UMUR "Slaves for Life" is the debut full-length studio album by progressive metal act Amaseffer. The album was released in June 2008 by InsideOut. Amaseffer is an Israeli band which consists of drummer and main composer Erez Yohanan and the two guitarists Yuval Kramer (Prey for Nothing) and Hanan Avramovich. Amaseffer means "People of the Holy Book" in Hebrew. The band was started by Erez Yohanan in 2004 and later the two guitarists joined the band. Amaseffer started looking for a singer and contacted Andy Kuntz of Vanden Plas who actually worked with the band for a while. He eventually jumped ship though and the band again searched for a singer. They ended up contacting Mats Leven (Therion, Krux, Yngwie Malmsteen, Fatal Force, Abstrakt Algebra, Southpaw) who was hooked on the idea of the concept and entered the studio with Amaseffer. Angela Gossow of Arch Enemy also contributes with growls in the song "Midian". It´s the only place on the album which features growling vocals, so don´t worry if you´re not a fan of that kind of vocals. I think that you´ll find that they have a special meaning in the context of the concept. Other vocal contributors are Maya Avraham and Kobi Farhi.

"Slaves for Life" is the first album of a planned conceptual triology about Moses and the Exodus from Egypt ending with with the Hebrews entrance to the Promised Land. A classic tale from the Old Testament. On "Slaves for Life" we hear about the Hebrew slavery in Egypt, Faraoh´s decision to slay every Hebrew manchild after he has learned of a prophecy telling about his downfall by the hand of a Hebrew slave, Moses childhood when he was brought up as an egyptian by one of Faraoh´s daughters, Moses realisation that he is a Jew, his escape from Egypt to Midian where he meets his wife Zipporah, Moses meeting with God who shows himself as a burning bush giving Moses orders to free the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt and finally the story of the Ten Plagues which finally broke Faraoh and menat that he would set the Hebrews free.

This storyline calls for grand epic music and that´s exactly what you´re gonna get when listening to "Slaves for Life". The music is progressive metal but the metal parts are mixed with grand orchestral film score like music and lots of middle eastern instrumentation. I must say I was blown away the first time I listened to "Slaves for Life" and even though my excitement has cooled just a tiny bit after repeated listens it´s still a long time since I´ve heard anything this impressive from a progressive metal band. The music is so grand and epic that other highly symphonic metal bands like Therion and Saviour Machine come to mind. Amaseffer´s music is very different from the sound of those two bands though. First of all Amaseffer´s music doesn´t feature excessive use of choirs which is very characteristic for those two bands and secondly the mood is quite different and so is the playing style. The heavy use of middle eastern instruments (might be keyboards) and background singing, sound effects of horses, slaves being whipped and crying babies, storytelling in Hebrew (maybe it´s verses from the Bible I don´t know as I don´t understand Hebrew) are some of the elements that makes "Slaves for Life" a unique experience. This is a very atmospheric album.

Standout tracks for me would be "Zipporah" which is a quite innovative duet between lead singer Mats Leven who sings in English and Maya Avraham who sings her parts in middle eastern style and in the Hebrew language. It´s a really beautiful song. The other song I will mention is the darkest and most heavy track on the album which is "Ten Plagues". It´s so wonderfully aggressive and angry while still maintaining a beautiful epic approach. Even though these two songs are some of the standout tracks on "Slaves for Life" the album is very consistent in quality. "Slaves for Life" doesn´t feature a second of wasted time.

The musicianship is outstanding. Especially when talking about Mats Leven´s vocal contributions. Mats Leven is an incredibly skilled singer and he has a very distinct voice which suits Amaseffer´s music really well. His vocals sound a bit like Geoff Tate (Queensrÿche) in the low register but when he sings the more aggressive vocal parts he sounds very different from Mr. Tate. I really enjoy his voice and the beautiful memorable vocal lines. Erez Yohanan also needs to be mentioned for his outstanding compositional skills. His drumming isn´t the most exciting part of Amaseffer´s music though. The two guitarists deliver what they ought to but really nothing special. "Slaves for Life" is not an album that revels in guitar solos or technical playing. Here the compositions and the concept come first. Then the semi- complex playing.

The album is recorded and mixed by Markus Teske (Vanden Plas, Abydos, Saga, live) and it´s a grand symphonic production. This is really well produced and suits the epic music well.

The artwork was done by Mattias Noren (Evergrey, Kamelot, Epica) and depicts Slaves at work which is of course suiting for the concept.

"Slaves for Life" is a quality progressive metal album. After my initial listen I was sure I was gonna rate "Slaves for Life" with 4.5 stars as I was really impressed. After repeated listens I´m still very impressed but there are a few flaws that makes this a 4 star album instead of a 4.5 star album for me. The concept and the orchestral arrangements are second to none. Really fantastic. But the metal parts can be a bit generic at times. There are no fast parts and the pace is slow to mid all the way through. I would have liked to hear them play one or two fast paced tracks with some tremolo picking guitars, but that´s probably just me who can´t live without that sort of thing. This is a highly recommendable album to anyone who loves epic progressive metal and I would even dare to call this a must hear album. What a great surprise from an excellent band.

arcane-beautiful For some odd reason, music, mainly metal, and a very strong presence of Progressive Metal from the East has become very popular. Bands like Orphaned Land have now become quite big, even though they have been around for a few years, and new bands like Myrath have now become targets for music lovers. It really has become a talent hotspot. Who would have thought of looking in Israel?

This band is almost like an eastern equivalent to Ayreon, with concept albums, guest vocalists and long epic songs. Most of the vocals are done by Mats Leven, who has done some amazing work with Therion.

