UMUR "Seven Aspects" is the debut full-length studio album by Hungarian progressive death metal act Maverick Spirits. The album was self-released in August 2011. "Seven Aspects" is available for free download on the band´s official website.

The band play a progressive death metal style that almost imidiately reminded me of Opeth. Deep growling vocals, clean melancholic vocals, heavy riffs and clean mellow sections. Maverick Spirits manage to create a personal sound though and do not appear as clones to my ears. Tracks like "A Funk Aberration" and "This Morning", which bookend the album, are both examples of songs where the band break out of the Opeth "formula". The playing are generally on a high level (I especially enjoy the semi-jazzy soloing) and while I´m not the greatest fan of the growling vocals (I think they lack a bit of bite), the clean vocals are really well executed. The sound production could have prospered from a more warm analogue sound and especially the drums sound a bit thin and "artificial", but otherwise the album features a good production.

"Seven Aspects" clearly shows a band with tons of potential. If they can shed more of the Opeth influences next time around, Maverick Spirits could be a band to look out for in the future. "Seven Aspects" deserves a 3.5 (70%) rating in my book.