Ektomorf - Destroy
Nuclear Blast - NB 1229-2 - 2004
By Philip Whitehouse
Destroy, the fifth album by the Hungarian 'thrashcore' (their words, not mine) quartet, is causing a serious division in opinion amongst the metal journalists of the world. About half of them are hailing it as a crushing steamroller of a metal album, spiced up with elements of singer/guitarist Farkas Zoltan's Hungarian gypsy heritage in the form of gypsy chants and melodies buried within the grooves. The other half are baying for Zoltan's blood for being responsible for the most unforgiveable plagiarism of Max Cavalera's more recent material in human history.
Personally, I think both camps are right. I mean, if Cavalera actually replaced Zoltan on vocals for this record, nobody would even notice. The riffs and song structure are so blatantly influenced by early Soulfly and Chaos A.D./Roots-era Sepultura that it's not even funny. But on the other hand, we allow reams of bands that clone Carcass free reign over the death metal scene, and not a murmur of protest is heard - and the fact is that Ektomorf are playing this style of music a lot better than Maxie-boy has been recently.
The guitar riffs haven't followed Max's recent descent into two-note moron-fests, instead focusing on chunky, percussive grooves mixed up with hooky, thrashier moments. The drums batter away as though being hit with mallets rather than sticks, the bass helps punctuate the monstrous grooves, and occasionally shades of light and dark in the form of European-sounding gypsy-styled lead breaks, spanish guitar introductions and samples of atmospheric Hungarian folk chants. All in all, this is the Hungarian version of Soulfly, if Soulfly were more talented than they actually are. Which can't be all that bad, can it?
7/10
Ektomorf Official Website
Nuclear Blast Records
Nuclear Blast - NB 1229-2 - 2004
By Philip Whitehouse
Destroy, the fifth album by the Hungarian 'thrashcore' (their words, not mine) quartet, is causing a serious division in opinion amongst the metal journalists of the world. About half of them are hailing it as a crushing steamroller of a metal album, spiced up with elements of singer/guitarist Farkas Zoltan's Hungarian gypsy heritage in the form of gypsy chants and melodies buried within the grooves. The other half are baying for Zoltan's blood for being responsible for the most unforgiveable plagiarism of Max Cavalera's more recent material in human history.
Personally, I think both camps are right. I mean, if Cavalera actually replaced Zoltan on vocals for this record, nobody would even notice. The riffs and song structure are so blatantly influenced by early Soulfly and Chaos A.D./Roots-era Sepultura that it's not even funny. But on the other hand, we allow reams of bands that clone Carcass free reign over the death metal scene, and not a murmur of protest is heard - and the fact is that Ektomorf are playing this style of music a lot better than Maxie-boy has been recently.
The guitar riffs haven't followed Max's recent descent into two-note moron-fests, instead focusing on chunky, percussive grooves mixed up with hooky, thrashier moments. The drums batter away as though being hit with mallets rather than sticks, the bass helps punctuate the monstrous grooves, and occasionally shades of light and dark in the form of European-sounding gypsy-styled lead breaks, spanish guitar introductions and samples of atmospheric Hungarian folk chants. All in all, this is the Hungarian version of Soulfly, if Soulfly were more talented than they actually are. Which can't be all that bad, can it?
7/10
Ektomorf Official Website
Nuclear Blast Records
