that much

I can safely say that three songs were really bright spots for me. The fourth song, which is called ''Sound'' reminded me a lot of the earlier TRANSATLANTIC songs. Rock mixed with Progressive Metal elements, this song was my favorite and being a big TRANSATLANTIC fan, I felt this song really nailed it. The last two songs of the album are very reminiscent of early QUEENSRYCHE, when they were really at their peak. These have a Hard Rock edge with some Progressive Metal elements and a complex musical structure. The album really ended strong with these two gems. As for the other songs, nothing really stood out for me and I felt bored to be honest. Not a bad album but lacks the consistency I was looking for.

7 / 10

Good

Songwriting

7

Musicianship

7

Memorability

6

Production

7
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"Revolution on Hold" Track-listing:

1. Bad Enough
2. Olympus
3. I Fell Your Pain
4. Sound
5. Think
6. Brave New World
7. God Only Knows
8. Time
9. Only a Fool

7 Miles to Pittsburgh Lineup:

Martin Helmantel - Bass
Joris Lindner - Guitars
Remco Van Zandvoort - Keyboards
Dirk Bruinenberg - Drums
Andrew Elt - Vocals

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