Album Details

• Artist: Maktub
• Album: Khronos
• Label: Velour Recordings
• Year of Release: 2003
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: hstisgod on 2007-06-18

There's not enough Soul in the world...I think we can all agree on that.  However, when a Soul formation comes along it usually attacks in definitive ways.  Maktub is certainly a prime example of this, the most rocking soul quintet the industry has seen in a long time.  Mixing up soundboards of mutiple styles of Soul, Metal, and Hip Hop, these guys found asweet sound Khronos, and I've ignored it for far too long.

 Sure there's predictable drag beat tracks We've Got Desire, shining in that porno bass, and slight 70's kick.  Lead man Reggie Watts is like Cee/Lo Green without the hammyness of it all.  His voices breathes customary passion, and an indescribable uniqueness far from Green. 

 Aside form the groove and rock in the sand, we have quite the jewel on Khronos, a cover of Led Zeppelin's No Quarter. With a perfectly tuned tempo, and a subtle difference in Soul crashing, these guys take a gorgeous song and make it breathtaking.  Another terrific production and mix by the legendary Steve Fisk (Nirvana, Screaming Trees, Soundgarden).

 Just prior to No Quarter, is a the other end of this spectrum, Maktub's real vortex of sound, Say You Will. Like the birth of Neo/Rock Marvin Gaye, Maktub could make the KKK stand up and sway to its dreamy guitar echoes and softly paraded lyricism.  While we're on the subject how bout track six, Just Like Murder. A still born beginning, it progresses with the tone of the Watt's vocals, and dives into middle ground pedal prodding only to lead into a hard rock bridge and chorus, which to be quite honest sounds a bit awkward the first time around.  No fretting, if you're the right kind of brain, you'll acquire a taste as I did.

  Doing things in the most twisted of ways, let's end with the first track "You Can't Hide", which carries a funky verse and beat, reminding me of a carefree track from some 80's movie I can't seem to put my finger on.  All sorts of talented instrumentation,  and ingenuinity keeps this simplistic sound from going stale seven out of ten times on this disc.  Go ahead, put a little soul in your life...

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