Band:	Baht
Album:	Resurgence Hour
Style:	Progressive death metal
Release date:	2009

01. Dead Conceit
02. Sacred Enigma

Having been doing "official" reviews for Metalstorm for a couple years now, I'm excited about receiving cd's in the mail from far off lands. The more distant, or odd, the more likely the postman is to raise his eyebrows at the return address when delivering the package, the more I look forward to receiving it and hearing what they have to offer.

This round of "Where's BitCOldo?" (imagine Waldo in a crowd sporting Horgh corpsepaint) see's me visiting Turkey to check out Baht's newest two-track E.P. Resurgence Hour.

They come storming out of the gate in the first of two songs, "Dead Conceit" with a drum and riff barrage that is reminiscent of Bolt Thrower's glory days. The band, however does not stick around with this style too long before branching out and incorporating other styles and elements.

While the band is perhaps at their best while pounding out some good mid-paced death metal, their two songs, both over seven minutes in length, see the band exploring side streets and alleys rather than taking the most direct route. The result sees some proggier, expansive riffs more akin to Opeth, some quieter, more reserved moments, some winding riffs. The end result is the shifting keeps anything from becoming stale, and the return from moodier, slower riff to the crushing bits just make those crushing bits crush that much more.

The band all seem comfortable with their respective instruments - both individually and collectively. They work well together when grinding away or exploring other options. The guitarist succeeds in writing a crushing primary riff for "Dead Conceit", as well as some interesting riffs to build the song outwards. The bassist even gets a chance to show his chops when the guitar is content to shift to a quiet background and let the four string get a chance to perform a melodic lead. The drum work is also entertaining, with a great deal of violent pounding of the kit coupled with lots of fills throughout.

And I'm not sure if it was a conscious decision intentionally made, or if it was perhaps that there was not a particularly affordable fully modernized recording studio around in Turkey, but the recording seems to be very organic. Whereas most of the unsigned DM outfits I've reviewed seem to have that modern sound - good guitar tone, good vocals, and a horribly processed/weak drum sound, Resurgence Hour's drums have oomph. They sound real. The whole end result just sounds better than some of what I had been getting as of late. I approve.

So all in all, Resurgence Hour is a bit short, but sees a band attempting to find a balance of remaining feet planted in the death metal arena, but looking upwards and forwards to somehow bring a bit more into it. For the most part they succeed and the end result is an interesting little release that sees me looking forward to see what's next from this band of Turks.