ROOT Zjeveni DIGIPACK [CD]

I am not too wild about new Root material. It’s not my cup of tea at all, really. Their old stuff however (the demos, Zjeveni, Hell Symphony, and the Temple in the Underworld), I love. But I am in no way bashing new Root, because it obviously is extremely well put together and I can understand why someone into that form of metal would like it, but personally, when it comes to metal, I really only listen to the old stuff (and some newer bands who play older sounding forms of metal). And that is just what Zjeveni is – old school, archaic, haunting, off kilter black metal, done in a completely unique fashion, just like what most of those of Czech bands were doing at the time. This album is just amazing. The production, the songwriting, the riffs, the atmosphere, the vocals, etc. It is all just brilliant. 

The production on here really does the music justice. It has a very cavernous and chilling aura to it, and gives all the instruments plenty of room to breath and work off one another perfectly. The vocals are upfront, where they should be, and are panned dead center. The guitars are double tracked, one in each channel, and give the album a powerful riff-driven sound, with the bass guitar and drums working as the engine. The drums have quite a heavy sound and were obviously well miked and mixed adequately. The bass drum could be a tad bassier, but it does its job.