Asim Munir, is a good critic. His review was published in US(the weekly magazine of THE NEWS, for young people,... like me, hehe).aha aha..khair, check it out, maybe you'll find this review also a bit hard to chew:
What would you expect from a band which has had its roots in rock for quit sometime and decided to take a detour into something known as 'Sufi Rock' and have sustained it until now. Nothing short of something that would touch your spiritual core! But that is not what you get when you put that album in your player.There is a lot of ambiguity. There does not seem to be a particular direction in which their music could be headed.Although the use of classical tunes and 'Tabla' induces that touch of regression to the roots, there is still a lot of work to be done if they are to stay true to their words.'Inquilaab' or not , there is a lot of juice in the old strings yet but it is turning out to be tougher every time to believe it.
'Khudi' kicks off the collection at it is the one song that manages to carry the way it was intended to. There are a lot of guitar riffs and the lyrics, penned by none other than the Father of the Nation ,Allama Iqbal, manage to blend themselves in with the music with such subtlety and yet manage to retain their importance in the song. Symbolising the faith that carries man through hardships and towards ultimate salvation, it is a bitter yet sweet rendition making the desired impact.
'Khudi' stands in a league of its own and there is no other which can catch up to it but there are tracks that do try. 'Wahada hoo la sharika a lahoo' manages to make the listener muse with the vocals. It is also almost after the same tradition that formed Khudi.
Listening to this album, a sense of dejavu is unavoidable. Almost without fail, you seem to heard most of the songs and music somewhere before. That could be due to tracks such as 'Lal meri pat', 'yar bina', 'Loshay Loshay' and 'Mahiwal'. The base of each of them have been borrowed from the different traditions, cultures and religions of Pakistan. Although there is improvitisation in the tunes and lot of extras have been added in the shapes of stringds or riffs, that feeling of 'been there , done that', do not leave you alone. Apart from these, seemingly, rehashed numbers, there are also some soft tracks that are a pleasure to lend an ear to. 'Kiyoun Pareshan Hai Tu', and 'Dil Nahin LagRaha' make for some interesting listening. They are slow as compared to rest of the album, but they do not lose their verve. Slipping through the stream of mediocrity, they do revive hopes.
Although Salman Ahmed mat appear to be well versed with the use of the guitar, 'Jugal Bandi', just does not have the same effect that it does when rendered with more traditional instruements.
Some of the time you even find occasional touches that hint at them going for the sort of music that is played by Pop artistes, but if they are then I suggest that they stay away from the category. Let the better people like Awaz, handle such territory. This transition fom from genre to genre seems to be old and without reason. I hope that this 'Sufi Rock' (what?) thing sticks. But if this is a taste of the things to come then I find myself sadly disappointed.