Band: Root
Title: Hell Symphony
Label: I Hate Records
Distribution: Bertus
Release date: 10/12/2008
Review: re-release-CD

First about the Swedish I Hate-label: hail! This label isn’t that ‘big’ (yet), but the material they are releasing lately, well, it’s a wet dream to every extreme Metal fan, especially fans from Doom, Black and Death Metal. Besides, the label is re-releasing older recordings that are difficult to get and that makes me modestly excited. Amongst these are a few older Root-albums too.
Root is an old band from the Czech Republic. The formation was formed more than twenty years ago by Big Boss, who is also known as the founder of the Czechian Church Of Satan (to be complete correct: it was in Czecho-Slovakia back then), and Blackie (Peter Hosek). In the early years, Root stood for an old-school oriented form of Black Metal, inspired by bands as Venom and Bathory. The first releases brought an old school form of blackish Metal, but as from the end of the first half of the nineties, the musical (and vocal) approach changed into a more atmospheric Dark Metal-direction. But even though the musical approach changed a lot, the ‘core’ has always been as ‘black’ as before.
One of the Root-albums that gets re-released by I Hate is Hell Symphony, which was originally recorded in 1991 and released through (the unknown label) Zeras. Hell Symphony has been re-released before through Cacophonous (1996, with two additional tracks), in 2001 on a double-CD with Kärgeräs (also with bonus tracks), and as a 12” picture-disc in 2007. Indeed, all of them are interesting because of the additional songs (with exception of the 2007-EP), and the same goes for this re-issue, because it does also contain some bonus material.
The album itself isn’t the most complex recording ever. As a matter of fact, Root’s strength has nothing to do with performing complex material, yet on the contrary their importance can be defined by the honest approach of their music. Hell Symphony brings darkness with a sound that reminds me to the early bands from Greece. The compositions are pretty simple (meaning: no mathematic riffs, no sudden tempo-changes, no avant-garde elements nor progressive modernism) and I cannot but praise it, because in Root’s case it fits, it just does! The tempo varies from pretty slow to pretty fast, but don’t expect blasting extremities. And the atmosphere, grim and cold, exhales a superiority that equals the old atmosphere that characterized not only the Greek scene, yet also the Norwegian / Swedish one, the East-European one, even the South-American one. Another element that makes this album pretty unique is the implementation of a few ‘apart’ elements. Some songs are completely different from the ‘normal standards’. An example: Satan, which isn’t a ‘Metal’-song, but a filthy and obscure track with morbid vocals, tribal drums and a noisy undertone. Another example: the (semi-) acoustic song The Prayers or the almost punkish and grinding track The Oath.
A surplus are Big Boss’s vocals. His wide range includes harsh growls, a rough ‘normal’ voice and pitch-black screams. Besides, on this album it’s the first time English lyrics are introduced.
The re-release comes with a few bonus tracks, all recorded live and with an acceptable sound quality (not ‘good’, just acceptable).

--/100

Ivan Tibos.