AMASEFFER – Slaves For Life

Slaves For Life has to be the debut release of AMASEFFER – and it is outstanding!
With the old-testamentary story of the Israelite’s exodus, this young band has managed to create an absolutely coherent album, using all kinds and types of variety in music, though always presenting a homogeneous overall impression. Being superb in sound and production Slaves For Life offers not only a downright long perseverance, emerges in parts as a soundtrack, atmospherically supporting a great movie, but also reveals excellent vocalists with Mats Leven (former Malmsteen), Kobi Farhi and guest singer Angela Gossow (Arch Enemy).
At all opulence AMASEFFER avoid unnecessary bombast and pure complacency. Between dainty Folk, oriental melodiousness tending passages and heavy, dark metal with aggressive vocals, the band ranges in with unbelievable certainty. No matter if they celebrate Birth Of Deliverance in a elegiac way, arouse memories of Dario Argentos favorite band Goblin with Burning Bush, or interlace tender as well as electrically heavy and distorted guitar solos – nothing is overloaded or ends in itself. AMASEFFER dare to consequently show big feelings, to cross boundaries and to take the listener on a journey, neither being afraid to use radio play-like sequences, movie-like sound effects and orchestral sounds, nor double bass attacks, short growls and striking breaks. But AMASEFFER owns the musicians as well as the melodies and rhythms for this undertaking. No crooning, all songs are full of energy and power and easily sweep all possible criticisms of chumming up, esoteric World music aside. Slaves For Life is an excessive, beguiling and complex conceptual masterpiece, that reveals new secrets with every new run. I think Mr. Arjen Lucassen will go green with envy when listening to Slaves For Life, because this young Israeli band seemingly effortless manages what he can’t do over the length of an entire album: to produce a highly dramatic record, that breathes the ghost of the world cultural heritage but still stand in the here and now at the right moment with its impact and heaviness.
Despite of the excellent Opeth release Watershed, Slaves For Life is MY album of the month in June 2008, and a hot aspirant for the first row for my personal poll of the year!
For being just a debut - Slaves For Life is almost unbelievable!