A new label? Well, well, well...Melissa Records must be a 'newbie' in the Metal Music Industry, I think. And, a Dutch one...Very good, bearing in mind the first sample off its roaster that reached my ears. If such is the intention - in terms of music style - for the Melissa label, then there's no doubt something 'evil' true Metal fans should await for in the era(s) to come. At least, SEVENTH CALLING is showing the way with good album full of metallic colors. Thumbs up!
If you'd put American Metal of the 80s in the time machine and transfer it to the 21st century, this is what it would sound like. The album - the band's debut? - is what someone could use as a weapon against disbelievers continuously crying for the lack of 'modern' Metal music in the USA. Not the 'modern' one placed by the Music Industry sharks, but the one developed by bands of the Underground. SEVENTH CALLING is such a case; Monuments includes everything you'll ever need from America in Metal music. Even if old-school metalheads may stiff upper lip to the 'gloomy'  production of the album; truth is such sound is an essential in order to expose the band's 'steel' songs to wider ears. The influence of METAL CHURCH, JUDAS PRIEST, MALICE, (early) LEATHERWOLF, ICED EARTH, (limited) LETHAL and ('dark') SANCTUARY is here.
The Lange/Handel main duo spits fire allover; they both are excellent guitarists plus they do have faith in the supremacy of dual 6-string attack and that's a good point for Monuments. The album has a restricted Prog 'smell', but in no way can it be placed in the certain sub-genre, if you listen to killing tunes like Dark Angel, Fight For Your Life, Dead mind's eye and - eventually - the whole CD. There are times the band is in risky flirting with the Speed/Thrash border (VICIOUS RUMORS, METALLICA, TESTAMENT) but - since it mostly is a mid-tempo album - Monuments strongly holds tight the balls of (widely known as) US Power Metal. Devotees of striking solos (definitely PRIEST-influenced) will, no questions asked, find a favorable 'newbie' in SEVENTH CALLING, too.
Can this album deliver a 'hit' tune, I wonder? Like - to coincide to some of the aforementioned acts - Fake Healer, Die For My Sins or Abandoned? SEVENTH CALLING has all the weapons needed to overpass the pile of no-limit average releases; plus there are way ahead 'darker' and 'black-er' than most of the gimmick 'new' Black Metal bands flowing out of nowhere the last years. All they need is your metallic support. The band means Metal business...and business is good, as you know (and the album's production kick serious Metal ass, as you should be informed!).