Ektomorf

Hungary's Ektomorf was founded in 1994 by brothers Zoltán (vocals, guitar) and Csaba Farkas (bass), with a view of adapting Sepultura's raging brand of "world metal" to their own national aesthetic — that is, mid-'90s death metal spiced with Roma, or Gypsy folk music. And with their 1996 debut, Hangok, the young band (then completed by guitarist Mihály Jano and drummer Csaba Ternovan) successfully did just that, although with significantly more modest results than the world-class Brazilians. Slightly better were their eponymous sophomore outing two years later (which saw Jano replaced by Béla Marksteiner on guitar) and 2000's Kalyi Jag (recorded as a trio), but, come 2002's I Scream Up to the Sky, Ektomorf (once again bulked up to foursome with the arrival of another second guitarist, Laszlo Kovacs) appeared to have forgone much of their original mindset to become mere Soulfly clones. These worries were sadly confirmed by their next two albums — 2004's Destroy and 2005's Instinct — both of which featured new six-stringer Tamás Schrottner and were released worldwide by Nuclear Blast. A third Nuclear Blast release, Outcast, appeared in 2007.