The Book

Root is known as one of the most unique bands to grace the world of black metal and regular heavy metal for many reasons. Though they haven't really been black metal for a while, the intense darkness, extremity, and lavish occult atmosphere with a penchant for the satanic and the sinister is still very much around, even though The Book goes for a sound that is firmly rooted in expansive and grandiose melodies and an almost operatic take on heavy metal. The air of mystery and the size of the sound are the greatest assets that The Book has in a general musical sense. The unique and powerful vocals of Big Boss are a more specific asset on here, as they are with almost all of Root's music. His voice, plus the massive, grand sound of The Book and its songs make for something strange and enshrouded in darkness, but beautiful and mightily heavy.

Every song makes use of a massive, multilayered sonic blueprint to make all of The Book explode with a gigantic presence. Every song sounds like a massive epic, even the shorter songs are much mightier than one might expect. There is a diversity to this with its use of guitars and vocals. The acoustic guitars and mighty, soaring, operatic vocals of Big Boss make for an atmosphere unlike any other on "The Mystical Words of the Wise" and "Corabeu Part 2" that gives these songs a real mystique. I also love the rises and falls in the guitar riffs which gives the already crushing guitars a sense of class and intelligence to go along with the strange tales being spun forth. They sound as though we're here to enjoy some theatrical strangeness of the gothic variety. Everything is rich in composition and in pathos. The booming low vocals of Big Boss are unusual and imposing like the kind of demonic preacher he styles himself as in real life. That is something adds a truly unique flair to The Book, a giant and rich-sounding album.

Much of what's on offer in The Book is meant to overflow with dark charisma. The riffs also do this with some of them really doing their best to create a dark, epic sound. They have a galloping quality to them that's familiar to anyone who's listened to a lot of the old classics, but with an increased flair for the operatic which gives every song on here a solid rhythmic foundation to sweep you up in the winds of the music. Presence is everything in The Book and its guitars that range from galloping to brooding, help to really amplify that presence.

If you can find the I Hate Records re-pressing of The Book they add some extras to the end that are worth hearing. The demos that consist of one rough mix and a bunch of songs with Big Boss and a synthesizer singing prototypes of his songs. Where Boss and the synthesizer are present, the demos have a very sparse and spooky quality. His voice is still commanding and strong despite having a lower recording quality. They are interesting to say the least, and definitely worth looking for.

With all of this being considered, I really love The Book. This is an album where a strong presence and epic composition with a powerful voice blend together to create something truly unique. Every song bleeds darkness and does so in such a way that it still feels sophisticated, despite how strange it all is. This is some dense, well-layered, rich, decadent heavy metal with just the right amount of black metal ethos and all-enveloping, gloomy pathos. There's plenty of listening to be done for this album as it's one of the strangest and strongest out there with plenty to experience from multiple listens in its massive, involved compositions. For mysterious, dark, and grandiose metal with an operatic flair, give The Book a spin.

1999 saw Root release The Book. This was the band’s fifth album and first truly spectacular release. Root had steadily progressed since the time of Hell Symphony with a couple of albums that saw the band steadily carving out a unique space for themselves in the extreme metal world but this is where it all came together.

The Book sees the band move well and truly away from any black metal comparisons and the result is an album that falls somewhere between traditional heavy metal, doom and folk. The biggest change is in the vocals of Big Boss who by now had given up on almost all the black metal shrieking and instead was focusing big time on his awe inspiring baritone, whispered spoken word and clean singing. The songs too had changed with no discernable black or thrash influences. Instead, what we got was epic sounding mid paced compositions that might have something in common with Bathory’s Hammerheart and Twilight of the Gods in terms of feel but with a far superior vocalist and more concise and well written songs.

It’s quite impossible for me to pick out individual songs for praise because I’d end up doing a song by song review and lavishing praise on all of it. Still, this review would be incomplete if I didn’t mention the genius of Mystical Words of the Wise (somewhere between folk, doom and Bathory), The Curse – Durron (a mid-paced metal song with Boss’s powerful baritone taking centre stage), Corabeu I and II (which has the kind of folk meets metal atmosphere that most Viking bands would kill for) and the truly spectacular Lykorean which is basically the grooviest song they’ve ever written that’s powered by a Cello and Boss’s superb vocal performance.

Now, after all the praise, I have to say that maybe Root is not for everybody. For one thing, Big Boss’s vocals might take a bit of getting used to and might even put you off initially. The songwriting seems simple at first but contains enough subtle nuances to make The Book a very rewarding listening experience worthy of multiple listens.

Root hit a new level of creativity and song writing on this album. I’m repeating myself here but there really is no band around like Root. Every comparison I’ve made here will be rendered superfluous when you get round to hearing the music on offer in this album. Having said all of this, the band would go on to erase the benchmark set on this album with 2007s Daemon Viam Invenient but I Hate is not re-issuing that album just yet and for now The Book is completely essential.

The re-issue comes with expanded layout and four bonus tracks which are basically demos from The Book recordings.

Originally written for http://www.kvltsite.com

From drummer and bassist to guitarist and vocalist, the occult lyrical theme and strange songwriting, Root, hailing from Czech, is probably the oddest band I’ve heard and one of the most fascinating ones as well. They have a songwriting and style that I’m sure will bounce right off some people’s ears. To fully enjoy Root, one must change his expectations of how good music is supposed to sound. After all, Root is about the unpredictable, the unconventional and the innovative. Once you’ve thrown any preconceptions out the window, prepare to enter the bizarre world of Root.

