WhatzUp

Slaves For Life
Amaseffer
by Jason Hoffman

Amaseffer

Slaves For Life

Isreali band Amaseffer do one thing and do it well: mid-tempo symphonic progressive metal with Middle Eastern flourishes. If you like that then you’ll love their debut album, Slaves For Life, because all 10 tracks are exactly this. Would it sweeten the pot if I mentioned that it’s a concept album concerning the Jewish exodus from Egypt as told in the Old Testament?

The opening track, “Sorrow,” pairs Spanish guitar with a hollow recorder for a brief, yet passionate instrumental. The title track follows, a sprawling composition steeped in cinematic flourishes. There are beds of strings, timpani and other orchestral instruments that flow in and out of the heavier guitars. Either these high-fallutin’ instruments are the real deal or someone has got some serious MIDI skills. If you like what you’ve heard, listen on, because this eight-minute track prepares the listener for the double punch of “Birth of Deliverance” and “Midian,” two 11-plus-minute songs that follow with nary a vary in sound or tempo. The former opens with a thin line of violins, muted horns, a choir, oboe and more horns, making it close to a movie soundtrack – you know, the kind of unobtrusive music that lays behind the action without calling much attention to itself? In fact, the entire album is this kind of musical wallpaper, all in shades of beige, kind of like the sand of a desert in Egypt. Yeah, this is all some kind of grand intentional scheme!

There are some albums with long songs that speed by, surprising you that 20 minutes have passed. With this album you sort of space out, unable to really tell when one song ends and the other begins, not because it flows so well together but because it all sounds so much alike. While I haven’t put it to the test, I’d be willing to bet that the tempo does not vary more than 10 or so beats per minute throughout the entire 75-plus-minute album. Again, good if you like consistency.

Slaves For Life somehow manages to be dramatic without being passionate. The trio’s background in writing music for video games and film clearly shows through but fails to make much of an impact. Pity, for the concept definitely has promise. However, as this is the first of a three-album story, there is still a chance that Amaseffer may redeem themselves in the end (Jason Hoffman)