Evilcult - Triumph of Evil (2025)

Evilcult is another band that has continued to evolve its sound alongside the other blackened speed/thrash hopefuls across the globe and wound up one the most promising acts in that field, keeping things fierce and fun while ramping up the musicianship. Triumph of Evil is an album that emphasizes a lot of pure heavy metal influence and melody while it maintains that speed metal substrate and the harsher vocals of Lucas 'From Hell', which have more of a death metal grunt to them than a lot of other comparable acts. The result comes across much like the Germans Cruel Force on their latest, which completely blew away their earlier material that was a cruder black/thrash style also. The Brazilians live or die off their blazing guitar work, and they're far from the graveyard in that regard.

This thing is like a tapestry of classic, melodic, licks which create atmosphere wherever they're integrated against the most driving rhythm section. Sure, many of the basic rhythms driving them are pretty typical for the genre, they don't go in any unusual or dissonant directions, but they always perfectly set up the exhibitions of NWOBHM-laced harmonies and other tremolo picked melodies which remind me of the more melodic direction bands like Running Wild took in the later 80s, which I happen to love. Leads are in general very good, tunes like "Midnight Ritual" and the title track leading the charge. The drums snap and gallop along while the bass pumps out a foundation, and the guitars stay airier and drifting about the fray in their eternal dance. The abusive vocals are an awesome contrast to such brighter music, I'd use Nite as a reference only these Brazilians are playing busier, more complex material, and the vocals are more multi-dimensional, which some more raving, loose lines to accompany the grunts.

The one part I wasn't thrilled with are the little falsetto screams which they use to often end verse lines,  this is just a cliche I've grown a little tired with this niche of bands, and while they work occasionally, they are the weakest part of the songwriting and execution here. Thankfully, there aren't enough of them to sour the experience more than a fraction. Triumph of Evil is well-produced, memorable, shakes things up with just enough variety (like the slower "Waves of Agony"), incorporates a light use of synths to great effect, and maintains a high level of consistency, with tail ender tracks like "Warrior of Doom" or "Nosferatu" hitting just as hard as not harder as the opening volleys, the latter with some barbaric guest vocals and lead from Armando Exekutor as well as some dope bass lines deep in the bridge. The lyrics all have the usual Satanic or horror cliche lyrics, but I'm not complaining because it all fits perfectly with the performances. As with Cruel Force, this is a 'next step' sort of record, more matured songwriting, fewer blemishes and one I'll be returning to for a long time.

Verdict: Win [8.75/10]

https://evilcult.bandcamp.com/music

Cult of Horror - Hermetik Heretik (2020)

Another impressive band in that South American blackened speed and thrash scene, Cult of Horror deliver the raw, pummeling goods as pioneered by their influences, in a compact, bludgeoning, evil form that will keep you headbanging in a dingy basement forever. Hermetik Heretik is their sophomore full-length, and while the first was pretty decent on its own, this thickens the blood of that style a little without losing any of the menace. Because that is key here, this Brazilian band actually sounds EVIL, they harness all of the creepy, frilly riffing that you love out of groups like Deathhammer or Hellripper, and they do it with some heft to hoist up the speed metal. I don't wanna say that they're d-beat, but they have a similar rocking out feel adjacent to the response I get to a lot of groups within that niche.

The vocalist Pazuzu really adds a lot, not because he's super-nuanced, but his growling, oblique delivery feels as if you're being smothered with rotten mummy-wrappings, there are simply no fucks given here as he growls out sustained lines over the more agile guitar parts, which are constantly catchy even where you've heard them before, but will throw out some surprises when they opt for a more distinctly death metal tremolo picked riff, or a boogie heavy metal groove like they lay down in the depths of "Philosophy of a Knife", even a doom tune in "Promethean Reign". There are often a few riffs that are borderline TOO derivative, such as the opening to "Murder by Witchcraft" which mirrors Slayer's immortal breakdown in "The Antichrist", but I'm willing to bet that this is conscious with no ill intent, rather an attempt to take that vibe and twist it off into some new configuration. This is an exception though, because while they don't exactly write original riffs, nothing else is so obvious, it's all pretty dark and dim and awesome.

I hope some of these groups can get some further exposure, I know acts like Whipstriker and Witchtrap have come around on tour, but I'd love a chance to check out Cult of Horror, Atomic Roar and some of the other underground gems from down there. This guy's voice is grisly and awesome, the material is in general quite oppressive, constantly catchy and well suited to the mix of occult fixation and horror smut that the band covers lyrically; Cult of Horror is certainly that, and what they write is the perfect companion to nights of bad booze, VHS exploitation flicks and an inescapable whiff of blood-drenched leather.