Root’s The Book can be likened to a good story being told. Imagine back to a time when you were only a little a kid. You’re in a dimly lit room lying in bed. The house you’re in creaks from a wind that’s blowing furiously outside. You’re waiting for your grandma to come tell you a good night story. However, instead of grandma, a twisted old creature called Root enters. Unsure of whether the creature it there to eat you or worse, it stops by your bed and begins to tell a tale of horror and imagination…

… And our “tale” begins with the title song, which sets the tone right from the start with a mystical guitar intro, a menacing rhythm-gallop and some theatrical and booming vocals from mastermind Jiøí ‘Big Boss’ Walter. Already you realize this is far more immersive and captivating than anything your grandma could have told you. The epic pace and dense atmosphere pulls you in mercilessly right from the start, as does the inspired voice of Big Boss, whose style ranges from gruff melody to his (by now) more commonly used clean baritone, diversified with some blackish screams and rasps and regular clean, mid-range vocals. Enriched with a bunch of sound effects, the production is a step up from Temple in the Underworld which lacked a bit in detail and power. It’s pretty obvious the band had access to a good studio because the sound is as rich and detailed as could be expected from a 1999 album.

There are some moments (especially on ‘The Mystical Words of the Wise’ and ‘Corabeu part 1 and 2’) that sound a bit strange even for being Root, as the band experiments a bit with atmospheric rock, folk, and I don’t know what, but it works (on a level that seems reserved for this band only) and that’s the important thing. ‘The Curse – Durron’ is a song that is typical for Root. Upon initial listen it comes across as a disjointed, incoherent song with only a few idiosyncrasies jumping out on occasion to snag you in. With a little patience and multiple listens it eventually starts to make sense though, and all of a sudden you have a brilliant song on your hands.

Worthy of mention is ‘The Birth’ which stands as the catchiest, most straightforward offering on the album, with one humongous, instantly memorable killer riff and some evil-sounding, charismatic vocals from Big Boss. A testament to Root’s ingenious songwriting is the fascinating ‘Lykorian’, which is powered of what I think is a cello - a crappy idea on paper but it works great here. Near the end of the tale we the absolute highlight: ‘The Message of Time’, one epic monster of a song clocking in at 7:46 minutes. Intricately woven, the song moves from a slow, spoken all-acoustic intro, to a stalking, atmospheric pace supported by melodic leads. Closing out the song, our acoustic guitar returns, finished by a mighty, clean-sung crescendo. On the last page of our “book” is the aptly titled ‘Remember Me’, featuring some melodic guitar work, mood-setting keyboards and wicked chanting. I say last page because the last track, consisting mostly of some sound effects, can’t really be considering a song. Root has a habit of including a final track with little musical value on their releases, usually made up of sound effects and/or chanting. Jiøí Walter has explained that they do it to give the customer his money’s worth, and that’s fine by me really, the last song can always be skipped, if you’re not into that sort of thing.

In a way I feel privileged to have discovered Root since I stumbled upon them by accident. The band doesn’t seem to be promoted much outside Czech Rep. by its label and word-of-mouth support seems strangely non-existent. Safe to say, not many people know about this band, which is a shame. I could be selfish and call this my little band and devour in their outputs like it was something being rationed but, considering the rare skills and artistic integrity they possess, they deserve better, so I guess I have to pull my straw to the stack and give a wholehearted recommendation - especially to those who wish to expand their musical taste.

It's no secret that Czech Republic's vast array of atmospheric metal bands deserve the greatest degree of respect for their trailblazing efforts. Root, the country's longest standing cult metal act, shouldn't be ruled out from its countrymen, but the band's latest offering, The Book, shows a markedly different direction for the band that inspired Anathema, Moonspell and Rotting Christ. Less black metal than ever before, Root sounds is a schizophrenic hybrid of traditional metal, folk music and atmospheric rock. As a metal record, Root's music borders on brilliance, where the aforementioned elements collide in sonic weirdness. The title track and "The Curse — Durron" follow a meandering course of jagged metal, where "The Mystical Words of the Wise" is a melancholy folk anthem that would probably fit the score for Ralph Bakshi's animated "Lord of the Rings" perfectly. For peculiarity's sake, compare Root's vocals to Masters Hammer's The Filmenence Occultist. — only stranger. It is bizarre and equally difficult to become acquainted with. To those familiar with Czech bands, it doesn't sound that obscure or different, but just wait until you hear Big Boss' Moonspell-meets-Danzig-meets-Roy Orbison vocal performance. Though annoying and silly during the first few listens Boss' vocal display works quite well with the serendipitous songwriting. Ok, it's easy to digest Moonspell and Danzig comparisons, but Roy Orbison? It's true, and as much as I hate to admit it, it really works. On "Corabeu - part one" and "Corabeu - part two" Big Boss sounds as if he's trying to serenade some lonely housewife while guitarists Blackie, Ashok and Alesh churn out stylish rhythms that would make Eddie Van Halen envious. Of course, the album isn't as eccentric as it's made out to be. "The Birth," the most level-headed track on The Book, is the band's finest hour. It's not because Big Boss' gravel-throated rasps return, but the guitar/keyboard arrangements here are spectacular, almost divine. "Remember Me!" is another example of the band's ability to write excellently crafted dark metal. In reality, when checking out Eastern Europe's finest bands, it would be best to find out which ones focus more on traditional songwriting than to venture into concept realms inhabited by the likes of Root and Forgotten Silence. But if you've braved enough 'grounded' songsmithing and are looking for experimental fare, then, by all means, check out The Book and albums like it.