Last month's pick was American Head Charge's 'The War of Art' (American/Island Def Jam), 2001) To view past picks check the archive.

What's up freaks? Has it been a month yet? Time flies when you have good tunes to go around. Speaking of exactly that, I picked Sevendust's 'Animosity' (TVT Records, 2001).

Sevendust has hit the jackpot on their 3rd album to date. 'Animosity' takes the raw-hard hitting self-titled 'Sevendust' and takes their spiritual-side out of 'Home' and puts it all into one album. It is clear that Sevendust have put their entire heart into this. This was the first album that wasn't rushed to the studio or done while on the road. For the first time, they relaxed and wanted to make the best Sevendust album to date. Another thing that is really different is frontman, Lajon Witherspoon's style of singing. You can find tons of it here while Morgan and Clint take up the background vocals/screaming.

Imagine the most insane bone crunching riffs with Lajon's soothing and melodic voice over top of them. This formula works very well. Just think of what he can do over a slow acoustic song or a ballad for that matter. It keeps on getting better. I even found myself singing to the slowest track on the disc, which was "Xmas Day."

Lajon is more than a one-dimensional frontman. He can flare his temper and scream with the best of them, but can the best screamers carry a tune like him? Nope, not even close. Lajon's definitely a frontman I would like on my side. In 'Animosity' he truly finds himself, writing more mature songs about life on the road and facing his fears by embracing the past. Lajon sings from the heart and it can be heard on 'Angel's Son,' a tribute song to Lynn Straight of Snot. This is probably the best song off "Straight Up" as well.

My favorite tune on the CD is "Trust". It has one of the catchiest openings on the guitar and they also incorporate that again later in the song. Another great song on the disc is "Crucified." Once again, there's a breakdown that is totally sick during the line "Don't you feel like a shit, don't promise shit you'll never be." Amazing!

The first single off of 'Animosity' is "Praise," which is a good song to try to throw every element about the band into one. You got the heavy guitars, smooth singing over the top of it, and backups to add the anger. The video is also cool, which shows them live.

Overall, 'Animosity' picks up where their debut left off and where their second offering left off. I believe this is the one true Sevendust CD that shows you the band's truest signature sound to date. Sevendust has been rumored to be opening for Creed starting in January. Also, hopefully, they will do an unplugged show in the future, let's cross our fingers shall we? Until next time, later freaks!