Root/Kargeras - Return From Oblivion/Agonia Records/2016 CD Review

  Root  are  a  band from  the  Czech  Republic  that  has  been  featured  before  in  this  zine  and  plays  a  mixture  of  black,  dark  and heavy  metal  and  this  recording  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2016  album  "Kargeras - Return  From  Oblivion"  which  was  released  by  Agonia  Records.

  Clean  singing  vocals  start  off  the  album  before  going  into a   heavier  and  melodic  direction  and  the  riffs  and  solos  also  use  a  great  amount  of  melody  and  synths  can  also  be  heard  at  times  and  after  awhile grim  black  metal  screams  are  added  onto  the  recording  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them.

  Clean  guitars  can  be  heard  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording  along  with  a  brief  use  of  spoken  word  parts  and  most  of  the  songs  stick  to  either  a  slow  or  mid  paced  direction  while  some  tracks  also  bring  in  a  small  amount  of  whispers  and  the  songs  also  incorporate  elements  of  traditional  metal  and  they  also  bring  in  a  couple  of  acoustic  track  along  with  a  couple  of  power  ballads  which  introduces  violins  onto  the  recording  before  returning  back  to  a  heavier  direction  and  there  is  also  an  instrumental.

  Root  creates  another  recording  that  keeps  around  the  black  metal  elements  while  also  focusing  more  on  a  melodic  style  of  metal  to  update  their  style,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  are  a  concept  album  based  upon  a  profound  nation  with  an  occult  touch.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  album  from  Root  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  band,  you  should  check  out  this  recording.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Life  Of  Demon"  "The  Book  Of  Death"  "The  Key  To  The  Empty  Room"  and  "Do  You  Think  This  Is  The  End".  8  out  of  10. 

https://youtu.be/2lLvkGyaDuY

Root/Viginti Quinque Annis In Scaena/Agonia Records/2013 Live CD Review

  Root  are  a  band  from  the  Czech  Republic  that  has  been  featured  before  in  this  zine  with  a  musical  style  that  I  would  describe as  being  early  satanic  black/dark  metal,  and  this  band  has  been  a  huge  influence  on  the  second  wave,  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  live  2013  album  "Viginti  Quinque  In  Scaena"  which  was  released  by  Agonia  Records, and I will write more about the music than  the  crowd  talking.

  "Talking  Bones"  begins  with  some  horror  movie  keyboards  before  going  into  a  dark,  melodic  and  heavy  guitar  riff  along  with  some  drums  which  leads  to  some  powerful  bass  playing  and  the  music  going  into  a  thrash  direction  and  as  the  song  moves  on  it  starts  mixing  a  brief  use  of  guitar  leads  that  kick  in  and  out  setting  up the  mood  for  some  melodic  clean  singing  which  also  utilizes  some  aggressive  elements  leaning  towards  black  metal.

  "Sonata  Of  The  Choosen  Ones"  begins  with  some  melodic  guitar  riffs,  powerful  bass  and  drums  which  leads  to  some  melodic  and  aggressive  sounding  vocals  which  also  utilize  some  grim  black  metal  screams  and  as  the  song  moves  on  the  riffing  gets  more  diverse  while  remaining  heavy  as  well  as  bringing  solos  into  the  mix.

  "Hrbitov"  begins  with  some  heavy  and  melodic  guitar  riffs  along  with  some  drums  and  aggressive  and  gruff  sounding  vocals  which  leads  to  the  music  taking  a  more  primitive  direction  along  with  some  blast  beats  and  guitar  solos  which  sound  very  powerful  for  a  minute  before  the  song  reverts  back  to  its  opening riff  for  a  brief  period  and  then  goes  into  a  doom  metal  direction  before  going  back  to  a  more  primitive  sound.

  "The  Endowment"  starts  off  with  some  heavy  and  melodic  guitar  riffing  and  drums  which  in  return  leads  to  the  music  incorporating  more  thrash  elements  before  slowing  down  and  adding  in  grim  black  metal  vocals  which  also  mix  in  melodic  clean  singing  and  as  the  song  moves  on  the  riffing  gets  more  diverse  while  also  remaining  heavy  all  at  the  same  time  along  with  a  brief  use  of  melodic  guitar  solos  and  you  can  hear  a  small  amount  of  bass  playing  towards  the  end.

  "In  Nomine  Satanas"  begins with  some  dark  and  melodic  guitar  riffing  which  leads  to  some  powerful  drumming  as  well  as  melodic,  rough  and  grim  vocals  and  as  the  song  moves  on  it  gets  heavier  along  with  some  powerful  bass  playing  and  guitar  leads.

  "The  Festival  Of  Destruction"  begins  with  some  guitar  distortion  and  background  demonic  growls  setting  up  the  mood  from  some  drums  and  heavy  guitar  and  bass  riffing  and  as  a  minute  passes  by,  melodic  vocals  start  kicking  in  along  with  some  aggressive  black  metal  elements  getting  mixed  in  which  then  leads  to  some  dark  sounding  guitar  solos being  utilized  briefly  before  reverting  back  to  the  rhythms.

  "And  They  Are  Silent"  begins  with  some  powerful  drums  and  aggressive  sounding  thrash  metal  guitar  riffs  which  leads  to  vocals  that  combine  first  generation  black  metal  and  power  metal  together  and  after  awhile  the  song  goes  into  a  slow  but  still  heavy  direction  along  with  some  guitar  leads  before  going  back  to  its  opening  riffs.

