Seventh Station

The multi-national prog metal outfit are stretching themselves by giving the source a contemporary work over.

Such are the distances traveled by Seventh Station’s Slovenian-based, Belorussian-born guitarist, founder Dimitri Alperovich in putting together their latest release, //On Shouders Of Giants//, that it must only be a matter of time before he trades his air miles for free flights. “That’s the goal!” he chuckles.

The prog metal quintet are a truly international affair. Formed by Alperovich and Ukrainian-Israeli bassist Alexy Polyanski in 2008 at the Jerusalem Academy Of Music And Dance, their initial attempts at finding members proved difficult. “We couldn’t find what we needed because we were surrounded by classical musicians,” explains Alperovich. “After I gave up searching in Israel, I decided to start searching around the world.”

Recruiting Turkish keyboardist Eren Başbuğ after hearing his work with Dream Theater, Israeli singer Davidavi ‘Vidi’ Dolev soon followed and the line-up was completed by Slovenian drummer Grega Plamberger.

Having released the albums //Between Life And Dreams// (2016) and //Heal The Unhealed// in 2022, //On Shoulders Of Giants// is their most ambitious release. Each of the EP’s five tracks are reimaginings of works by 20th century classical composers known for their non-conformity. “They feel like five movie genres and each track is like a small trailer for these films,” explains Başbuğ. “For example, Shostakovich (//Three Days In Dresden//) being like an action thriller, Heitor Villa-Lobos (//Melodia Sentimental//) being romance and Ralph Vaughn Williams (//Nagasaki Kisses//) being a huge epic like a Hollywood blockbuster.”

“We want to make tribute to the music that we grew up with,” adds Dolev. “We decided to take the risk and go against the short social media attention span so that it’ll be like going into the cinema and having an experience. It was very important for us.”

“I was flying to each country to be with the musicians,” says Alperovich of the recording logistics. “We did the drums in Slovenia, then I flew to Israel to record the bass and vocals. And then I flew to Turkey for the programming and other stuff and then back to Slovenia to record the guitars.”

But Seventh Station aren’t just a studio-based band. “Our shows are very energetic,” says Alperovich. “We do the show as a show; we don’t just stand there. Not many prog bands do this. We feel home on stage.” JM

See www.seventh-station.com for info and tour dates.