Album Review by Furqan ur Rehman Alvi
“This will never end, I can’t comprehend. I’ve lost everything and I’m still drowning” these were the first words we heard from Jehangir Aziz Hayat in his revolutionary debut ‘Never Change’. A video for the single was shot which aired on many musical channels across the country making ‘Jehangir’ a new youth icon. Jehangir then got busy with several commitments of life and disappeared from the music scene for a few years. Now it’s the same Jehangir Aziz Hayat we knew who has just released his debut effort ‘Read Between The Lines’. The album is one of the heaviest lengthy play releases by a Pakistani artist. Each track has its own flavour and confirms the talented vocalist/guitarist having a stronger fan base in the coming time.
It starts off with a splendid riff taking us back to the Megadeth’s time when they wrote Cryptic Writings. ‘BRINGING ME DOWN‘ is like Jehangir meets Megadeth and this is not bad at all. The vocals are aggressive enough and suit the track.
Jehangir is heavily influenced by heavy metal acts and this reflects in the 2nd track ‘FROZEN WATERS’ as well. The riff is uplifting and gets you in the mood to grab a guitar and circle head bang with the beat. The most important thing to notice here is that we don’t have many vocalists that are able to growl and scream with the power ‘Jehangir Aziz Hayat’ does so.
Next song ‘PRETEND TO BE’ is surprisingly a ballad. The orchestra is soothing and carries the album to another dimension. When he punches his voice into ‘I’m breaking apart the pieces today’ you realise Jehangir is not just a metal guy. He is breaking the pieces for good.
‘GUARDIANS OF THE GATES‘ is the most original sounding track of the album and defines the true sound of Jehangir. This song draws some influences from the local sufi music and blends very well with the heaviness of the record. Jehangir improvises a deep intro solo and then moves to a urdu style singing with the shift to a nirvana type energetic chorus.
New artists are flying away from the old ways and sound of metal, full stop. Jehangir Aziz Hayat is bringing it back. As the song starts you can feel the 80s coming back. Jehangir is not a predictable musician. With this 5th track ‘PENNY EYES‘ you can feel how knowledgeable he is in the field of music.
Crunchy! Is the right word to label the 6th track ‘I REMEMBER‘. Jehangir isn’t afraid of experimentation.
‘NEVER CHANGE‘ is the track we all know about. This new version further enhances the sound. Jehangir did pretty well to shift the track away from grunge to a more alternative metal sound.
‘SHOW ME SOMETHING REAL’ is my favourite track from the album. The lyrics are very strong and you start singing along without even noticing, very catchy tune.
Hard rock, experimental, acoustic, grunge and metal, what now? It’s pure alternative rock on the roll. By this moment when, we are about to forget his heaviness. He hits it hard towards the end of the song finishing it off ‘READ BETWEEN THE LINES’ way.
Okay now this is an open announcement by Jehangir that the album is not just for metal listeners. In fact it’s going to go in the favourite list of each and every music lover. The riff is epic and not to forget. Kids ! if you want to know what a vocalist sounds like then buy this album. Oh! By the way I’m totally digging the organ. There’s no need to ‘LIGHT THE FUSE’ now.
We all have a soft side and ‘POURING ON MEMORY LANE’ carefully crafts our childhood memories and songs we used to love and still adore into this new song. I don’t really have words to define this as I’m afraid I might lessen the beauty of this album.
Who would have thought about the final track to be so much experimental and electronic? Jehangir opens up his entire throat to make this track happen. There is lots of screaming, growling. It’s the perfect outro an album can ever require. There are also many instruments used on the outro unlike the main tracks of the album. ‘SEE YOU SOON’ gives us hope that Jehangir’s journey is not over and he will be back with more.
I would give this album a 4/5. I’m proud to have this album in my collection and by the time I finish writing it I will have so many new favourites. The album is very good with some weaknesses but they are elusive.
YOU CAN BUY THE ALBUM FROM HERE
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/JehangirAzizHayat
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