*. Xell .*

Album: The BulgarianMetalBlowoutPowercore'N'SpeedupMusicstalgia (2011)
Genre: Prog Rock (Eclectic/Balkan Folk/Exp./Metal)  /  Bulgaria

When I come across the term progressive metal most of the times I fall into bands that play technically, but have nothing new to bring to the table. I think it is time to fix this, since most of the bands of this genre play technically, but whose music has nothing to do with progress whatsoever. XELL on the other hand are for my standards a pure progressive metal band. The contradiction here is that in order to progress their metal sound they have turned back to tradition and more specifically towards the Bulgarian and Balkan traditional music. To describe exactly what XELL do musically is very hard. Imagine a mix of rock and metal sound along with jazz, Balkan folk music and even classical music elements and you might have an image of what you will expect… or maybe not? The important thing is that the musicians in XELL have the talent and the ability to combine all these different sounds and craft music that is very unique and beautiful. From all the progressive metal releases that I have listened to for this year (I mean 2011), I believe this one is first on my list….  XELL’s release is a very positive surprise for me and I hope that it will be the same for you. Review by "Nick Parastatidis" (www.behindtheveil.hostingsiteforfree.com).

RATING:  7.75 / 10

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