THE MAKKABEES – "Vol Aleph"
(Brain factory)
Running Time : 25:32


HEAVY METAL VERSIONS OF YOUR FAVORITE JEWISH FOLKSONGS !!! ? Somebody pinch me – I ‘m not dreaming. It would indeed had been a joke and I still have my doubts, whether Gene or Ian are not somehow involved in this “project”, but it’s very real and in fact very good. I got a copy of the CD and I have to admit that it rocks my world, regularly. The band delivers a wide variety of old folk songs, injecting into them a lot of adrenalin and making them sound very contemporary. I had never before heard a version of “Hava Nagila”, so frantic or heavy for that matter. The band manages to walk the thin line between paying tribute to their roots and not becoming a joke, formidably. That’s probably due to the fact that they ‘re competent players (the only negative thing is that they use a drum machine and the cymbals are a bit too loud in the mix.) and their singer delivers the ancient verses with respect, passion and conviction. It’s apparent from the first note that these guys enjoy doing what they do and that is nothing more that have fun, while paying tribute to their ethnical background, without insulting anyone or ridiculing what they pay tribute to in anyway. I looked up translations of most of the songs, and found out that they ‘re really songs about merriment and recreation or pleads to god to show his kindness. There’s nothing wrong with that.In fact I think that such efforts should be revered. People need to know where they come from, in order to be able to walk into the future having a sense of identity and purpose. I dunno if I could put the label “White Metal”, upon them, since they ‘re far more punky and brutal than your “Averge white (metal) band”. (None of the two puns intended – if you know what I m talking about.).
They describe themselves as a folky offspring of RAMMSTEIN and DARKNESS (the latter’s especially apparent in “Od Yishama”), which I found quite entertaining and quite true…to be honest. I just hope that unlike dear Justin they don’t go onstage either wearing cat suits.
I mean, since all of the songs are popular tunes, some of them ancient as well, passed from generation to generation, they ‘re all extremely catchy. From the blistering intro of “Shabbat Shalom” to the celebratory “Oseh Shalom” with it’s great solo and little funny voices that reminded me of HELLOWEEN’s similar passages, to the more rhythmical “Meshiach”, the well know “Heivenu Shalom Alechim”, which most of you people would recognize from the ARMY OF LOVER’s version, (yeah that one with the quite wacky video), I mean each and every song is a classic. No duds here, dude or dudette.
So baby, grab your Yarmalka and join the party, cause the Jews have landed (Saxon pun intended). And to give a nod to MANOWAR I will just say this. DEATH to NU METAL. THIS IS JU-METAL and it kicks your ass. Check the band’s site out : @ http://www.makkabees.com, there’s info there about a release party in late October 2004.

Ps. I also should not forget to mention that from each sale, 1 $ goes towards a charity called MAZON (helping the starving people of this world), which is really a great thing that I hope more bands would do. They have earned my respect and admiration for doing just this. Can’t wait for the second volume….
6/6

ps2. ki an to diabasei kaneis apo tis fragkokotes nazides pou kata kairous stelnoun apeilitika email... i 'm still waiting re kotes me ftera. Suck the peritomhmeno spourgitopoutsaki mou......