Escape

When I first listened to this cd I was totally appalled by what I heard. The mixture of lead vocalist Zet and female vocalist Sfinx brings about images of insanity and the desperate plea for escape.

The first song in this album, R.I.P, begins with the maddening whispers of Zet as he becons you to enter the world of distorted thoughts, the slow sound of a door creak gives you a clear picture what exactly you are being invited to as a fast paced guitar riff by Zet and the chilling, insane voice of Sfinx demonstrate just how powerful irrational lyrics and otherworldly keyboards can be.

The second song, Queen, takes you deeper into Ram-Zet's asylum. The fast guitar riffs and derranged keyboarding compliment each other and are a good equilibrium with what the intended goal of this song was, to pull the listener and keep him/her in their world until the cd is finished.

The third track, The Clausterphobic Journey, holds true to its title. To me the lyrics reflect upon a refuge for the chaos of the mental storm. Sfinx' voice is extremely calm and unsettling as she calms the mind with the promise of peace that can never be obtained. Zet's vocals once again accomplish the impossible with his extremely high notes and screeching shrieks.

The fourth song, Sound of Tranquility followed by a short conclusion titled Peace? Is my personal favorite. The lyrics are very well thought out as both femals and male vocals show the side of the mind that desires inner peace from the conflict within. The song begins with the haunting whispers of Sfinx and the sounds of soft breathing, then all hell breaks loose as an awesome unison of guitar and bass are introduced. The song ends with the very tranquil Peace interlude.

The rest of the cd I would dare not spoil, but I do guarantee that this album is but a taste of things to come from this very talented band.

I've been meaning to give this album a review for quite a while. The band displays an impressive array of different textures achieved with layers of violins and keyboards going over rough power chords and top notch singing. The female singing is really better than what you'd expect from any other metal band, soft and angelic, yet can keep the pace with the faster tempos. There's a dude that does vocals too, he kind of sounds like a better Danni Filth. Not only can he do the screeching growls, he does some clean singing which is pretty damn good too.The best description I could give the music is that it's symphonic, experimental, avant-garde gothic metal, with a small hint of thrashy black metal. You won't find much bands that sound like this really, they arranged a lot of different melodies. It's unconventional how they have the violins parallel the guitar. Try imagining bits and pieces of Arcturus, Cradle of Filth, Emperor, Novembre, Symphony X, and Lacuna Coil, with no borders, no predictable structures. The female and male vocals seem to communicate with each other too, some sort of story is going on with the lyrics. Kind of like what Bal-Sagoth does.

The name Ram-Zet is probably the only bad thing about this band, as it makes them sound kinda cheesy. Aside from the name, this is one great band, who deliver a unique sound in a time where many bands played a oft copied style.

Describing the bands sound is really something you have to do yourself when hearing it. My best description would be melodic black/death, with gothic influences and more. Think like Arcturus in a way. The songs are all long and change pace and direction many times. The singing comes from Zet, who has a black metal scream/shriek, but still manages to sound fairly unique. He does not do all the singing though, as he trades off with female vocals, provided by Sfinx. Not only does the band create an original sound, they also deliver in the lyrics department.

The cd could be considered a concept album, as the entire cd makes up a story. The basic jist of it is a man living in a mental hospital and the nurse he becomes friends with. The cd follows their story, with Zet singing the part of the man and Sfinx singing the nurse's parts. They both want to escape, hence the title of the cd.

Now the songs themselves are all quite an experience to listen to. They tell a story, are all long and change enough so that they don't get boring or tedious. If I went into each song, I would be typing this for a long time, as there is many elements at work in each song. To try and sum each song up is hard, but I will try. Basically they have 50/50 singing between Zet and Sfinx. The is riffs, solos, keyboards, violins, double bass, very noticable bass lines and more. I would say they are like Opeth, Arcturus, Lacuna Coil, to name a few bands, all mixed together. An example is at 3:54 of "Claustrophobic Journey" there is a funky bass line, at the same time as violin. Sounds weird, but it works!

There really isn't much more I can say about this cd, aside that its really unique. This is very worth your time and its one of my fave cds from this year.