[English] Itself: Make My Suffer Short

Originally written in Portuguese by Renan Martins
Translated to English by Caterine Souza

Country: Brazil

Genre: Death/ Thrash Metal

Members: 
Estevan Furlan - Drums/Vocals
Ricardo Falcon - Guitar/Bass player

After a long time without reviews, we're back and there is no better way to get back without speaking of a national band - from Sao Paulo, a city where one can exercise its love and hate on everything. Hate is the very focused feeling on the album  'Make My Suffer Short'  by Itself.

Betting on a Death/Thrash Metal sound, the band does not act childish on their music and it certainly worries about everything. Starting from a well done cover art until every single part of their songs. They make everything have a stronger footprint or even a density within all instruments.

''Make My Suffer Short'' is the living example of how to join the Death Metal with Thrash can be fully compatible and also have excellent quality. The voice does not use a more closed guttural, giving way to something more like the Old Thrash or Death.All instruments are played very clear and the double pedal gets even more interesting on this song that is a delusion.

The album's most impressive moment comes with "Guess Who I Am" that has a really surprising beginning, but let us talk about this song in parts.An extremely positive point which is clear on this track is the recording quality. The bass is extremely sharp, the guitar can make its space and they combined do not let the quick and sour  Thrash quality disappear. The double pedal is intelligently used and the riff on its total weight really show us that this track is excellent.

"Guess Who I Am" also presents each musician individual qualities who managed to always surprise. On the fact, Estevan Furlan take the drums and vocals, it shows a very great versatility while Ricardo Falcon managed to build an atmosphere and a real weight working with the bass and guitar.

Itself presents themselves to the national scene as excellent musicians. They have been done such a great work that can leave this underground place even richer. Their quality prevails and deservedly can be one day immortalized on the national Death/Thrash Metal.

Posted by Caterine Souza

[English] Blood Ages: Godless Sandborn

Country:  France

 Pierre “Peyo” Borial (bass)
Yohan Frit (drums)
Augustin Raupp (guitar)
Pat “Billy” Berbié (guitar)
Nicolas “Aniki” Gandolphe  (vocals)

Genre: Death Metal

'Godless Sandborn', Blood Ages' newest destructive work, released via Mighty Music.

Knowing how to be unique is something super simple to this new band. Blood Ages appears bringing his latest release in 2016, having only one previous album, entitled 'At the Height of the Storm' that have already shown the power of the band in a great way, but nothing as impressive as 'Godless Sandborn'.

More than just an album, 'Godless Sandborn' manages to stick to your mind and penetrate your blood, showing a totally compatible sound with its mythology and Orientalism themes.The band's melody construction is really good. Drums always Death Metal styled, always bringing a total chaos atmosphere with double pedal played very quickly on some tracks, throwing you to a world of poetry, papyri and sand dissolving nightmares.

"He Who Came To Defile The World" is the more impactful way that the band show its Death Metal dense side. Bass appears extra charged, taking you from body to soul and leading them to the tombs. A great music that can show more focused side within the genre.

"From The Void To The Throne" can transmit by its inicial seconds how grand it is. This track is showing the monumental world of the band's Orientalism themes. A guitar very well used and managed to show its sharp tone by making the perfect tune that plays along with the drums plates, getting a more open air to contrast with the growls in the vocals.

No song in this album can best represent what this band is than "The Ritual Soil Of The Crawling Chaos" that carries an excellent introduction, showing how they very well thought-out when they created it.Strong and well insulated beats make the atmosphere increasingly charged. Bass creates a basis for the birth of darkness, guitars gradually appear and manage to show a beautiful an well employed side with the drums, ceasing to be shy on the track. This is a worthy and awesome song from its beginning to its end. "The Ritual Soil Of The Crawling Chaos" can within its eight minutes not be boring at any time.

Near to its end, "The Ritual Soil Of The Crawling Chaos" takes the hate and shows the dense guttural that can at times be close and others be driffting to reach the pig squeal style, suprisingly good. This certainly is a great band which can always surprise its listeners.


