If there's one band that deserves a medal for constantly releasing excellent works that must be Mob Rules. These Germans not only have manage to release one great album after the other, they are also getting better as time passes by. And those of us who have manage to see them live (in one of their shows or at least through their excellent live DVD) know that this act is equally good on stage as well.
Among The Gods was indeed an excellent piece of work. And there was no other way around for the band since this was the follow up for their break-through release Hollowed Be Thy Name. So does Ethnolution A.D. manage to deliver the goods once again? Hell yes! Once again their quite eccentric fusion of melodic / progressive / symphonic / technical metal managed to enchant me. The depth of work upon their compositions is a phenomenon. No they are not the most technical or complicated act in the world. But once you start listening their albums more and more details pop up through the method of repeat. But what is the coolest is that still Mob Rules manage not to overload their compositions. All these take a lot of skill and patience when working upon the compositions.
As with all their previous releases Ethnolution A.D. features all these elements that gave a head-start to Mob Rules compared with the majority of melodic metal bands around them. Colorful compositions that balance nicely between lyricism and heaviness. In fact this album contains some of the heaviest songs Mob Rules ever wrote. There are many talented musicians out there but it seems that the guys in this act have indeed one unique chemistry between them.
All these are nicely wrapped up with a warm and safe production. My only objection comes with the fact that at least in my ears all their albums have a very distinct, but repeating, sound when it comes to production. If the band is satisfied with this I'm OK but some diversity in their sound would only have helped. In any way this is another fine piece of work from Mob Rules. Fans of their music will instantly dig this one!