Outcast in Bloomington, MN

Ektomorf
's wholesale worship of
Max Cavalera
's
Soulfly
has already been exhaustively documented, and their apparent inability to -- or indifference about -- stepping out from under this stylistic shadow gains another chapter in 2007's frankly reverential
Outcast
. Of course, this being a year in which
didn't release an album of their own, perhaps the boys in
are simply providing a much needed service to
heavy metal
music consumers -- just like any other quality cover band out there. Whatever the case, after punching in with
's utterly predictable title track (yet another retread of
Sepultra
"Roots Bloody Roots"
or the
'fly
"Eye for a Eye"
), the Hungarians dive into a more generalized but, no less archaic, nu-metal blueprint based largely on
Slipknot
and the signature
Ross Robinson
"dirty" guitar sound for tracks like
"I Choke"
and
"I'm Against"
(containing a very
Cavalera
-like cry of "Fuck this sheet!"). Momentary flashes of individual thought do threaten to emerge within the gypsy-styled intro to
"Ambush in the Night"
and the mostly acoustic, faux-sitar-laden
"Who Can I Trust,"
but it's all so little, compared to the inescapable
-isms dominating material like
"We Rise,"
"Leave Me Alone,"
"I Confront My Enemy."
And even the frequent elements of Eastern melodicism which crop up throughout (and dominate the ethereal
"Chamunda"
) were probably themselves inspired by
's own immersion in similar regional music types on their most recent outing. Sigh -- what else can one say?
are ultimately pretty good at what they do -- too bad it's essentially what someone else does, and they're just warming up the leftovers. [The CD was also released with a bonus track.] ~ Eduardo Rivadavia