Album Review: Fossils- Fossils 1

Hi,
   My name is Surjo, and I'm a professional musician. The songs you're hearing (hopefully) are from my debut album 'The Key Has Turned', which you can buy here.


   The album up for review today is one of the most landmark albums in Bangla music. Fossils 1 was a massive statement at the time, and cemented the reputation of Fossils as a major player for the new millenium. Rock in Bangla music had never been so mainstream before, and the audience lapped it up with quite the thirst. Should be a very interesting listen.

 

'Aaro Ekbaar' opens out the album with an almost Floydish soundscape, ala 'Coming Back To Life'. While it's customary to hear the vocal front-and-centre, this is pre-autotune, so there are slight mistakes in the lines, but that's only to my ears, and overall, his voice and the presentation had me smiling big. The pace is just perfect to sway your arms to at a rock concert, and the feeling is strong. Sure, some of the music sounds derived, but the vocals are strong enough to take away from that. Long guitar solo at the end, lot of cool points for the straightforward face-melt. 

'Ekla Ghor' starts off with quite a long musical intro before settling into the vocal line. The chorus has a really good mix of chords and vocal melody to create a real intriguing feeling. The programmed drums, and the basic mix quality takes away from the product for sure, but again, the vocals more than overshadow all these shortcomings. The words do tell a specific story of loss and efforts at recovering one's poise. Good stuff. 

'Nemesis' starts off with almost game show music, and then something which closely resembles the drum sample of Savage Garden's 'Animal'. The words are about some sort of addict I'd say, and a very interesting take on it too. The writing is more about the change that occurs in a person due to addiction. The musical interlude is poorly executed, with the guitars not sounding tough enough, and the keys not spooky enough, and the programmed drums really taking away from the output. Also, the word nemesis is pronounced with a thick accent, which is a slight disconnect, but not the biggest problem. Cool guitar solo at the end, almost Deep Purple like cadenza to finish. 

'Hasnuhana' might be the most epic song in the album, and the most epic love song for a whole decade of Bengali college goers. Large melodies to start, a really wrenching vocal line, wonderful metaphorical language and the big reverb, all of which add to make the song the monster it is. It is one of the songs where you don't even have to focus to connect, the vibe is strong enough to grab your heartstrings. Listen and enjoy. 

'Dekho Manashi' starts off with a riff that sounds familiar but I can't quite place it. The buildup to the chorus is well-structured, and the burst of energy into the chorus is quite gripping and it really lifts the energy a few notches. The words are some of the most compulsive lyrics about loss in love. There is a certain thirst and desperation in Rupam Islam's voice as he goes about making his plea for love. Very well created. 

'Bishakto Manush' is one of the most uptempo songs in the album with some vicious lyrics. The title of the song means venomous person, and Rupam does lay deep into it, talking about how he loves a venomous person, who has spun a web around him and he can't break free. Lot of aggression in the music here, but again, the programmed drums and the mix do take away some of the edge. Damn good though, I am beginning to see why this album was such a breakthrough. 

'Nishkraman' starts off with more hair-metal ballad style arpeggios. The story continues the theme of lost love through the album, and some of the edgier bits in the music definitely bring the boom, which was lacking earlier on in the album. The language is throwing me for a toss since my Bangla is awful, so google translate is helping me get the meanings of the words, and I must say good job in writing fearlessly. 

'Millenium' finishes off the album with one the better choruses. These guys are an in-demand live act, and singable choruses like this explains why. Continues the trend of using a strong vocal line and big words to get the point across. The words have a strong message about the new millenium (the album was released at that time), and it tackles it from a personal to a wordly point of view. 

Listening to it, and paying attention to it, there's no denying that it's a pathbreaking album. The lack of production values is understandable, as it was rare for Bangla rock bands to exist at that time, but the passage of time has led to greater production values, but the songs lack the fire that this album does.