ROOT are a Black Metal band from the Czech Republic formed in 1987; "Zjenevi" is the first of many in their discography and is also a reissue of their 1990 debut. ROOT sing in Czech and while I'm not too fond of not being able to understand lyrics down to my poor language capability but that's my fault I guess? Haha. While this usually doesn't bother me since most Metal is hard to understand anyway (unless you read the lyrics of course) because it's the power and brutality we all strive for the most, and in my opinion it's not a necessity when the album sounds as epic as "Zjenevi" does. It's a great debut.

"Zjenevi" ranges in multiple epic quantities, including vocal cords as low and high and as brutal as you can get; Big Boss (The legendary soldier?) lives up to his name on that regard. While starting off with the "Intro" I was beginning to think it would be one of those slow albums - but my word I was so wrong. The album is a "true" Black Metal album as you'd expect from well, any Black Metal album with some fantastic variety qualities Metal as a whole can in-cooperate into its genre, this is what makes all kinds of Metal so great for me; I had myself rattling my head a lot with the brutal face of approval to boot.

The album begins slowly with a creeping riff introduction, then after an insane, Satanic laugh the brutality begins. "Zjenevi" introduces some fine guitar work from Alesh A.D. and Hanz as well. From fine sound production to pure brutality from beginning to end, PaulDread has some fine moments as well as Igor's pounding bass skills, "Aralyon" shows this off well. "Vyslech" also has some interesting moments, with heaving vocals to just a thrashing, brutal time. "666", "7 Cherynch Jezdcu" and "Demon" are particularly noteworthy tracks, including some crushing, pounding drums and demonic awesomeness, that any Black Metal, well, really any Metal fan would be a fool to pass this up.

"Znameni" and "Cesta Zkazy" end the album in a brilliant Satanic fashion in terms of ritual like chants with the crushing brutality of Metal music inbetween; it's a pretty good end for this kind of album. It's a stunning concept of Satanism and the atmosphere "Zjenevi" provides is astonishing. The album seems to end very quickly but only because it's that good. You know an album is awesome when you get to the final track in a matter of moments.

My only gripe is of course the lack of English vocals which might put people off but most Black Metal fans wouldn't let this put them off.

So, in the end, if you're a true Black Metal elitist, you'll love this. If you are not, you will still love this, since the Metal entertainment is greatly enjoyable and the band have 9 more studio albums to provide you with- so, if you're a newcomer and are looking to expand your Metal horizons, definitely add ROOT to your collection.

Check it out.