  "Lucifer"  begins  with  some  dark  and  heavy  guitar  riffs  along  with  some  powerful  drums  before  introducing  a  brief  use  of  guitar  leads  setting  up  the  mood  form  some  grim  black  metal  vocals  and  after  awhile  dark  sounding  melodies  found  their  way  into  the  mix  along  with  some  powerful  bass  playing  as  well  as  a  brief  use  of  guitar  leads  before  returning  to  the  heavy  and  dark  riffing.

  "The  Aposiopesis"  begins  with  some  melodic  guitar  riffs,  drums  and  old  metal  metal  guitar  leads  which  slowly  leads  to  some  gruff  and  melodic  vocals  and  as  the  song  moves  on  the  riffing  gets  alot  more  diverse  while  also  keeping  around  a  dark  sound  along  with  some  powerful  bass  playing  kicking  in  briefly  which  then  leads  to  a  small  amount  of  solos  kicking  in  and  out.

  "The  Old  Ones"  begins  with  some  acoustic  guitars  and  flutes  before  going  into  heavy  and  melodic  guitar  and  bass  riffs  along  with  some  powerful  drums  setting  up  the  mood  for  some  grim  and  melodic  black  metal  singing,  and  as  the  song  moves  on  the  riffing  gets  alot  more  diverse  and  towards the  end  you  can  hear  some  guitar  solos  briefly.

  "Prisen  Pro  Satana"  begins  with  some  old  school  black  metal  guitar  riffs  and  drums  which  leads  to  some  black/thrash  style  vocals  and  as  the  song  moves  on  guitar  leads  start  kicking  in  and  out  at  times.

  "666"  begins  with  some  heavy  and  dark  guitar  riffs  along  with  some  drums  which  then  take  the  music  into  a  fast  and  primitive  direction  along  with  some  black  metal  vocals  and  as  the  song  moves  on  their  is  a  brief  use  of  guitar  solos.

  Song  lyrics  cover  Satanism,  Occultism,  and  Lovecraft  themes,  while  the  production  has  a  very  strong,  powerful,  and  heavy  sound  with  all  of  the  songs  being  recorded  live  and  you  can  also  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on  the  recording.

  In  my  opinion  while  this  a  great  live  recording  from  Root,  it  might  not  appeal  to t he  fans  who  have  only  heard  the  newer  stuff,  but  if  you  are  a  fan  of  their  newer  material,  you  should  check  out  this  live  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Talking  Bones"  "In  Nomine  Satanas"  "The  Aposiopesis"  and  "666".  RECOMMENDED  BUY.

 http://youtu.be/I3agka-4VmA 

Root/Zjeveni & The Temple In The Underworld/Redblack/1999 CD Re-Issue Review

Root are a band from Czech  Republic that where a huge influence on the second wave of black metal with their dark atmospheric occult/satanic black metal and this is a review of a 1999 Cd-Compilation of 2 albums "Zjeveni & The Temple In The Underworld" and we will start of the review with the album "Zjeveni" which was originally released in 1990.

Drums range from slow, mid paced to fast drumming with the occasional blast beat , while the bass playing has a very dark tone with riffs that follow the riffing that is coming out of the guitars.

Rhythm guitars range from slow, mid paced to fast early black metal riffing that had some of the death and thrash metal influences as well as some morbid sounding melodies that the genre had in the mid 80's and early 90's, while the lead guitars are mid 80's sounding black metal guitar solos, as for the classical guitars when they are utilized they use finger picking to bring a dark sound to the music.

Vocals are somewhat grim sounding black metal growls mixed in with a lot of demonic sounding voices and the occasional spoken word ritual passage as well as some clean singing being used briefly on a couple of songs, while the lyrics are written in their native tongue and cover Satanism, Occultism, Lovecraft and dark themes, as for the production it has a very raw and primal sound to it.


In my opinion this was a great album from Root and if you are interests in the roots of black metal, you should check out this recording and this is the best album on this compilation. RECOMMENDED TRACKS INCLUDE "Prisen pro Satana" "666" "Demon" and "Cesta zkazy".

Next up is "The Temple In The Underworld" which was originally released in 1992.

Drums range from slow, mid paced to fast drumming with some blast beats, while the bass playing it has a very dark tone with riffs that follow the riffing that is coming out of the guitars and at times they have a very powerful sound, as for the piano which is only used on the intro and brings a tragic sound to the music in addition there are some dark synths being used on occasion throughout the album.

Rhythm guitars range from slow, mid paced to fast mid 80's to early 90's black metal riffing that also utilizes melodies and traditional  and thrash metal influences, while the lead guitars are very melodic sounding guitar solos, as for the acoustic guitars they bring a dark feeling to the music when they are utilized.

Vocals range from early grim sounding black metal screams mixed in with some clean singing and some spoken word passages, while the lyrics cover Occultism, Lovecraft and Darkness, as for the production it has a very dark and raw feel to it.

In my opinion this was a good album from Root and while it was a little bit more different and progressive than there earlier stuff, I still thought this was a good album. RECOMMENDED TRACKS INCLUDE "The Temple In The Underworld" "The Old Ones" "Message" and "My Deep Mystery". RECOMMENDED BUY.

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