{"id":40508,"date":"2014-05-15T18:27:01","date_gmt":"2014-05-15T23:27:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=40508"},"modified":"2014-05-15T18:27:01","modified_gmt":"2014-05-15T23:27:01","slug":"ektomorf-retribution-cd-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2014\/ektomorf-retribution-cd-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Ektomorf | Retribution<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Justin Gaines<\/span>
\n– Senior Columnist\/News Editor —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"EktomorfHungarian groove merchants Ektomorf are back with a new studio album, their ninth overall, titled Retribution<\/em>. Once again the band has enlisted producer\/engineer Tue Madsen, and once again they\u2019ve delivered a thick, grooving, angry slab of modern metal.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s tempting to write off Ektomorf as simply Soulfly\/Sepultura worship, and there\u2019s absolutely no denying the influence those bands play in Ektomorf\u2019s sound, but with each new album they carve out a bit more of their own identity. And they do play this kind of thrash meets groove meets nu-metal quite well, working elements of Hatebreed, Slayer, old Korn (particularly in Szabolcs Murvai\u2019s thick bass notes) and Ill Nino (literally in this case, as Cristian Machado provides guest vocals on \u201cNumb and Sick\u201d) into Retribution\u2019s overall sound. Vocalist\/guitarist\/main songwriter Zoltan Farkas is a huge presence here, screaming his hate throughout the album and serving up massive, grooving guitar riffs.<\/p>\n

The whole album is really consistent. Perhaps too consistent at times, as the songs (and lyrics) get a bit repetitive, but Retribution is still a solid album overall. Farkas does drop down to a clean vocal style and even some acoustic guitar parts here and there, which is a cool touch especially on \u201cSave Me\u201d where the transition between chill and angry is so stark. If you\u2019re looking for other good examples of the band\/album\u2019s sound, \u201cYou Can\u2019t Control Me,\u201d \u201cWatch Me\u201d and \u201cI Hate You\u201d (a Verbal Abuse cover) ought to give you a good overview.<\/p>\n

There really aren\u2019t any surprises here. If you like the previous Ektomorf albums, Retribution is not likely to disappoint. It\u2019s music to get angry and mosh to. If you\u2019re new to the band, but like your metal heavy, grooving and angry, and you have a tolerance for the nu-metal sound, Ektomorf may be your new favorite band.<\/p>\n

Edition Notes: The CD version of Retribution comes in a digipack and includes the bonus track \u201cCollapsed Bridge.\u201d<\/p>\n

Genre: Heavy metal, groove metal, nu-metal<\/p>\n

Lineup:
\nZoltan Farkas (v) (g)
\nSzabolcs Murvai (b)
\nTamas Schrottner (g)
\nRobert Jaska (d)<\/p>\n

Track Listing:
\n1.\tYou Can\u2019t Control Me
\n2.\tTen Plagues
\n3.\tFace Your Fear
\n4.\tEscape
\n5.\tWho the F___ Are You
\n6.\tNumb and Sick
\n7.\tLost and Destroyed
\n8.\tSouls of Fire
\n9.\tI Hate You
\n10.\tWatch Me
\n11.\tMass Ignorance
\n12.\tSave Me
\n13.\tWhisper
\n14.\tCollapsed Bridge<\/p>\n

Label: AFM Records<\/p>\n

Website: www.ektomorf.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven Rating: 7.5\/10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Justin Gaines – Senior Columnist\/News Editor — Hungarian groove merchants Ektomorf are back with a new studio album, their ninth overall, titled Retribution. Once again the band has enlisted producer\/engineer Tue Madsen, and once […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":40509,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10848],"tags":[8645,2317,9316,1096,2491,5436,9317],"class_list":{"0":"post-40508","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arcrvws2014","8":"tag-afm-records","9":"tag-cd-review","10":"tag-ektomorf","11":"tag-groove-metal","12":"tag-heavy-metal","13":"tag-nu-metal","14":"tag-retribution"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40508"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40508\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}