Mighty Music never hit this well with a released work. Blood Ages really is a band that will always bring great music quality. Blood Ages is that rare kind of band that with only two released works has that professional attitude that represents and honors the real worlds they made up with their lyrics.


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Posted by Caterine Souza

[English] Talrak: Paralysis

Location: Sorocaba, SP - Brazil

Matheus Scarlate (vocals, guitar)
Bruno Jokubauskas (bass)

Leandro Menossi (drums)

Luis Doda (guitar, backing vocals)

Genre: melodic death/ black metal

Here is Talrak's first work and its melodeath with black metal traces are pretty well-shown. Launched in early May, via independent, the conceptual 'Paralysis' brings an almost mystical and discredited by many phenomenon: sleep paralysis.

Before the ears perceive sound, the eyes perceive the cover art and it's worth giving the fair attention this particular one deserves. The choice of designer Marcus Zerma by using gray as the only color was extremely on point because it shows very well the phenomenon's atmosphere. The atmosphere that it passes us is impactful, but also serene. It's like a scene drawn on a tarot card, beautifully adorned as it is on a cameo. The girl's expression is quiet, her "external" eyes closed indicate that she sleeps, her third eye open indicates that dream. Yes, she sleeps and dreams, but the scenery around almost prove us that she somehow levitates, corroborating with the testimonies on this phenomenon.

Now, let's talk about sound. A good instrumental track as intro is able to insert the listener into any desired ambience, but it takes mastery to achieve such an effect. "Prologue" is this effective. Ethereal, almost alien are some of the terms to define it. Its riffs mess up someone's ideas in the fluid space and time that the listener runs throughout this short song. Fluid as these dimensions assemble, it seems a reality in which the listener is being intrinsic to someone's dreams.

"Symbolizing Artifacts" appears without warning. The double pedal in this range comes with such cadence and give the wanted movement to the dense and dark atmosphere created by "Prologue". The vocals, always in tune, come at the right time. The music grows to a certain maximum and then goes back to the original melody without losing its power. The last riffs almost make it possible for the listener to feel acid running through his/her skin (Reference to this lyrics' part: "Let me feel the acid running through me").

"Ancient Etruria" totally breaks the atmosphere created by the two previous songs and brings its own. Lightness and mystery share space in this track. It's like, locked in your room, you wake up from a dream in which you wander through a dark forest under blue moon and heavy snow. The song accompanies you in the happiness of such a nice dream, but then it makes you look out to the window, which seems so strangely wide open and soon you envision one of your shoulders and on it mysteriously tiny snowflakes melt down.

From left to right: Doda, Jokubauskas, Menossi and Scarlate. Photo by Jéssica Dias Gomes

The fourth song is undoubtedly the best of 'Paralysis'. Killer intro, with distortions at the right spot. This right spot in a band in which the line between black and death metal is tenuous. The two guitars are presented very well matched throughout the whole song. Bass gives the recquired depth to follow the harsh/guttural lyrics so sharp and flawless done by the vocalist (reference to the chorus: "Taste of the killing, smells of blood / The last breath, make those blood mud"). The drums appear with the power to destroy you as quickly as possible. That's because you only feel it vibrate through some insane double pedal and then dishes, both well interspersed. Millimeters separate "Pleasure of Unfair" and perfection and they are the unfortunately few minutes of this song.

Finally the selftiled song arrives. "Paralysis" brings to the drums a chance to realize a very heavy intro. And so, it endures, stormy, restless, but it is dying by well-done fade out before it suddenly and completely disappears, as the exact modes as people say that occur during the sleep paralysis phenomenon. The emphasis in this track is clearly for the vocals, because in this track have almost a poetic guttural description of what happens in this paralysis experience. A good example is the chorus: "Every second, is like a century / Drowned and raped mentally / Every second, is like a century / Strangled and hanged with intensity."

"Cursed By the Real Vision of Knowledge" is one of the most death metal tracks of the album. Starts in direct riffs, it becomes very melodic to then enter the guttural. The constant exchange of time in this track, makes it dynamic enough to not soak the listener. Especially the guitar solo, which is short but very well scored to the song's final seconds. Taking reference and poetic license with the refrain: our mind is twisted and gnarled by the track, but we cannot see the destruction because, here again, we have a too short song for the quality it presents.

