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JOHAN | 2006-12-21 >>>
 ASSESOR
"Invaze"
LP (1990 Globus International)
The first extreme metal album after the end of communism (which means
the very first extreme metal LP in the Czech Republic)
Assesor never reached the top
of popularity. The Czech extreme metal fans listened mainly to demos
of Törr, Debustrol, Root, Kryptor or Krabator, bands which become
famous thanks to legendary Death Metal Session festivals (fans could
only listen to demos, no official releases were allowed).
However, in one aspect Assesor keeps the primacy - their LP "Invaze" (spring
1990) was out even earlier than "Armageddon" (Törr) and thus it was
the first extreme metal album in Czechoslovakia.
The cover was drawn by Evžen Hanzalík and it fits to the music. It
depicts an artist in a frock playing the bones. In the backgroud we
can see some other three esences and angels with bat wings. Pretty
original idea. On the other hand, the backside is awful. This space is
used just from one third by the tracklist and the band lineup. A photo
would be more than welcome. Assesor consisted from experienced
musicians: Michal Roháček - vocals (ex-Kryptor), Jarda Pracna - guitar
(ex-Orient, ex-Moriorr), Slávek Brada - guitar (ex-Projektil, ex-Moriorr)
a Karel Jenčík - drums (ex-Arakain). The material on this LP was
initially composed for Moriorr (as some members played there) and some
of them were even played on Moriorr shows.
Generally we can say that records by Globus International had some
negatives. All the trakclist (A and B side) was written on one disk
label only. The B side label contained Globus logo. The tracklist
label divided the songs to This side and to Globus side. Assesor had
the bad luck that the labels were glued other way round (and thus B
side is on the disc label marked as A…). Lets assume te order written
on cover as the correct one.
The opener is thus "Setkání", not the best one to be honest, as well
as "Poslední cesta". On the other hand "Nářky zapomenutých" and "Hrad"
are nearly hits, mainly thanks to the choruses and Pracna´s guitar
work. The B side begins by another great hit, the title track "Invaze"
(many years later Maniac Butcher called one of their LPs by this name,
to render tribute to Assesor. "Volání bitvy" among others offers a
very nice guitar ideas and bass riffs... But the following songs do
not bring anything new. "Svědomí" only repeats what we already heard.
"Svit luny" is only an average song and thus only the final song,
instrumental "Destrukce", worths attention. If I am to say what metal
style Assesor plays, I would answer a mix of thrash and black metal.
The lyrics are devoted to the dark sides of human existence, but often
it is nothing more than cheap using of horror and war topics.
The sound quality of this album is very bad, nobody can say anything
else. Musically the album is on a high level, which is no wonder
considering how experienced musicians the band consist of. Only the
vocals can be criticized, I have the feeling that the vocalist was
somehow diddling, he certainly had more to offer...
After releasing this LP Assesor changed the line up. Michal and Slávek
left to play death metal in Tortura. The other members finished with
music… Only Karel tried to keep Assesor alive, but unsuccessfully.
Under the influence of big comeback wave within the Czech scene (Moriorr,
Fata Morgana, Kryptor) in 2006 Jarda tried to relive Assesor, however
after few under average live shows he joined Moriorr and Assesor split
again, this time forever.
I know that not many people will appreciate this album. In fact, still
in 1990 and 1991, much better albums were released (just go back to
the beginning of this review). However it was an important effort in
Czech metal history. |
