The first thing that drew my attention about Septekh was their unusual cover art; a yellow/orange background with a rough sketch of a wolf of some sort in the front. Not only is it somewhat unorthodox in terms of typical metal cover arts, but it also gave a small peek into the band’s ambitions: to not completely rip off any one band and keep their style of death/thrash somewhat distinct from other acts’. This they achieved, branding a raw yet clean style of death/thrash that occasionally delves into a more blackened proclivity. That’s not to say that these guys are completely original either, because in this day and age that’s near impossible; but their style of death/thrash isn’t a clear rip-off of any particular band or previous style, and there’s even an almost punky feel that occasionally makes itself apparent throughout this 22-minute EP, making it that much more fun and entertaining.
There’s considerable variation in the EP, and I cannot honestly say that there weren’t some surprises here and there. The biggest of these, perhaps, was "Eating The Maneater". It goes along extremely bluesy riffs, and it’s admittedly catchy; hell, without the heavily distorted and corpulent guitars, I’d have a hard time considering this a metal track at all; and I mean that in a good way, because it’s probably been done little before. The rest of the tracks are definitely more ‘metal,’ all of them powerful, raw and provoking headbanging in the listener. And to their credit, a good chunk of the riffs are catchy; whether they’re mid-paced and chuggy (“Blunt Force To The Head”) or punky and fun (“Fuckslut From Hell”--this song is definitely a highlight). There are also some that bear similarities to retro-thrash bands, which can only be regarded as a detriment to their music, but luckily there’s not overly many of these. Regardless of what style they cleave to, however, all of the riffs on this EP are arguably powerful and fun, almost always succeeding in eliciting headbangs from the listener.
The vocals are harsh rasps mixed with low death growls, lending their music a more blackened thrash feel at times. The immense guitar tone and the clean production renders their music akin to modern metal, (unfortunately), and while these guys aren’t very old-school, they do retain an original sound and succeed in emitting a not-yet-prostituted style of death/thrash. I really like, however, the bluesy and punk riffs that these guys put into play occasionally, because they’re actually pretty damn fun, and that’s what make this EP distinct and separate from other bands--some of the songs actually lean more towards death ‘n‘ roll than death/thrash, which I'm not too fond of, but they make up for it. And the further in that I got into the EP, it kept coming back to me that their music is not at all what I had expected, which is a good thing; their unpredictability and their ability to surprise the listener with different styled segments. Sure, there are some mediocre riffs--as to be expected--and some instances where their music becomes a little too modern metal-y for my taste, but this remains a fairly fun EP overall.
70/100
-SmithMetal84
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