Lista de los grupos Progressive Metal The 9th Cell Karma

The 9th Cell is back with a new record called "Karma", that is split in two CDs and features a few guests.

David Pais is the mentor of this project that has spawned over 7 original records and 3 cover-albums, and it is amazing how it seems to have got better over the years. I have listened to this project probably since the Point Blank Range album, and I've been impressed with what this musician has done so far.

This record has a bit of it all: heavy riffs, hard vocals, nice bass sound (with a Korn-ish vibe to it), blasting drums and keyboards that resemble an orchestra that create a perfect balance together.

The first song from "Karma" is a complete blast that resembles bands like Converge and Dillinger Escape Plan, and shows how extreme this musician can go. First, it's a song about them feminazis (oh dear), and second it's a very hard and aggressive tune that keeps changing every time it reaches the chorus with a huge amazing choir that mixes heavy-metal voices with huge growls.

Through the whole record, I confess that David's voice changes from aggressive to smooth in a matter of seconds, and this singer goes from high-pitch to low-growl both naturally and gracefully. The guitar work is heavy and has power, but could do with more solos.

The album has many different moods and it's creepy at times, but it's fairly good. The production sounds crispy and clear, and everything seems to be mixed quite well with the exception of "Heartland", that seems to have a guitar-overload at the end of the song that got me off for a bit.

The guest vocalists really add up to the line up and their songs are very interesting, and I can swear I heard Sasha Grey (the Goddess) speaking on the beginning and ending of track 5, which title seems to misplace two porn actresses names: Brooke Banner and Abela Anderson. Smart-ass.

There are also some electronic songs and even a few moments in portuguese which I must say cut me off - because I don't speak the language, even though it sounds alright - but what really got me were the three songs with Eduardo Moreira, that are very intimate and absolutely beautiful.

There's even a brilliant instrumental that has a bit of a spot in portuguese that is absolutely wonderful, and a very low-tuned song that features some heavy electronics called "Shame".

Overall the album sounds really good and is in par with a lot of what's done nowadays. The only con I find is the rap song that's right there in the middle of the second CD - and it's all in portuguese, to make matters worse.

Apart from that, kudos for this guy. He's got a great voice, an awesome imagination and he's got himself one of the most impressive records I've heard lately.

Hope he gets a band together to bring this madness on the stage.