The7thGatekeeper – “Time Alone Cannot Heal”: Reimagining Four Classic Songs
At a point in everyone’s life, there has been that time where we all have sung our favorite songs in the shower, the car and even when nobody’s around. It was cool and we sounded like the next big thing to win the Grammys, until someone walked in and made it known to us that we probably terrible. We do our own remix, covers and sometimes we wonder if we are about to ruin a classic or make it even bang more. That nervousness and fright is what drove The7thGatekeeper into Longwave Studios in Cardiff to record “Time Alone Cannot Heal“.
A cover EP that reimagines some classics totally. One thing he did that I loved is how he kept things organic, teamed up with acclaimed producer Romesh Dodangoda to capture something stripped-down and messy. Think of it less like a high-budget studio project and more like sitting on a worn-out couch while a friend strums a guitar two feet away from your face. This is an EP that features four distinct covers pulled from decades of practice sessions, touching everything from folk storytelling to heavy metal aggression.
This whole EP, “Time Alone Cannot Heal” exists because the artist wanted to test out different keys, tempos, and time signatures on well-known tunes before diving into a full album in 2027. Sometimes you need to test the waters and see how they feel before diving in fully. And thanks to Romesh Dodangoda and engineers Tom Williams and Ziggy Powell, they made sure the technical side was handled with care, but the soul of the project remained unpolished and it’s really lovely. You can feel those vintage sounds in there, especially the vocals, it’s feels raw and authentic as much as it can be, thanks to the set up, using a reverbophone to capture the room’s natural character and a dual-microphone vocal setup featuring a Coles microphone. Lets dive into the songs and experience each one of them.
“Nose on the Grindstone” sets the record straight for the rest of the EP to follow. This song just strips everything down to a raw acoustic storytelling. A song originally written and performed by Tyler Childers, this track takes listeners on journey through hardwork, responsibilities and keeping your cool when life hits you hard. I love how the instrumentation relies heavily on close-mic acoustic guitar work where you can hear every finger slide against the steel strings. It feels intimate and direct, like having someone guiding you through life, someone who gave you a lot history about life. We all at a point needs such a person, to guide us, and even when they are no more, we can remember their words when life hits us hard.
It’s all about knowing that life isn’t always greener and sometimes it will be rainy and sometimes the sun will scorch Soo hard. But through it all, keep going, stay focused and never give up. I love the vocal performance soo much, it feels much like a conversation with your Dad and all the words they said to you, telling you to do the best you can, and don’t lie, don’t steal. Then the frustration sets in, where you know you’ve been trying but nothing seems to work, but all he says is keep your nose on the grindstone. Probably my favorite track along with the last track, they are all great tracks btw.
“Take Me Away” slides in and shifts the tempo and atmosphere slightly, bringing in a more rhythmic momentum. It feels sparse, allowing a steady acoustic rhythm to carry the melody forward while subtle room reverb fills out the background. The vocals though, you can feel that weary edge to it, capturing the feeling of searching for a way out when life feels stuck in neutral. The acoustic strings are just too good, you can feel it in your bones and how emotional it is. Life can be frustrating and make you move around a lot just to search for a place where the grass is greener, where the water is cleaner and where you wouldn’t have to worry about tomorrow.
With “Toxicity”, where he took a massive metal anthem by System Of A Down and turning it into an acoustic workout sounds like a terrible thing someone would ever do. Because this is a track that’s relentless, intense with heavy instrumentation. Yet, he did an absolute brilliant job on it. You can feel he pace at which the acoustic strings moves, mimicking that intensity to a core not like they did it, but totally different. He replaced those heavy electric guitars with an aggressive fingerpicking. The vocals drop the frantic shouting of the original version, trading it for a tense, brooding delivery that forces you to pay attention and enjoy something in its new form. You can be in a city where everything in there is just great but has a lot of disorders, toxicity and a life that just doesn’t cut it. Everyone does what they want whenever they want, making the cool time you can actually have some peace the time when everyone’s gone to bed.
There’s no better way to end a journey than on “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)“. A track that positions itself as probably the most emotional piece of the whole EP. You can feel how careful and calm and weighty the words feel. Stripped entirely of standard pop production, this Green Day cover slows right down to a melancholic folk crawl. The guitar chords ring out with a deliberate, unhurried pace, and the vocal take sounds remarkably vulnerable. In fact, the artist’s wife joked that she wants this exact version played at her funeral, which tells you everything you need to know about the heavy, earnest weight packed into these four minutes. What’s life if you don’t have the time of your life? If you don’t enjoy those moments with friends, hang around people that bring you positive energy, do everything you wanna do, even if you have to tattoo some memories, life can take it turn on you at any moment and grab your wrist, but I hope you do have the time of your life before it does!
As the EP closes, I want to ask, can time alone heal us? We can have all the time in the world and still some pain will forever stay with us, some things cannot be forgiven and and some memories will never fade. Not because we want to hold onto them, but the magnitude of damage or love they did on us, it can never be forgotten no matter how much time passes. “Time Alone Cannot Heal” is a brilliant cover EP that you should give a listen. Not does it only make things organic and authentic, but you can feel the full nature of human in here, our flaws, our imperfections, our honesty etc. It feels weirdly good, brave, and deeply personal. So go ahead and stream “Time Alone Cannot Heal” and hear how old classics sound when someone tears them down to the studs!
Enjoyed that and want more from The7thGatekeeper? Check him out on the links below;
English