Ektomorf – Outcast

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Nuclear Blast
Produced by Tue Madsen

Hungary’s biggest metal exports aren’t sitting back. Last year they released the excellent Instinct and followed it up in early 2006 with a live CD and DVD, Live And Raw. With albums in their own language in ’96 and ’98, then mostly English releases in 2000, 2002 and 2004, and relentless touring in between, Ektomorf operate like a metal band of old, and that traditional commitment can be heard in the quality of each release.

Outcast opens with some middle-eastern flavoured melodies (as does Ambush In The Night) before the usual brutal riffs and vicious vocals Ektomorf fans will be used to. The band still sound like Max Cavalera period Sepultura in many ways but they have carved out a sound of their own and people who label them a Sepultura copycat band are being wholly unfair.

Each track follows Ektomorf’s established aggressive formula and a strong feeling of resistance and defiance permeates the album. I’m Against, I Confront My Enemy and Leave Me Alone say it all in the titles, but title track Outcast and later We Rise also scream back at exclusion and oppression with an unprecedented level of venom. Smatterings of Slayer appear in certain tracks, particularly Ambush In The Night with its frantic pace and shredding solos while the groove achieved in the middle of I Choke (another anti-society song) recall rap-metal pioneers Stuck Mojo.

Other influences can be heard elsewhere. No other track on the album brings the Sepultura (or even Soulfly) similarities to the fore more than Red I, Fuel My Fire has some Korn-esque elements to it, and the traditional eastern flavours return in the intro to I Confront My Enemy.

Fans of Sepultura, Soulfly, Slayer etc. will be right at home with Ektomorf, but that’s not to say that they just sound like they’re copying those bands. Ektomorf have their own defined sound and when guitarist Tamas Schrottner starts soloing over the punishing riffs and vocalist Zoltan Farkas’ anger-filled growls you know you’re listening to something different and unique. The rhythms in Ektomorf songs are something altogether original and the way Farkas and Schrottner combine their guitars with bassist Csaba Farkas’ rolling bass has a powerful effect. This is something Geezer Butler used to do with Black Sabbath, playing the same melodies and riffs as the guitars to strengthen the sound. Ektomorf have taken that technique and applied it to a more extreme sounds than the single-guitar Black Sabbath had.

Whether or not Outcast is better than previous efforts is hard to say. There’s certainly more backing sounds on it compared to previous album Instinct, which had a much more straight forward metal song approach, with no additional sounds. This makes Outcast a little more varied as the eastern melodies and voices serve to break up an otherwise unrelenting attack. Put simply, listen to some Ektomorf, like all Ektomorf. They’re one of those bands that, if it’s your kind of thing, you’ll want it all.

“ established aggressive formula ”

Tracklist: Outcast / I Choke / Ambush In The Night / I’m Against / We Rise / Red I / Who Can I Trust (Prayer) / Leave Me Alone / Fuel My Fire / I Confront My Enemy / Hell Is Here / Chamunda
Special Edition Bonus Tracks: Serial Man (rehearsal) / Fire (rehearsal) / You Leech (rehearsal)

Written by Andy Lye
More: Albums, Heavy Metal (Extreme Vocals), Ektomorf