EKTOMORF – Instinct

The Metalcore genre has really exploded lately, with lots of new bands coming up, and although the genre definitely has a certain creativity problem – way too many new bands sound very much the same – and clearly has the potential to fall into the trap Melodic Power Metal did by producing far too many bands with far too few fresh ideas and inspirations … there are always exceptions, and Ektomorf is one of these. This Hungarian lot is releasing their second album on Nuclear Blast (their fifth total), and although this isn’t the world’s most inventive platter, this is quality music through and through.

Through a total of 12 tracks, the band presents every aspect of the genre from up-tempo pieces (“I Break You,” “Instinct,” “Until The End”) through more laid-back groove based tracks (“The Holy Noise,” “You Get What You Give”) and some more atonal tracks with the compulsory Rage Against the Machine-riff thrown in for good measure (“Show Your Fist” and “Fuck You All”). The punk-influence is also present, especially in tracks like those last mentioned. One of the things that separates this band from the lot is the way they integrate their Gypsy heritage into the music, sort of like Sepultura used to do (although not to that extent).

Producer Tue Madsen freshens up the soundscape with something that sounds like sitar or something on some occasions, and songs like “United Nations” have rather exotic sounding melody lines. This definitely freshens up the sound.

The band – consisting of Zolan Farkas (vocals, guitars), Tomas Schrottner (guitars), Csaba Farkas (bass), Jozsef Szakacz (drums) – is also very good at creating variation inside each track by changing dynamics and bringing on new riffs instead of chumping too long on one single riff. “Instinct,” “Until The End,” and the more epic sounding ending track “I Will” are good examples of this.

These four camo-clad young men have definitely come up with a very good effort, and there is no reason why they shouldn’t get some publicity both through underground and major channels, and this material should make for some great live performances.