Ram-Zet - Pure Therapy

(Originally published in Chronicles of Chaos in 2000)

This is not what one would expect from a Norwegian band on Spikefarm. It's hard to describe their music, but calling it a mix of Meshuggah, The Project Hate and The Kovenant seems fitting. Ram-Zet started out as a solo project by a fairly unknown Norwegian, Henning Ramseth, but is now a trio joined by loads of guest musicians.

_Pure Therapy_ has a modern sound with hammering riffs, aggressive vocals and industrial undertones. To give the songs more texture and basically make the music more interesting, Mr. Ramseth, or Zet as he calls himself, has used a wide variety of elements. Female vocals, violins, choirs, flutes and melodic guitar solos are nicely woven into their sound, making the album sound fresh and original. The only flaw I found is Zet's vocals, which become somewhat annoying after some tracks, mostly due to lack of variation. The female vocals compensate nicely, so that is nothing major. Ram-Zet delivers great musicianship and should definitely be able to raise some eyebrows with their debut.

Original score: 7.5/10. Definitely not more than 3.5/5, maybe less?