The last song arrives. "Inquisition Philosophy" comes to close the EP with all the weight that a last song usually has. This track merges between being more purely death metal and melodic. And when it's melodic, it is almost flawless. It seriously featured invaluable highlight to the solos from the middle to the end of the song. Main and backing vocals were very well used in this song. The final seconds of "Inquisition Philosophy" take up some of the same atmosphere created by "Prologue", only that it's much more brutal, aggressive than the intro song.

Anyway, there are bands that are amazing since their early works. This is the case of Talrak because 'Paralysis' has shown a really great start. May Talrak's future works have longer songs and continue the way the last track of the EP says: "Resist ... Exceeded ... Improving ... Rising ...".

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Posted by Caterine Souza

[English] Psycroptic: The Inherited Repression

Location: Australia

Genre: Technial Death Metal

Band: Cameron Grant - bass

David Haley - drums

Joe Haley - guitar

Jason Peppiatt - vocals

Tasmania, the birthplace of this band called Psycroptic. This is an awesome band that bears its Technical Death Metal in a chaotic, poetic and deadly form.

Since 1999, the band has the great sound that is still getting fans all over the world. They always show themselves as complete as possible, they pay attention to every point, to every second of a song and to every single detail of their music, because even their gear would be worth to somehow be framed at a museum.

'The Inherited Repression' was the album that soon showed by its cover art that the band was trying to overcome everything else they did in the best and they actually succeeded. This work, released via Nuclear Blast Records, made the band bet on 9 great tracks. Psycroptic wasted no time in showing that their quality goes from the first second of the first track until the last song's last minute.

"Carriers of the Plague" beautifully opens the album at its most atmospheric form. At the beginning, this track can show us the excellent work of their drummer when he explores each part of the drums he can, with no repetitive ideas by knowing how to use double pedals. It gives to the track a heavy atmosphere and that makes the earth shake. The bass is totally clear, you can listen as it flows with the other instruments and it also works as a good basis for a more open vocal. Every single thing mentioned before make this song even more flawless.

With this master level, the band starts the album as best as possible. Not satisfied to blown up their listeners with the first track, here come the second one: "Forward to Submission" which begins giving a highlight for the drums, while gradually all the instruments come up and get in tune. The guitar features a beautiful form to this song once the riffs sound very well thought out. Also, all those riffs re not necessarily focused on bringing an absolute overwelming weight to this song's musical creation.
The vocals can explore all its feelings and leave it totally high and impactful. This guttural style is that one that blends perfectly with the bass and makes this song a worthy work from this beautiful album.

The living energy appears on the track "The Throne of Kings" which begins with a guitar pulling the audience up for a massive wall of death. The double pedal is much more intelligently explored in this track and it is the perfect combination of plates well used and blast beat.
At every moment, you can notice the guitar growing and creating a very smart line that can always explore the energy and adrenaline. The greatest weight is up to the vocals that can be destructive from half until the end of the song.


Psycroptic shows it qualities in a interesting manner. They show an excellent set of well-played and well-done vocals, this all means that separately each musician can have their highlight time even when everyone is playing together. An excellent band that always show something that will stick to your mind.

Posted by Caterine Souza

[English] Godless Angel: The Conjuring of Four

Location: United States of America

Derek Neibarger (Everything)

Genre: Death Metal

The metal market is increasingly raising new One-Man bands' names. In 2016, appears something incredible from a band that have been releasing very good and creative sounds inside its death metal subgenre.

With lyrics exploring occult themes, horror and death, Godless Angel comes with its new release entitled 'The Conjuring of Four'. The way the album was assembled was very, very intelligent. One minute songs make the best intro to songs with vocals. With this work, this band becomes even richer and more creative, which is one of Derek's mark in this project.

