(Metal Fusion / Progressive) 7 for 4 - Diffusion - 2008, FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

7 For 4's new album starts with Diffusion, which introduces us with a mellow jazzy guitar line. 7 For 4 didn't change their recipe: as with the previous albums, it soon changes for a rock-metal style which could remind me of the band Royal Hunt without lyrics. It's always cut by jazzy lines on bass and guitar, hard to hate, really. It's followed by Indigo Dunes, where the keyboards have a sound similar to the ones used by Liquid Tension Experiment, and a similar use too. In Overall, this track has a slower tempo than most of what 7 for 4 gave us by the past, but it's nonetheless really interesting, especially when considering the basslines taking their places in there. A really balanced piece, one of the best on the CD in my opinion.

The Winding Path has a great introduction, slower, well sustained with well placed piano. Similarly to Emoctify, it gives a strong Liquid Tension Experiment vibe in its heaviest parts. The structure of The Winding Path is slightly more classic-oriented than many other compositions, as far as I can tell. Not a bad thing, it reminds you of stricter symphonic metal, something Vinnie Moore could be proud of if he wasn’t so lost back there in the 80's.

Silent Flow is way closer to an ambiance track than anything the band has pulled before (except maybe X-Dreams and parts of Rockalaxy, from Contact). Its composition mainly relies on the guitar, with support from Grützner's fretless sound. It’s a track with a refinement they did not possess before, and it's frankly great to see them able to still find new stuff to give to their listeners given the number of genres they already managed to cover before. I would almost go as far as saying that Zenk's guitar nearly reminds me of some of the stuff David Gilmour could do, at least in the feeling. It comes close.

Cyclotron is really fast-paced piece, on every instrument, and as with every album from 7 for 4, you get slower bits at some points, but this never lasts too long. Really, it's the same pattern that can be heard in Spiral Dance or mostly any other song, except it doesn't grow old due to the fact that while the structure is the same, the recipe changes. I mean there are many kinds of pie, and even if it’s chocolate or apple pie, it’s still a pie. And it's hard to stop wanting more (I am mastering the art of pointless analogies.)

Oh yeah, I just mentioned Spiral Dance, but I must add it's the mandatory Latin song on the album. Contact and Time both had at least a Latin track, and Diffusion doesn't break the rule, although the band incorporated some neo-prog-like keyboards in it. When it stops, you go back to an acoustic/classical guitar filling the track, something Zenk doesn't prepare us for beforehand.

Hidden Depths is way jazzier, led by GrГјtzner's fretless bass at times. This goes up there with Silent Flow in terms of closer to ambiance and refined sound. Again, one of my favourites from the album. So far I've liked the 3 slower tracks more, so maybe it's just my mood at the moment, but I like the direction 7 For 4 takes with this album.

Mystic Mouse (as described by the band)
Take 7 and add 4, then divide into 4 equal parts, as far as possible. You get an 11/8 beat with subdivisions 3-3-2-2. All you need to add to finish the song is some chords. How's that for mystic...?

[b]In conclusion

Diffusion completes the previous albums really well. To me, the style is pretty much halfway between Time and Contact. It closes the tiny style gab between both albums and balances the whole thing even more. This album sure makes me promise to be a long-time fan of 7 For 4. It's got some really good songs nobody should miss on if they like 7 for 4's style.

01 - Diffusion.flac
02 - Indigo Dunes.flac
03 - Emoctify.flac
04 - The Winding Path.flac
05 - Silent Flow.flac
06 - Cyclotron.flac
07 - Spiral Dance.flac
08 - Hidden Depths.flac
09 - Mystic Mouse.flac
7 for 4 - Diffusion - EAC Cuesheet.cue
7 for 4 - Diffusion - EAC Rip.log
7 for 4 - Diffusion - EAC _Single File_ Cuesheet.cue
Artwork
tau.txt
Artwork\Back Cover.png
Artwork\Booklet 01 & 02.png
Artwork\Booklet 03 & 04.png
Artwork\Booklet 05 & 06.png
Artwork\Booklet 07 & 08.png
Artwork\Booklet 09 & 10.png
Artwork\Disc.png
Artwork\Front Cover & Inside Left.png
Artwork\Front Cover (Edited).jpg
Artwork\Inside Right.png
Artwork\Postcard.png

Exact Audio Copy V0.99 prebeta 4 from 23. January 2008

EAC extraction logfile from 10. March 2008, 17:43

7 for 4 / Diffusion

Used drive : HL-DT-STDVDRAM GSA-4167B Adapter: 0 ID: 0

Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No

Read offset correction : 667
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000
Gap handling : Appended to previous track

Used output format : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate : 128 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
Command line compressor : c:\Program Files\FLAC\flac.exe
Additional command line options : --verify --best -T "artist=%a" -T "title=%t" -T "album=%g" -T "date=%y" -T "tracknumber=%n" -T "genre=%m" %s

