Music / Seventh Wonder

L-R: Johan, Stefan, Tommy, Andreas, Kyrt

A Progressive Metal band from Stockholm, Seventh Wonder is known for their concept albums, technical proficiency, and soaring vocals. The band was formed in 2000 by Andreas Blomqvist, Johan Lievfendahl, and Johnny Sandin after their previous band fell out, and it has undergone quite a few lineup changes since. Their 2005 debut Become met critical praise, but after then-vocalist Andi Kravljaca's departure and Tommy Karevik (formerly of Vindictiv) subsequently taking over the mic, the band were hyped to write their next release with him, Waiting in the Wings met with critical acclaim upon its release in 2006. Two years later, the band released their concept album Mercy Falls, further cementing their status as one of Sweden's top Progressive Metal bands.

In 2010, SW released The Great Escape and promoted it through their music video for "Alley Cat". The band's productivity afterwards was slowed down by Tommy's work with Kamelot and occasionally Ayreon but they managed to play gigs together from time to time and produce a live album in 2016. In 2018, the long-awaited Tiara, a follow-up/spinoff Concept Album to the Title Track of The Great Escape, was released.

Members

Current lineup:

• Andreas Blomqvist - bass
• Johan Liefvendahl - guitars
• Andreas "Kyrt" Söderin - keyboards
• Stefan Norgren - drums

Past members:

• Johnny Sandin - drums (2000-2010)
• Andi Kravljaca - vocals (2002-2005)
• Ola Halén - vocals (2001-2002)
• Tommy Karevik - vocals

Discography

Demos:

• Seventh Wonder (2001)
• Temple in the Storm (2003)

Albums:

• Become (2005)
• Waiting in the Wings (2006)
• Mercy Falls (2008)
• The Great Escape (2010)
• Tiara (2018)
• The Testament (2022)

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We trope the skies with our Tiara...

• Adventures in Comaland: A large fraction of the songs in Mercy Falls is this.
• Awakening the Sleeping Giant: "The Everones" sees humanity's Precursors arrive on Earth, poised to wipe humanity out for their sins.
• Burn the Witch!: "Taint the Sky".
• Call-Back: "Tiara's Song" has bits of "Victorious" midway through the track, and recalls Aniara's fate in "The Great Escape". In turn, "Goodnight" ends with a soft, acoustic reprise of the hook from "Tiara's Song".
• Children Are Innocent: The outcry of one little girl named Tiara in "Against the Grain" stuns society into re-evaluating their lives. She then becomes the poster girl to beg the Everones not to drive humans to extinction just yet.

  The solution is simple, the answer is her!
  We'll send one of us, for all of us
  And the truth in her voice shall be heard

• The Chosen One: Tiara. Slightly deconstructed in "Beyond Today" where she thinks about the normal teenage experiences she might never undergo thanks to the stakes of her mission.
• Concept Album: Mercy Falls, a story about a man in a coma dreaming he is in a place called Mercy Falls. The entire album was played at ProgPower 2014 and released as a live DVD.
  • Aniara reference aside, the plot of Tiara easily stands on its own, focusing on a girl's attempt to contact ancient aliens hoping to give the dying humankind one more chance to live.
• Deal with the Devil: "Devil's Inc."
• Do Not Go Gentle: "Dream Machines." When the humans receive the death sentence from the Everones, they take it as a declaration of war.
• Downer Ending: Mercy Falls ends with the titular town safe from the storm, but the man dies, because the donor of the bone marrow for the transplant that would have woken him up wasn't his son.
  • As with its literary source, "The Great Escape" ends 24 years since Aniara took off from the planet. At this point just about everyone aboard is dead with little hope of being remembered.
  • Tiara seems to be a hopeful antithesis to "The Great Escape" given its Aniara Call-Back but realigns with the song as despite the fact that Tiara comes home to her family, humanity is doomed still.
• Epic Instrumental Opener: Mercy Falls has two, the first of which depicts the crash and the rescue mission that introduces the protagonist's premise.
  • "Arrival" in Tiara.
• Epic Rocking: They love this trope. Special mention goes to the concluding Title Track of The Great Escape lasting half an hour long.
• Incredibly Long Note: Tommy is more of a Melismatic Vocals kinda guy but the likes of "Not an Angel" and "Star of David" prove he's no slouch for lung capacity, either.
• Large Ham: TOMMY. Dear Lord, does this man even need a microphone?
• Lead Bassist: Andreas Blomqvist is the band's primary songwriter and the main person who gives interviews for the band along with Tommy, and many songs are built around very intricate and pronounced basslines.
• Lighter and Softer: Thematically, Tiara to "The Great Escape".
• Longest Song Goes Last: "Exhale" in Tiara clocks in at 9 minutes. The Title Track of The Great Escape, half an hour.
• Metal Scream: Averted for the most part but some of Tommy's belts can pass for Type 4.
• Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe: Played straight in Mercy Falls, until "Back in Time" when the protagonist's wife tells him he's not the father. The man's sheer confusion leads to the crash that sent him to Mercy Falls in the first place.
• Miniscule Rocking: "Procession" at 45 seconds. And yes, it has lyrics.
• Motor Mouth: "Welcome to Mercy Falls" has part of its refrain having a go at this trope.
• Mr. Fanservice: Tommy, much less here than in Kamelot.
• One-Steve Limit: Subverted with Andreas Söderin and Andreas Blomqvist. They call the former Kyrt.
  • Downplayed with Johan Lievfendahl and Johnny Sandin.
• Perma-Stubble: Usually everyone except Kyrt has either this or a short beard.
  • Some fans have noticed that Tommy grows his facial hair fully for Seventh Wonder◊ while he keeps it in a handsome little soulpatch for Kamelot◊. For 2017-2018, apparently to accommodate both bands and Ayreon releasing new material within these years, the singer kept his perma-stubble.
• Progressive Rock/Progressive Metal: Seventh Wonder swing back and forth between these two genres thanks to their clean, often upbeat sound, but they definitely fit the bill thanks to their penchant for Epic Rocking and riff-to-riff combat between Johan and Kyrt.
• Recurring Riff: Mercy Falls has one that comes up every few songs.
• Self-Backing Vocalist: Tommy. Also his sister Jenny Karevik in "The Great Escape".
• Self-Titled Album: Self-titled demo. And a song in it, too.
• Shout-Out: "The Great Escape" to Harry Martinson's sci-fi poem Aniara: en revy om människan i tid och rum. The titular ship and her tragic fate also get referenced once in "Tiara's Song".
• Siamese Twin Songs: All over the place in Mercy Falls.
• Stealth Pun: "...written in devil's ink."
• Surprisingly Gentle Song: "Pieces".
• Title Track: "The Seventh Wonder", "What I've Become", "Waiting in the Wings", "Welcome to Mercy Falls", "The Great Escape", "Tiara's Song (Farewell Part 1)".
• Torches and Pitchforks: Referenced by the label when they announced the release date for Tiara with the qualifier that something may change and require it to be pushed back.
• Villain Song: "Not an Angel" has shades of this but the POV is a little more of an Anti-Villain.
• Vocal Tag Team: Downplayed with Tommy and Jenny Karevik. Jenny has appeared in at least one song per album since Tommy became the vocalist of the band.