The concept of the album is based on Exodus, mainly the story of Moses trying to free Jewish slaves from the pharaoh of Egypt. Quite well crafted and very dramatic, to be honest.

At times, the odd melodies aren't as melodious, but you have to take into consideration the Eastern influence, with their music, being scales, chords modes being different to Western music.

1. Sorrow - Beautiful intro. Nice atmosphere. 9/10

2. Slaves For Life - Very dramatic and an amazing vocal performance from Mats. Great arrangement, with the Arabic influences adding a deep texture to the music. 9/10

3. Birth Of Deliverance - The orchestral intro is very beautiful. Quite a kick ass song. Love the eeriness of the song. Mats vocals at the end are astounding and incredibly beautiful. 10/10

4. Midian - Some odd dramatic changes. Angela Gossows (Arch Enemy) vocals are quite impressive. She really is the best female growler there is. 9/10

5. Zipporah - Beautiful arrangement. The female vocals are very beautiful. Best song on the album. 10/10

6. Burning Bush - The arrangement reminds me of Pain Of Salvation. Vocally, Mats sounds like he should be doing Geoff Tates job in Operation: Mindcrime. 8/10

7. Wooden Staff - Very atmospheric instrumentally based song. Nice instrumental work. 9/10

8. Return To Egypt - Cool eastern influence throughout. 8/10

9. 10 Plagues - Mats vocals are amazing. The lyrics are great and to the point. 10/10

10. Land Of The Dead - Quite a sad ending. Leading up to the next album I hope.

CONCLUSION: This is part 1 of a trilogy, and the next one "When The Lions Leave Their Den", should be just as interesting. If you like metal with an Eastern influence, I suggest buying this album, and Orphaned Lands new one.

Windhawk Pretty good début album by this Israeli outfit; which sounds like a band we'll be hearing more from in the coming years.

Their take on music has a unique appeal to it for starters; mixing slow, metal-dominated segments with symphonic orchestrated sounding parts and atmospheric moods where spoken words - in Yiddish - and synths often are the only elements.

The compositions and arrangements are all majestic and pompous - the synths are layered and massive, the guitars just the same when used, and even the vocals come across in this manner.

The main element separating this release from other pompous releases in a prog metal setting are the impulses from middle-eastern music; melodies, vocals and rhythms all have that distinct mood about them that these are indeed performances written and executed somewhere in this region.

Main weakness on this release are compositional structure. The band can't quite seem to decide whether this is a prog rock/metal album or if it is a slightly elaborated soundtrack. This results in tunes high on mood and atmosphere but often lacking drive and tension in certain key parts of the songs.

Still, this is a good release, and one to check out if you fancy something new and distinct in you music collection.

The T 666 AMASEFFER have been heralded ever since their appearance as one of the most promising bands in the progressive-metal genre. Though I agree with the "promising" part, I think they still have a long way to go.

The music that this Israeli band has created is epic, Hollywood-esque in proportions, written for a story that is one of the biggest ever invented: the exodus of the Hebrew slaves from Egypt. For such a huge concept, the band had to deliver a score of similar proportions: gigantic, larger-than-life, heroic. AMASEFFER has partly managed to do all of that, but sadly, they've also emulated one of the most evident aspects of the original tale of the Old Testament: a weak structure, and a lack of character.

The tale in the Old Testament never decides what it truly is. At one point we think it's a marvelous story of courage, at other we may think of it as a warning, but also it can be taken as a pointless depiction of cruelty and a weird narration of madness coming from an intolerant god. The same can be said about the score that AMASEFFER has created for this tale. It never is clear what this music really is. Is it a film score? Is it a metal album? Is it a power-metal record? Is it a religious offering? The problem really lies in the music here. The metal/progressive parts are scattered throughout the album, lost among endless orchestral-only parts that sound like coming straight from Hollywood, and oriental-music pieces, with Hebrew rhythms and melodies, which take the album closest to folk territory.

Now, let me explain why I think this is not a really good thing. Of course music that fuses elements is to be highly regarded, and so I would do if this was an example of that, of an album where all genres coexist and, most importantly, are mixed together to create something different. But in "Slaves for Life", the Hebrew parts sound just like that, Hebrew-oriental music; the progressive- metal parts sound like progressive-metal parts, traditional and rather derivative; the orchestral sections don't have a perfect relation with the other two, neither do the other relate perfectly with each other. The album, thus, suffers from a constant change of styles that seem to happen for no other reason but just because it can be done. For a better example of how to properly create a progressive-metal album a la Hebrew, listen to ORPHANED LAND's "Mabool - The Story of the Three Sons of Seven".

The problem is that the music never flows as smoothly as it could with a better musical direction here. Real metal songs there aren't any (I can hardly recall any chorus, just for a minor example), memorable riffs are not what this album seems to be about, neither is it displays of technical proficiency. With these elements out, the album has problems as a metal record, and it's also never really believable as a folk/orchestral album, as the metal parts actually sound quite odd when one tries to listen to the disc with that perspective in mind.

Now, don't get me wrong. The idea is brilliant, is just weakly executed. The musicianship of the band (what shines through at least) is quite good, and the vocalist (which is never given a real chance to display his power) is one of the best metal singers I've heard in the last years. Sadly, his voice appears only for a few minutes every now and then, as we have to endure the obligatory gimmicky Hebrew section just when things start to look bright.

As a metal album, it's weak. As a piece of awkward music with no real defined character, is quite enjoyable. For its enormous potential and the excellent idea behind the record, I give it 3 stars. With less playing around and more song-writing (with emphasis on the "song" part) it would have deserved a 4th star. And with the promise I hear in AMASEFFER, I hope their next album goes even higher, and reaches the levels I know they're capable of reaching.