| CD REVIEW Ektomorf |
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Band : Ektomorf This Hungarian Groove Thrash Metal band based in the town of Mezökovacsháza near the Romanian border, is hardly an unknown entity to us at Concrete Web. Founded in 1993 by singer/ guitarist Zoltán Farkas [who's the only remaining original member in today's line-up, completed by guitarist Tamás Schrottner (joined in 2004), bassist Szabolcs Murvai (2008) and drummer Gergely Tarin (most recent recruit, replacing the 2010 departed Jószef Szakáks), and heavily influenced by Sepultura and Soulfly, the band went through 4 albums (1996's Hangok, 1998's Ektomorf, 2000's Kalyi Jag, and 2002's I Scream Up To The Sky) before starting a collaboration with Danish producer Tue Madsen in 2003, with the 2004 album Destroy as a first result. An album which also broke the band internationally, in spite of the racism and prejudice Zoltan always came up against due to his gypsy background. Followed tours in Europe, and evidently more albums (2005's Instinct, 2006's Outcast and the live Live And Raw: You Get What You Give, and 2009's What Doesn't Kill Me – the latter reviewed by colleague Ivan and posted on 04/03/2009). Live promotion of that album went on well into 2010, with Summer festival appearances (including With Full Force and Wacken Open Air) often done as headliners. Earlier in the year the band had already spent some time at Madsen's Antfarm Studio, resulting in a 3-track EP entitled The Gypsy Way, which was distributed as part of the bonus features (there was also an exclusive poster, and the whole was packaged in a nice hard cover box) of the “Festival Edition” of their 2009 album. The new album was again recorded at Antfarm at the beginning of August of last (and yes, recording sessions were interrupted for 2 festivals, including Wacken), and holds all usual Ektomorf household elements, and more! Halfway the album we find the band starting to bring some calmer vocals in their material, beginning with the surprisingly calm overall “Sea Of Misery” (which even has some acoustic guitar passages). More calmer vocals also come in the ensuing “The One #” and “Stigmatized”, but overall those songs are quite closer to the band's harsher stuff, than that beautiful ballad. By the way, a video was made for that track (as well as for album opener “Last Flight”) in September. Bottom line, Madsenagain provided the Hungarians with a truly fat sound which brings out the best in the band's music! Lyrically, the singer deals with such topics as discrimination, society's ills, pain and anger, but also shows the will to survive through it all. Now...to find some music off the new album on the Internet? That's a difficult one, because when I checked the band's MySpace page I only found older material. Still, if you hadn't heard of the band before, the 5 tracks posted there will give you a satisfactory introduction to the band. In the case you already knew the band...well, you should knów what's to be expected, but I guess the doubters among you could check out the samples usually provided by the trusted online sales websites, or check out the album at your local record store. Keep in mind you may not wanna leave the shop without being able to call a copy of the album your own! 90/100 Tony. |