Bosnian guitarist Emir Hot wishes he would transform into Yngwie Malmsteen or else find some mysterious document that blood-ties him to the Swedish guitarist in one way or another. That's pretty much all you need to know about Emir's not-so-hot debut. "Sevdah Metal" is neo-classical wankery at its most boring. This is all despite the fact he has picked up relatively competant vocalist John West and an ex-Malmsteen, Masterplan, Pell drummer, Mike Terrana. The trio can't lift this pretentious batch of borers into anything other than average territory.  

There's crazy arpeggio fueled riffing galore, check out "Devil in Disguise" to hear a solo that's straight out of the book of Malmsteen. "Skies and Oceans" has ridiculous screeching from West (like someone stomped on a cat's tail and this was the result)  and headbanging rhythms that sound like an unholy Artension/Malmsteen fusion.  It's fast, furious and completely indulgent.  The word "tasteful" has no meaning in the world of Hot.
 
"Stand and Fight" is actually one of the better songs, a little slower in pacing and West's vocalists working for the music instead of against it. The change of pace is a fresh breath amongst the searing songs that populate the disc. "Endless Pain" is standard neo-classical power metal, taking on some shades of Stratovarius along the way.
 
"Land of the Dark" is more of the same but taking a few steps down from the previous piece. It's more B-rated power metal than anything else. The deliberate vocal lines come across about as silly as the occasional piercing scream implanted in "You". Strangely enough, "You" sits alongside "Stand and Fight" as being one of the more memorable songs. It has a rather smooth vocal performance from West and also a female singer that lightens the edge. Emir is still shredding away but there's actually a real song here to go along with the mindlessly speedy guitar wankery. Yngwie is ripped off so frequently and unashamedly that he should ask for his cut of the disc's profits it seems... 

Emir Hot's "Sevdah Metal" debut is anything but original and although his comrades on the album are all excellent musicians in their own right, they rarely lift the material above the average medium mark. The production is as flat as a roadkill cat on a hot summer's day, and the guitar wankery is far out of hand. It's great to have a platform to display your extraordinary axe widdling talents, but to build songs around your guitar pyrotechnics instead of the other way around, is just a recipe for destruction. Especially when your so-called songs are not even that great, even when you are rampantly stealing from a bunch of genres.
 
Supposedly, this album does mix in a Bosnian musical flavor (as some instruments were recorded in Bosnia itself) but when it boils down to it, that's just occasional frilly window dressing trying to shroud an old worn out and cracked to pieces pane of glass. Perhaps one day Emir will manage to develop his own personality and leave his Malmsteen cloning days behind. He definitely knows his way around the guitar. Or atleast recognize how to write a decent song. Either of those progressions would work in his favor. Till then, "Sevdah Metal" offers nothing new under the sun. We've heard this all before and done better by a trillion others.  

Written by Alanna
Saturday, June 21, 2008
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Ratings

Alanna: 4.5/10

Members: No members have rated this album yet.

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Comment by Modulator (Member) - Monday, June 23, 2008

View Profile Comments: 15 Ratings: 19 I sooooo disagree! Production isn't that great but still this album is a MESTERPIECE! 10/10 Posted by Modulator Monday, June 23, 2008

Comment by Leviathan (Member) - Tuesday, June 24, 2008

View Profile Comments: 1 Ratings: 0 I couldn't disagree more with this review. This album is superb, one of the best neo-classically tinted albums in many a year. To my ears there is very little Yngwie influence here, what Emir has done is make an album which manages to avoid so many of the cliches prevelant in neo-classical albums, heck he has even got John West to sound somewhere close to his Artension best which is something Royal Hunt couldn't do. To throw in all the Malmsteen rip-off type comments is an insult to this album, and I strongly suggest anyone has a listen to the clips, or indeed read reviews elsewhere as Alanna has this one totally wrong. Its not a 10, but I would rate it somewhere between 8 and 9. Posted by Leviathan Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Comment by Alanna (Staff) - Wednesday, June 25, 2008

View Profile Comments: 245 This is way too derivative to even come close to an 8 or a 9 by RevelationZ scale, in my opinion. It's just far too close to Yngwie Malmsteen for comfort, and the songwriting is not all that great. Maybe if I had not already heard five zillion Yngwie wanna-bes this would come off a little rosier, but as it is, there just isn't enough new ideas here to set it apart... if you do love neo-classical metal, there ARE some tasty guitar sections here. They just don't have good songs to house them.. thus the lower score. Cheers Posted by Alanna (Staff) Wednesday, June 25, 2008