To be able to create the perfect atmosphere for the theme, the first track, the self-titled one, already appears with a "sharp" guitar leaving a sense of danger in the air which fits perfectly with the second song's first seconds "Twisting Chaos". This song has a very impressive energy immersed on it and also an excellent drum section. The way that the song "Twisting Chaos" was created really shows us why Godless Angel is so interesting and creative in its releases. This song gets out of the same style of playing we are used to hear when it comes to Death Metal. Yet, still manages to fit in this genre with a different way to show GA's quality.


The vocal is done so, so torn and you can almost feel the pain inside it. His vocals can clearly convey everything and still show full compatibility with the lyrics. This is a track really well done and complete.
"The Worms Are Eating Him Now" is a flawless combination of the old Death Metal with the modern ways to record, which also includes other genres' influences. It's such a great song!

Derek can perfectly master the guitar. He can explore it by taking solos and riffs to their best quality. He puts the listener into his world of chaos and destruction. The open vocal embraces the extremely loaded sound of the bass and this makes the song full, another complete and great track on 'The Conjuring of Four'.
To end this great album released in 2016, it seems that the track "JawZ" can possibly be considered the best of the album. The construction of this song is really well done. The bass brings a dense atmosphere. It seems like the silent walk of a killer. The guitar comes so intelligently creative, transforming itself as a unique and awesome intro which brings quality to the song.

To be part of a genre so extreme like Death Metal seems easy to Derek Neigbarger. He can make the death metal common weight be even more sticky. 'The Conjuring of Four' is  really a high qualified work that  surprise the listener when he/she sknows it's made by only one very talented man..

Posted by Caterine Souza

[English] Arandu Arakuaa: Wdê Nnãkrda

Location: Taguatinga,Brazil

Nájila Cristina (Vocals/Maracá)

 Zândhio Aquino (Guitar/Viola Caipira/Vocals/Indigenous Istruments/Keyboards)

 Saulo Lucena (Bass/Backing Vocals/Maracá)

Adriano Ferreira (Drums/Percussion)

 

Genre: heavy metal, música indígena, música regional brasileira

The "same metal" stuff is finally ceasing to be the only starlet on the Brazilian metal scene. Today, we bring you Arandu Arakuaa, which is a group built on contrasts. They are able to mix the good old heavy metal with an innovative blend of characteristic sonorities of Brazil, creating Arandu Arakuaa's theme focused on our indigenous culture.

As "tree trunk", in the akwê xerente language, here comes the second full-length of the band. 'Wdê Nnãkrda' deepens the band further into their native roots and, at the same time, it unearths our Brazilian roots, bringing them to light, bringing them to our memory.

The album begins with "Watô Akwê" and it already puts us in a village. The track puts the listener primarily just as an observer, staring at the village culture few miles away. Not long after, the listener is urged to get in touch with what the title suggests - "I'm Indigenous" in akwê xerente -. "Watô Akwê" invokes the unknown, it invokes each xerente clan to come and ritualize together by the sound of maracás and real steps on thefloor.

"Nhandugûasu" appears bluntly once the listener has been contextualized - and challenged - by the previous track. The metal shows itself pretty heavy, beautifully cadenced, bringing the instrumental as a faithful support and intro to Nájila Cristina's guttural. The unexpected beautifully breaks the first song when corners the metal, kind of nursing it with sweet clean vocals.

"Hêwaka Waktû" continues with the softness from "Nhandûguasu"'s end. It is growing and it starts pretty light and melodic to soon make way to an unison and somehow angry chorus. This perfectly precedes the entry of the guttural combined with fast riffs and also with the well-done bass lines by Saulo Lucena. "Hêwaka Waktu" decreases sharply to the melody which starts the song initially, with the sweet and smooth sound of the viola caipira.. The track actually looks like an upcoming rain, first the calm, then comes the drizzle that soon turns into pour rain, full of thunders and lightnings and finally it diminishes and ceases altogether.

"Dazihãzumze" comes soft. It brings the tranquility of a celebration in the village. This feeling has modest emphasis on vocals: the clean vocals by Nájila, after a long intro; the rhythmic vocals by Zândhio Aquino and the ending, when the song first grows up to become a kind of confrontation between jungle beasts, only to die by distant little children's voice playing outside.

