With a straightforward purely melodic sound, the Egypt-based progressive project Rhazz dropped his debut concept EP The Odyssey on the 16th of January, 2023. Composed and produced by Rhazz, mixed and mastered by 2-ka with collaborations from Yehya Radwan (bass), Ali Labib (drums), and an expressive artwork by Habiba El-Shalakany that says it all about the EP’s concept, prepare yourselves for one hell of an interesting ride. Let me tell you more about it.
Rhazz kickstarts The Odyssey with Act I (The Iliad), a soft creeper that smoothly builds up towards the beginning of our melodic journey. It has some emotional melodies with a beautiful organic flow that hits you deep inside, and although it’s a short tune “like the rest of the EP” it has a significant progression that moves towards a more brighter and open sound as it goes. Act II (Achilles) opens with a subtle bass line and a melody that picks up with its predecessor’s flow. It keeps the overlapping layering style that Rhazz crafted, while epically introducing the hero of our adventure in a brief, expressive structure with multi-layered, perfectly harmonised instrumentation. Things started getting more intense reaching Act III (The Trojan), as I felt the guitar tone starting to get slightly sharper with faster-paced melodies, preparing for the grand finale Act IV (Athena). Act IV (Athena) gives us a glimpse of Rhazz‘s heavy side of music, it shifts the EP’s dynamics into a darker and heavier area while keeping its melodic sound strong, which was pretty interesting tbh, but left me wanting more.
The Odyssey is a short, straight-to-the-point EP by Rhazz, it’s more of a statement and a sneak peek of what he’s capable of and his uniquely melodic heart-hitting sound. Its solid fluid structure and neat production gave his melodic approach the space to shine, and I think the duration helped a lot keeping the listener’s attention. Looking forward to an epic full-length that dives deeper into the realms of progressive rock, keep on rocking Rhazz, cheers!