Mizzed Opportunity

 

- Mizraab’s Maazi, Haal Mustaqbil -

**1/2 stars

- What promised to be a metal masterpiece is something significantly lesser -

 

It says something about an album that its distributor releases it without knowledge of the band. Or without much fanfare and after sitting on it for quite a while. Or after being prompted publicly in articles to release it. Precisely what it says about the album however is open to question. Given that Mizraab is helmed by the prodigiously talented Faraz Anwar the album may well have been a cult masterpiece. Khalid Sadaf the distributor however seemed to have been apprehensive about the album’s prospects. His point of view seems to have been that the album was not commercial enough. After having listened to the album for a week now, I am unfortunately inclined to agree with Khalid Sadaf. But for different reasons. The album is uneven and barring some significant fireworks is not all that it promised to be.

 

Let us talk about the good things first:

 

Faraz Anwar the guitarist as expected shines. His tone, his technique, touch and feel, all are pretty much spot on. On most occasions he, to his credit and unlike other resident maestros on the scene, avoids the tendency to overplay. Lyrical and at times jaw droppingly brilliant, this is a guitarplaying masterclass. Musically, the highlights and life to the album is provided through the guitars. In fact, so good is Faraz that it is almost intimidating talking about the album:

 

Amongst the songs, the strongest are two tracks already released: Insaan and Izhaar. The former highlights the strengths of the songs and the latter points out that Mizraab can write punchy great punk singles if they really want to.

 

In terms of scope and ambition too the album dares to think big (consider the grand title ‘Maazi, Haal Aur Mustaqbil’) and much of the hype surrounding it suggested that it was a serious minded album. And that it indeed it is. Moreover, the band tries its hands at a number of various styles of song and indeed Faraz attempts to sing in various different voices. The positivity of Insaan (‘Insaan kay khwab ki tabeer to insaan hi hai’ a true antidote to Allah bachai), Izhaar, Mausee (‘Mayusee Gunah Hai’) is certainly welcome to the uncertainty of Panchee

 

However, and then, in most of these matter, this is precisely where the album falls flat.

 

Firstly, in its seriousmindedness it is also quite trite and not all that elegant. Lyrically and thematically the album is quite immature. Notwithstanding, the positivity and the breadth of emotions attempted by the album, there is the amateurish tinge of noori-like philosophizing on most occasions. Mayoosi (curiously spelt ‘Maucee’) Gunah Hai, resemble slogans like Suno Kai Main Hoon Jawan, but are even lesser than that. Horrible lines like ‘Himmat kar, hasad na kar’ are so bad that they possibly seem to have been read off the back of some passing trucks. The lyrics lack focus and rarely talk about specifics. General trite metaphors of sehras, panchees abound. One just would have hoped the band would have named names: the music here certainly holds much more power than what the words convey.

 

While there is quite a bit of experimentation with styles, the album appears in its wide array of styles still derivative of bands apparently liked by Faraz Anwar. A lot of the time can be spent with the album playing spot-the-influences and more. Each songs seems to have been written a particular mode of a band: there is a Pink Floyd song, there is a punk song (Izhar), there is a Soundgarden song. In its effort to be different the band stumbles into possibly the worst song on the album, the one song that is unintentionally hilarious:

 

The marriage of clapalong soul/gospel with eastern melodies in Kitnee Sadiyan is bold but goes seriously awry just because Faraz’s weak falsetto makes it sound like a joke. The contrast with the verse vocals of … The moment he switches to the … it just sounds so Spinal Tappish one just wonders if Faraz had his tongue firmly planted in his cheek. One doesn’t know if he is mocking love songs or in the earnest trying to sing one. I could describe it as a falsetto-gospel-clapalong-70 Pakistani TV style song, but I would much rather describe it otherwise, as an unintentional joke. And just shows that he might have his head in the right place, but the rest of him is certainly not there.  Considering each of the musicians acknowledged their wife on the album, this might just have been an earnest attempt. For Faraz’s sake I hope and think he was attempting a parody with the song because that is what it turns out. Funny. Quite possibly unintentionally. The song doesn’t go anywhere. No crescendo. Just meanders and ends, a true example of the downside of cut-and-paste songwriting with sequencers.

 

One can see what precisely Faraz was trying to achieve. Only he does not seem to have the vocal chops to do so.

 

This album promised to be so much more lyrically than what it turns out to be. There is an amateurish feel to a lot of what is said and often there is a lack of elegance.

That is where EP’s Irtiqa for one was better. Better execution and more than that the lyrical elegance was perfectly balanced. Here non-sequitors like ‘’ abound and

 

The strongest song on the album is possibly Izhar which is more punk than rock and all the better for it. The drums however are horribly produced and leave one wondering how Faraz managed to get the crashes to sound so bad. It is clear that when he keeps it short it is impressive. 3 and ˝ minutes of fun. Contrast this with over 9 minutes long intro track.

 

A lot of what Mizraab does leaves one question why they did it like that. For example the graphic cricket ball in the Izhar video rankles. It is nice to do something differently but it has to have a point, a reason and has to contribute something. Could they not have shown regular kids playing real cricket ?

 

The drumming on the album is a letdown in that it sounds quite obviously sequenced. Moreover, drums suffer from weak production, especially the cymbal crashes on Izhar.

 

Mayoosi gunah hai/ Sans hai to zindagi rawan hai.. Faraz pepeats again and again. Possibly intended to be a mantra. Less that and more irritating reptition. The song otherwise is powerful. Contrast this with the multi layered meanings in lines such as ‘Rabba merai haal da mehram tu’ (RabbaMekaal Hassan Band) with ‘Shaam Hui / Ghar Aa panchee’ (Panchee - Mizraab) are one sees the difference and the weakness of the latter.

 

Just as the strongest thing about the album is Faraz Anwar (his guitars), the weakest link also turns out to be Faraz with his singing. Metal has often been gifted with some truly great singers. Faraz in comparison is just a weak, a Mizrable singer actually (pun intended). He tries his hand at a number of voices and struggles with most. A fellow musician commented that the vocals on the album are too dry (without reverb) and serve to highlight the shortcomings of the singer ‘who in this case struggles to stay in key even.’ I would be inclined to agree.

 

Jaaney Main so apes Pink Floyd (Comfortably numb?) but goes into a Vai-esque solo (if someone needs to be copied it David Gilmour).

The best songs on the album are of course the album ending …. Like the best punk music it packs a punch and does not overstay its welcome. The crashes are horribly produced but the singing it Eddie Vedderesque and apt. The moody Panchi is quite great.

 

Weak production. The guitars are quite nice actually. The drums suffer quite a bit though and for his type of music a live drum sound would certainly have been more welcome.

 

The packaging of the album is adequate, an improvement for Sadaf, but the distributors still skimps on keeping the booklet insubstantial. The cover picture is artistic in the collage it presents but one can barely make out the dove (Panchee) that is supposed mixed in there. At least they made an effort to be artistic. A lyric sheet with Faraz’s tendency to slur would have been welcome. However, the same is not provided.

 

This album is certainly the one album that most people seem to like without actually listening to it. Most seem intimidated by Faraz’s technique. Unfortunately for this reviewer Faraz Anwar and co. by en large fail to deliver with MHM. The problem lies in the weak vocals and lack of polish in the lyrics. Frank Zappa mostly famously titled a collection of his guitar works that seems apt here: Hey guitar boy, “Shut up and play yer guitar.”

 

(Mizraab Official site can be checked out www.mizraab.com. A useful upcoming fan site is www.mizraabianz.com with nice active forum. ).