Review of E.A.K - MuzEAK

Portugal’s Major Label Industries is hardly prolific with their releases, but when they release something it’s usually something creative or unique like Crushing Sun, The Firstborn or Before the Rain. However, with the release of E.A.K‘s second effort, the label appears to have succumbed to releasing an underwhelming home grown effort that does not match the label’s previous quality.

Standing for ‘Extraterrestrial Alternative Knowledge’, E.A.K‘s first album was called “Musclecore’ — that also being the genre the band have chosen to label themselves. It’s a sort of modern, burly jumpdafuck up groove metal with dashes of thrash, nu metal and hardcore.  I can hear parts of Pulkas, Element Eighty, Extomorf, Soulfly, Helmet, Boiler, Chevelle and such, so if a mix of all those bands sounds terrible, stop reading now.

Actually, the album starts pretty promisingly with “Do You Feel Lucky?” (complete with Dirty Harry sample), a moody, controlled, chunky number with a very nice main riff than reminded me of Century. However, from there the album simply careens into a concoction of modern, cliched metal with nothing but a nice sturdy production to enjoy.

The fact is that the music just simply sounds formulaic and lifeless. And after the opener, I simply can’t recall or remember any riff, bridge or chorus. The vocals are a mix of semi gruff shout/roar and screams that tries to be a little more extreme, but other than the aforementioned production and drummer Ricardo’s energetic drumming, the album is a total miss. From more energetic numbers like “Glass of Sand”  and “Sunday Freakshow” to slower groovers like ‘Black Rose” , “Ears Have You” and “When you Came”, its all forgetful. Even when the band really try to force some brutality into the mix (“Nasty Haircut”, “Hand  Solo”), its still nothing you didn’t hear in the late 90s. And of course there’s the album ending ‘ballad’ of sorts in “Make up Sex”.

Sorry Major Label Industries, you really whiffed on this one.