These Hungarian metalmen make a huge impact. Jozsef Szakacs’ monstrously heavy drum slog. Tomas Schrottner’s groaning, determined guitar, with its minor-key dance melodies. The droning Mediterranean acoustic string intros. Zoltan Farkas’ harsh mastiff bark. It all just makes you want to hurl yourself through a plasterboard wall, over and over again. Outkast is one of the best headbashers I’ve heard this year.
Only one thing wrong with Ektomorf: Take away the East European folk element, and you’ve basically got Soulfly. The vocal tone and phrasing are identical. The guitars regularly do similar loose-stringed bending effects. There are even popping little tomtom accents that come straight out of the Brazilian jungle. Which is why this latest Ektomorf expulsion (they’ve been together since 1994) gets an A-minus instead of an A.
Not a big problem; I’m just gonna stick Outkast right in the middle of my Cavalera classix collection, and pull it out randomly whenever I feel like a dose of Sepultura or Soulfly. It’s a small world, after all. (Greg Burk)