"Padi" gets in and your whole body is concentrated and immediately ready to pay attention since the first riff. Drums that are very well marked by Adriano Ferreira perfectly match with the singer's voice. The contrast here is on vocals, as that music embodies and loads the track at the right time, similar to an indian who calculated the precise time to release his arrow from the bow. The song then goes on standby, it somehow reveres Zândhio's, accompanying it with maracás only.

The next track is the instrumental "Wawã". In 'Wdê Nnãkrda', it works like this ballad track that some metal albums bring. "Wawã" seems the ideal of how it would be to stay on a boat in the middle of the Amazon River, admiring its immensity.

The unusual of Arandu Arakuaa do not live only in breaking the music until you do not know to predict what will come, it also exists to put rhythms a windfall for both a metal CD. "Ĩwapru" begins very heavy, obviously always contrasting vocals and joining them on guitar. Therefore, the most unexpected even occurs: a samba! This as Brazilian rhythm appears in the track just as some. And as if it was something the head of the listener, the music back to its heavy / death with unerring kitchen and so guttural, fast riffs and drums finalize the track in the best way.

"Nhanderu" and "Ĩpredu" are the most mixed ones, in  matter of this blend between metal and indigenous sounds, because it is on them that resides the perfect junctions of maracás, guitars, drums, clean voices in unison and closed guttural/harsh vocals.

"Sumarã" is one of the highlights on this album next to "Hewâka Waktû" and "Padi". The deepest vocals by Zândhio, turns it into an instrumentally softer track, it exposes the seriousness that portrays the track's lyrics, "Enemy" in Tupi. Distorted riffs surround Nájila's guttural as well as someone lurking in the woods. At the time she gives life to the sentence "A-poro-Yuka-potar!", even if you do not understand that it says "I want to kill!", the listener feels it like a powerful and catchy term.

The last song is the only one in Portuguese album. "Povo Vermelho" tell us, under soft vocals, how the life in the village before the white man's invasion was, until the whispers begin... They make "Povo Vermelho" darker than ever. The guttural here comes with its shock function even keener because it  permeates lyrics of struggle and resistance, and all that is visible when the singer gives life to sharp stanza: “O povo vermelho resiste, o povo vermelho resiste / Enquanto houver terra, enquanto houver mata / O povo vermelho resiste, o povo vermelho resiste / Enquanto houver espírito, enquanto houver sangue” (freely translated to English as:  "The red people resist, the red people resist/ While there is land, while there is woods / The red people resist, the red people resist / While there is spirit, while there is blood")

'Wdê Nnãkrda' is an album that, even it's not conceptual, it brings the most deserved attention to the culture here that already existed before the settlers of Brazil. It's always trying to draw our attention that it is necessary that indigenous culture must not die. It is necessary to prevent the earth from dying, so the Earth won't be dead. The always vocal and its "brazilianity" are very well represented, either when sung in indigenous languages ​​or Portuguese, it gives strength and visibility to the indigenous resistance. To this fight reunites Arandu Arakuaa, always bringing thei unique sound very well built and done. With 'Wdê Nnãkrda', Arandu Arakuaa is really showing itself as a tree trunk, deeply rooted into the Mother Earth.

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Posted by Caterine Souza

[English] Circle of Noose: The Early Circle... A Ghostly Noose Around the Neck

Originally written in Portuguese by Renan Martins
Translated to English by Caterine Souza

  Country: Brazil

  Genre: Experimental Black Metal

Grim (vocals and all instruments) 

 

'The Early Circle ... A Ghostly Noose Around the Neck'. This is the endless name of this one-man band's EP.



Circle of Noose brings such a journey with the Experimental Black Metal at its side, like its loyal friend. There's always a guitar featuring the songs and creating melodies like the final hours of a sunny day that carry you intantly to some sort of solitary places.



This destructive and torn form of Black Metal does not disappear on this project. Don't let it fool you to think that this BM side will go away at some point because the track starts slow and then it goes through it all. This Experimental BM One-Man Band can put these two parts together in a song that makes you dream about something bright on your life and also cry drwoned in pain with the same song.



