Ektomorf is still going strong.
Since 1994, the Hungarian band led by Zoltán Farkas (guitar/vocals) and now completed by Abris Hagya (guitar), Csaba Zahorán (bass) and Akos Kobela (drums) has been mixing Groove, Hardcore and Thrash, and the recipe also incorporates Nu Metal elements on Vivid Black, their seventeenth album, released by AFM Records.
I’m Your Last Hope (The Rope Around Your Neck) offers an intriguing introduction before revealing the band’s trademark: simple catchy riffs perfectly following the singer’s rantings. Saturated vocals dominate, but we have a few hints of clean vocals in the choruses, before Die‘s jerky rhythm takes over, fully asserting its furious roots, which hold great promise for any thrill-seeking pit. Once again, the unifying break hits the nail on the head, before the band rushes back into Never Be The Same Again with its roots in the late ‘90s American scene. The composition is quite short, as is I Don’t Belong To You, which wastes no time in bludgeoning us with explosive rage, sometimes coupled with a few dissonant leads that contrast with the massive groove. Fade Away follows, still scattering the few touches of clean vocals as a semblance of calm in this hurricane of fury, then it’s with a larsen that the band leads us to You And Me and its inexhaustible energy, which the band expresses with raw heaviness and power. Vivid Black, the eponymous track, allows us a moment’s respite with its eerie introduction, but saturation soon resurfaces to settle on heady tones and build an unstable but effective mix before giving way to the stirring The Best Of Me, which can only rely on its borderline melancholy refrains to ensure a semblance of calm. You Belong There immediately follows with its catchy rhythm, but it doesn’t take long for it to accelerate thanks to an omnipresent double kick and a lively blast, then the sound gradually fades out before REM comes in to develop an anguished sound, which the band accompanies with ominous clean vocals and a few bursts of violence.
Ektomorf is a band in constant evolution, never denying its roots but reshaping them. Fans of 90s Nu Metal will be delighted to listen to Vivid Black, which plays as much on its heaviness as on its Old School sounds.
70/100