EPHRAT – No One’s Words

How often do you hear of really good bands from Israel? Not too often, huh? In times like these it’s good to hear something other than the sound of bombs from this part of the world. No One’s Words is the first full-length album from the Progressive Rockers of Ephrat. Let it be no secret; No One’s Words is the best Progressive Rock album to be released in 2008. It’s possibly even the best Progressive Rock release in years.

The band’s mastermind Omer Ephrat have succeeded in mixing in the ethnic sounds of his country along with more modern Rock/Metal sounds, and fans of early Progressive Rock bands like Yes, King Crimson and Jethro Tull should absolutely find something of interest in this release. In addition you’ll find heavier parts, which according to Ephrat, are influenced by modern bands like Megadeth and Porcupine Tree. Vocalist/guitarist of the latter band, Steve Wilson, has mixed and mastered the album.

The first song, “The Show,” is a relatively heavy track that, in the spirit of true Progressive Rock, goes through a lot of different parts. Vocalist Lior Seker’s voice is the first thing about this song to impress you. He has a beautiful voice that suits Ephrat’s music extremely well. In the middle of the song we are introduced to Ephrat’s ethnic side for the first time. With acoustic guitars, a flute, a rainmaker and bongo drums we are slowly taken from this part and into a more aggressive version of the same riff with more Metal sounding guitars.

On the next song, “Haze,” they’ve gotten a little help from guest vocalist Petronella Nettermalm (Paatos) who has also written the lyrics for the song. This song is nothing like the first and has a more Portishead-like feel to it. Nettmalm’s voice adds an atmospheric feel to the song and along with electronic elements and strings she manages to add the little extra to this record.

“Better Than Anything” continues in the same pattern that “The Show” ended in. Despite being a slow and heavy track it’s also very emotional and this is much the result of Seker’s voice and Ephrat’s wailing guitar solos and flute playing. The ethnic part of this song mixes various styles and real acoustic ethnic playing on top of power chords is cool no matter what.
“Blocked” is the shortest track on the record with its four minutes and fifty-five seconds. This is a guitar driven instrumental track that also lets drummer Tomer Z (of Blackfield fame) show off a bit.

“The Sum Of Damage Done (Silhouettes I-V)” is an amazing track with guest vocal performance by Daniel Gildenlöw (Pain Of Salvation), who also wrote the lyrics for this almost ten minutes long track. Gildenlöw makes an impressive performance and the song mixes various styles that could reminiscent the sound of Pink Floyd meets Rush or something crazy like that.

The final track, “Real (attempts I-3),” starts off a bit heavy, but suddenly a piano enters and along with big band sounds and Seker’s voice with some kind of cool effect on it, this starts to reminiscent strongly of Jethro Tull in its prime. Throughout the almost nineteen minutes that the song lasts, we are introduced to many different parts with electronic elements, Hammond organ, parts driven by acoustic guitars and styles honoring the different eras of Progressive Rock.

No One’s Words is a varied album and every song visits many different parts. Every now and then they skip an 8th note to make the riffs more “interesting.” It’s very difficult to pick the best song off this album as the album is really diverse and all the songs are great. There are no detectable flaws here and as mentioned earlier in this review; if you’re only going to listen to one Progressive Rock album from 2008, this is the one you should buy.

Lineup

Omer Ephrat: Keyboards, flute, guitars
Lior Seker: Lead vocals
Gili Rosenberg: Bass
Tomer Z: Drums

Tracklist

1. The Show 10:31
2. Haze 7:13
3. Better Than Anything 8:26
4. Blocked 4:55
5. The Sum Of Damage Done (Silhouettes I-V) 9:36
6. Real (attempts I-3) 18:58