'The Early Circle ... A Ghostly Noose Around the Neck' came out via independent early this year's February and it has only two tracks, but by these two you can know pretty well how the musician, Grim, works.



The first track is titled "Landscape Behind the Eyes" and it can perfeclty show us how to join in an atmosphere of pure melancholy to make you stop and reflect for a moment on a particular rainy afternoon. This song line was built by combining the very well played guitar with the fastest drums it could have had and Grim's harsh and torn vocals. This all put together, turns this track into something really powerful to take you to lots of different feelings, it brings you some mental confusion within the pain and anguish of just being alive.



"Landscape Behind the Eyes" is the first and penultimate song, so it is responsible for opening and preparing the listener to the end of the EP on its best possible way.



The Experimental Black Metal was a perfect choice for this project/band. Using this subgenre, Grim manged to expand the BM genre and make those tracks very well made, absorbing the best part when it comes to home production.



The second and last track is entitled "The Circle Made of Kaos Through the Noose". It does not leave at any time the feeling of melancholy become more impactful than the confusion of noises created by the vocal. Grim's vocal uses a very interesting effect to expand its rotting side and with this, he's able to reach the most  overlooked parts of a soul.

Check this work on this Bandcamp link!


Posted by Caterine Souza

[English] Hecate: Ultima Specie

Originally written in Portuguese by Renan Martins
Translated to English by Caterine Souza

 

Location: Italy

Arch Stanton (bass)
Marco Lotto (drums)
Anti Christian (vocals)

 

Genre: Brutal Death Metal/Grindcore

The latest brutal kingdom of Hecate was titled 'Ultima Specie' and with the sound of all deaths, the work of this impressive Italian band was born.

Hecate presented differently this work. An EP that came out via Revalve Records and contains 8 tracks, but none of them has more than four minutes.

With this extremely fast, well done and brutal work, the band surprised us all and showed that you wouldn't have to jump to the next track because the current song has only one minute and you maythink that this is an instrumental song, you are so very wrong! Hecate doesn't work like that.

The way of making the initial thirty seconds of the track "Anneliese" completely instrumental realy works and it works pretty obscure. This song opens the EP and already shows the quality of the band, because with a simple sound like that, Hecate could put some tension in the air and also a perfect atmosphere for the next tracks.
"Ultima Specie" is the first track name. This song has vocals and they bring a pitiless brutality built up within an absurd depth. The guttural can be really surprising, turning  this junction of voice, weight of riffs, burned and bloody drums and even its cover art perfectly to the whole band's act.

With only 1:37, the selftitled track is already bringing it all to its complete brutality. Then, immediately after, appears this two minutes song entitled "Senza Pieta" that presents to its listeners a very interesting part of the band Torn and harsh vocals are leading the song at some times while on other times, the guttural comes out and it makes all the difference once the song finally becomes even more interesting and deeper. The falls that "Senza Pieta" features are actually fundamental to the song's weight to get better and better. Drums work in a fantastic way with the double pedal, and in a short time, the band puts a Groove Metal structure onto the song, turning this track one of the most amazing ones on this EP.

The unknown pathway that Hecate presents leaves lots of questions in the air, but the answer comes with their striking and worthy Brutal Death Metal destructive side songs. On the whole album, we can hear and understand the weight they are working with. You think that everything seems overwhelmingly done and already on the edge of perfection, then the vocals get heavier, amazing every listener! The existence of this track called "Indignati" is the proof of Hecate's destructive power. A more open vocal appears and the guttural comes soon after and this two styles make the song reach another level of weight. Hecate is always surprising us in a positive and brutal way.

With its more cadenced start, the song called "Bestia Quiet" brings hatred to the listener's eye and somehow can drag his/her soul to some kind of torture room. The guttural with cadenced drums works pretty well with the plates and the bass creates a chaotic cloud above everything else.


The band's first work is already reaching perfection. 'Ultima Specie' is certainly building an identity to Hecate.

Posted by Caterine Souza