TOC of the extracted CD

Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
---------------------------------------------------------
1 | 0:00.00 | 5:54.29 | 0 | 26578
2 | 5:54.29 | 5:55.37 | 26579 | 53240
3 | 11:49.66 | 4:50.08 | 53241 | 74998
4 | 16:39.74 | 6:45.09 | 74999 | 105382
5 | 23:25.08 | 7:43.07 | 105383 | 140114
6 | 31:08.15 | 4:24.00 | 140115 | 159914
7 | 35:32.15 | 6:24.18 | 159915 | 188732
8 | 41:56.33 | 5:32.05 | 188733 | 213637
9 | 47:28.38 | 5:11.41 | 213638 | 237003

Track 1

Filename C:\Music\01 - Diffusion.wav

Pre-gap length 0:00:02.00

Peak level 98.8 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 46BBCC7D
Copy CRC 46BBCC7D
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK

Track 2

Filename C:\Music\02 - Indigo Dunes.wav

Pre-gap length 0:00:02.00

Peak level 98.8 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC C969997B
Copy CRC C969997B
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK

Track 3

Filename C:\Music\03 - Emoctify.wav

Pre-gap length 0:00:02.00

Peak level 98.8 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 7B216EA1
Copy CRC 7B216EA1
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK

Track 4

Filename C:\Music\04 - The Winding Path.wav

Pre-gap length 0:00:02.00

Peak level 98.8 %
Track quality 99.9 %
Test CRC CFEB5048
Copy CRC CFEB5048
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK

Track 5

Filename C:\Music\05 - Silent Flow.wav

Pre-gap length 0:00:02.00

Peak level 98.8 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 4F51291B
Copy CRC 4F51291B
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK

Track 6

Filename C:\Music\06 - Cyclotron.wav

Pre-gap length 0:00:02.00

Peak level 98.8 %
Track quality 99.9 %
Test CRC 2A465B26
Copy CRC 2A465B26
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK

Track 7

Filename C:\Music\07 - Spiral Dance.wav

Pre-gap length 0:00:02.00

Peak level 98.8 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 7BF9E1C7
Copy CRC 7BF9E1C7
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK

Track 8

Filename C:\Music\08 - Hidden Depths.wav

Pre-gap length 0:00:02.00

Peak level 98.8 %
Track quality 99.9 %
Test CRC C82AFE4D
Copy CRC C82AFE4D
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK

Track 9

Filename C:\Music\09 - Mystic Mouse.wav

Pre-gap length 0:00:02.00

Peak level 98.8 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 48FB1729
Copy CRC 48FB1729
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK

None of the tracks are present in the AccurateRip database

No errors occurred

End of status report

888990854 62513852 01 - Diffusion.wav
3632884198 62709068 02 - Indigo Dunes.wav
1912379241 51174860 03 - Emoctify.wav
1329373468 71463212 04 - The Winding Path.wav
428975017 81689708 05 - Silent Flow.wav
3623348064 46569644 06 - Cyclotron.wav
1702450803 67779980 07 - Spiral Dance.wav
710814209 58576604 08 - Hidden Depths.wav
2749108429 54956876 09 - Mystic Mouse.wav

auCDtect: CD records authenticity detector, version 0.8.2
Copyright (c) 2004 Oleg Berngardt. All rights reserved.
Copyright (c) 2004 Alexander Djourik. All rights reserved.
------------------------------------------------------------
Processing file: [01 - Diffusion.wav]

------------------------------------------------------------
This track looks like CDDA with probability 100%

------------------------------------------------------------
Processing file: [02 - Indigo Dunes.wav]

------------------------------------------------------------
This track looks like CDDA with probability 100%

------------------------------------------------------------
Processing file: [03 - Emoctify.wav]

------------------------------------------------------------
This track looks like CDDA with probability 100%

------------------------------------------------------------
Processing file: [04 - The Winding Path.wav]

------------------------------------------------------------
This track looks like CDDA with probability 99%

------------------------------------------------------------
Processing file: [05 - Silent Flow.wav]

------------------------------------------------------------
This track looks like CDDA with probability 100%

------------------------------------------------------------
Processing file: [06 - Cyclotron.wav]

------------------------------------------------------------
This track looks like CDDA with probability 100%

------------------------------------------------------------
Processing file: [07 - Spiral Dance.wav]

------------------------------------------------------------
This track looks like CDDA with probability 100%

------------------------------------------------------------
Processing file: [08 - Hidden Depths.wav]

------------------------------------------------------------
This track looks like CDDA with probability 100%

------------------------------------------------------------
Processing file: [09 - Mystic Mouse.wav]

------------------------------------------------------------
This track looks like CDDA with probability 100%

------------------------------------------------------------
Final Conclusion:
------------------------------------------------------------
These tracks looks like CDDA with probability 100%