Escape
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Rare indeed is the music group that is able to defy traditional genres and create something new. Today's field of extreme music in particular has no lack of titles or labels to define every style of music imaginable. So when a band releases an album that not only dwells outside existing classifications but refuses to be pinned down by attempts at conceiving a new sub-genre as well, then truly something marvelous has been wrought.

Ram-Zet's sophomore release, "Escape," does just that. The music is reminiscent of death metal, black metal, industrial and more, yet does not truly exist in any of these genres. At times "Escape" sounds like Darkane, Meshuggah, Dream Theater, Lacuna Coil, Cradle of Filth, Candiria, Symphony X, Dismal Euphony, and the Kovenant. But such comparisons are fleeting at best, and the music of Ram-Zet ends up sounding like no one but Ram-Zet.

Lead vocalist and guitarist Zet is the mastermind behind the music of Ram-Zet. His vocal range is quite diverse, though it usually dwells somewhere near the realm of black metal harshness. Two additional female voices offer a melodic contrast to Zet: fellow lead singer Sfinx, and violinist/backing vocalist Sareeta. Additionally, there is a choir of five people. The arrangements of vocals throughout the album is such that "Escape" never comes close enough to bands like Lacuna Coil or Theater of Tragedy to fall into the "beauty and the beast" style of music. Rounding out the six-person band is Solem on bass, Küth on drums, and Magnus on keyboard.

The sheer variety of sonic textures in "Escape" is amazing. There are heavily distorted guitars and intense percussion, as is fitting an extreme metal band. There is also a real violin. And black metal keys. And industrial sounding electronics. Often these seemingly opposed sonic textures occur simultaneously, creating a form of metal that is both organic and artificial, emotional and logical. At times, "Escape" is slow, gloomy, and gothic. At other times, it is brutal and unrelenting. Some passages are simple and heavy. Others are complex and virtuosic. One or two segments even delve into ambient soundscapes. Listening to "Escape" from beginning to end is to submerge one's self in a sonic schizophrenia the likes of which has never before been known.

"Escape" is a long album, with the average song clocking in at a few second shy of eight minutes. The shortest track is still more than six and a half minutes long. At times the album can begin to blur, as there is only so much eclectic metal that the human mind can take. "Escape" may even begin to drag during the last few songs; this is not because these songs are bad or even lacking, but rather because 64 minutes is a long time to devote to music this extreme and this diverse. This is a dense album, and will take many listenings before it begins to sink in. Even after a dozen or more trips through "Escape," new sounds and new subtleties are liable to show themselves. This is not an album for the musically impatient.

There is nothing in metal quite like the passage halfway through "The Claustrophobic Journey" consisting solely of percussion, slap bass, and violin. Or the hyper fast tandem guitar/keyboard riff in "R.I.P." Or the three minutes of ethereal atmosphere ending "Sound of Tranquility." Ram-Zet's latest album is full of striking musical moments and consciousness-shredding songs that will shock and impress any open-minded fan of extreme music. "Escape" cannot be categorized or classified, and thus it is not easy to convince fans of death metal or black metal that they will like this album. But Ram-Zet is proof that the boundaries of metal are far from being fully explored. One listen to "Escape" is evidence enough of that fact. This album is easily the most unique metal album to be released in 2002, as well as one of the best.