Amaseffer - Slaves for Life

 

Artist:              Amaseffer

Album:            Slaves for Life

Year:               2008

Line-Up:          Erez Yohanan - Drums, percussion
Yuval Kramer – Guitar
Hanan Avramovich – Guitar

Mats Leven - Vocals
Kobi Farhi - Oriental vocals
Angela Gossow - Growl vocals
Yotam Avni - Growl vocals
Maya Avraham - Vocals
Amir Gvirtzman - Flutes
Yatziv Caspi - Tablas
Yair Yona - Bass guitar

Label:             InsideOut Music

“In a land of two horizons,

One million suns ago,

Where pharaoh rules,

Black magic thrives,

Effigies with marble eyes”

Eventough Amaseffer’s Slaves for Life is a release from InsideOut- a pretty well-known progressive rock/metal label- I still consider it to be in hiding from the big audience. InsideOut Music is an independent German label founded in 1996 and it has released music from pretty big acts, such as Pain of Salvation, Symphony X, Devin Townsend and Ayreon. Amaseffer is categorized to be progressive metal in many contexts, but I would actually state that the metal in this piece is merely a spice, something that emerges at the right moment to emphasize the huge orchestral soundscape that Slaves for Life has to offer.

Amaseffer is a band from Tel Aviv, Israel, and it was founded on a rather ambitious vision: To tell the story of Exodus from the Old Testament, in a musical trilogy. This is the debut album, and so far the only one as the next part, “When the Lions Leave Their Den” is scheduled to be released in the near future, during the next few years I believe. Slaves for Life begins as the title suggest, slavery of the Hebrews and the birth of Moses. After the beautiful intro with enchanting flute melodies, the self-titled track dives right into the point; orchestral and ethnic heavy sound with epic melodies and the raspy rock’n’roll singing of Mats Leven, who actually fits pretty well in the whole concept. The album ends in the ten plagues of Egypt.

The vision is huge and epic, but the music follows not far behind. The variety of emotions in this piece is enormous. Amaseffer is constantly compared with Orphaned Land, widely known Israeli band also singing historical and religious themes, and not without a reason. Orphaned Land’s Kobi Fahr is actually singing the oriental vocals in this album, appearing almost in every song. Slaves for Life is a definite addition a prog collection of anyone interested in progressive and symphonic metal and rock. Stay tuned for the next part!

“A vision I had,

Someone will arise, a new messiah,

Liberation is thy name”

Written by: Oz