Artist: Mahavatar 
   Title: From The Sun, The Rain, The Wind, The Soil
   Label: Escapi Music

Based in New York Mahavatar can be best described as a multicultural metal band.  Led by the female vocal and guitar team of Lizza Hayson and Karla Williams, these two women have completely different cultural backgrounds.  Firstly Karla is Jamaican and Lizza is from Israel, it's this multicultural background that has helped lay down the foundations of the whole Mahavatar sound.  Bringing in many influences and musical types and mixing them all together to come up with a whole new genre Extreme Pan-World Metal.

The bands debut album 'From The Sun, The Rain, The Wind, The Soil' was originally available in Europe under the title ‘Go With The NO!’, since then the entire album has been re-mastered and re-titled and now includes two additional bonus tracks.

The album opens up with ‘BH’ and instantly the fierce vocal style of Hayson is unleashed with the rest of the band hard on her heels.  The album continues with ‘The Prophecy’ which starts off with a heavy bass line, which continues throughout the entire track, but it’s the guitars of Williams and the mixed vocals styles of Hayson that really make this an intense track.

This intensity is carried through to the next track ‘Cult’, which starts off at a ferocious pace but is soon intertwined with a more melodic section.  A combination that has been described as thrash mixed with the avant garde.

The album continues with ‘By The Numbers’, which is a little less intense than the previous tracks and lets the guitars of Williams really shine.  The same can be said of ‘Raw’, although it isn’t as melodic as ‘By The Number’ and it has more of a power-metal vibe to it.  It’s the guitars that really stand out on these two track.

The band bring in a little tribal drums into the mix on the fade out at the end of ‘Open Your Minds’, which leads nicely into the dark undertones of ‘Psycho’s’, a track that starts off slowly but picks up pace mid section and then returns to a slower tempo a track that will really mess with your head. 

The varying textures that are behind the whole Mahavatar sound might take a few listens to fully appreciate, but they are a band worth giving a chance to as there are elements in their sound that will appeal to even the most cynical of rock fans.

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