Verdict: Win [8/10]

https://cultofhorror.bandcamp.com/
 

Impiedoso - Reign in Darkness (2017)

It's a little rare to see an album like Reign in Darkness these days, because clearly this hearkens back to a time when the theatrics of black metal were more openly embraced, in the heart of the 90s when the genre was still the shock rock of extremity. You think back on bands like Immortal, or Marduk, Maniac Butcher, or Lord Belial, corpse painted warriors who, while seemingly dead serious through their lyrical choices and themes, might just know how to offer the audience a bit more of a lighthearted duality which endears them. There's nothing 'cute' or funny about what Brazilians Impiedoso throw out there musically, though, but instead a very stripped down and primal form of black metal which also dates them back to that same visual era, albeit with a couple of tweaks that ensure they don't just come across as a shameless knockoff of those I named dropped earlier.

This record does possess its share of blasted abandon, where the frantic beats accompany melodic, classic Swedish-style picking passages into a blitzing maneuver, but there are just as many if not more moments in which the stuff is played slower or mid-paced, with very simple chord patterns that, if not nuanced or unique, at least aim at being catchy enough to carry the listener through. In fact, on tunes like "Domination", the jagged little guitar melodies and the way rhythm licks are constructed remind me a lot of Hellenic staples like earlier Rotting Christ or Varathron, but they also utilize darker harmonies which seem like they'd be better off glazing a doom metal trick, yet are present in some build-up to another of the straight ahead charging sections, where as some of the pure melodies which ride over mid-paced fare often recall sulky atmospheric black or death like another Greek band in their heyday, Septic Flesh. Despite that, the band never really transforms into any form of pure or obvious 'death' metal whatsoever, just an occult proto-black metal style that likes to pace itself out and provide some variation rather than just endlessly looping blasts.

The vocals are a rasped, raunchy style which sounds fiendish if not highly unique, and offers up a caustic and nihilistic contrast against the much warmer notes and chords being fleshed out of the guitars in tunes like "Eu Vejo o Fim". The guitars sound a little bit dingy for this style, where they might benefit from a little more muscle, and I also felt the production on the rhythm section could have been a little better, the drums more powerful and refined, where here they seem a little too brash against the melodies, not the fault of the beats themselves. Bass lines often just traipse along with the guitars, which is old hat for this genre but could be varied up a little more. Overall, I actually like the sincere, raw aesthetic of the recording, it's just minor nitpicks on particular pieces of the kit or guitar riffs that don't quite gel together as they might in a more seasoned, balanced mix. But at no time does the music get obstructed, it's always pretty clear and I think they have a well-rounded approach to their style which you never really heard on bands which committed more fully to dissonance and speed.

Reign in Darkness isn't going to blow your mind, but I think it serves well enough as a slice of nostalgic early occult/black metal which might have appeal for fans of those early Greek years of 1993-1995, balanced with some Scandinavian aesthetics and then even a fraction of the low fi and melodic atmospheres pioneered by Czech legends like Root and Master's Hammer, or even the Italian cult horror metallers Mortuary Drape. If you're seeking out more of a onesided brand of extreme black, there's not much here to offer you beyond a few wholesome bars of blasting, but if you wanna be drawn back about 22 years to the emergence of second wave acts who paid heed to as much Mercyful Fate and NWOBHM as they did Mayhem and Bathory, then Impiedoso has latched on to a style here that through further refinement could grace many a black altar at midnight.

Verdict: Win [7/10] (this is our world and we want it)

https://www.facebook.com/ImpiedosoHorde/

Satan Worship - I'm the Devil (2017)

The debut from this German/Brazilian collaboration could hardly ever be accused of not wearing its heart on its sleeve...a black, pulsing, just torn from the chest of a preacher heart. Satan Worship is the product of a couple guys you may know...Marc Reign, skin beater of the mighty Morgoth, laying down the bedrock for a couple of dudes from Sodomizer, whose mainstay's style more aptly fits the sounds of what you'll hear on I'm the Devil. Baseline punk/speed metal with a lot of mandatory nods to Hellhammer,  Motörhead and Venom, performed with a consistent, light-hearted enthusiasm that relies a lot on the character of the vocals to give it a more robust, menacing atmosphere than you might here on a lot of comparable albums...and there are countless of those to choose from.

To that effect, of course, it does possess some charm, as Leatherface's enormous, growling tone leadens down the procession like a gluttonous, obese daemon who emerged from his cave to find that the morning newspaper had already been incinerated on his lawn. Big, dumb, barking, raunchy and lovable gutturals belched out over a riff set that can't have taken more than 3-5 minutes at any point to conceive, hyped up by Reign's bombastic drumming. The tones here sound good, and I actually like that the vox are delivered with such a voluminous swell that lets its ugly sustain carry over the slightly less muscular rhythm tone. Bass is fat as fuck, just listen to that breakdown in "Azrael's Hand", but generally it just tags along with its brother instrument, but the mix of the drums and guitars really hits a shuffling sweet spot that will warmly remind you of a lot of your fave old school punk and hardcore discs given a more ironclad vision. Not every riff pattern on the whole disc is terribly generic, they'll occasionally throw me for a loop, and they also layer on some flimsy but atmospheric leads to round things out.

I won't lie, I had a lot of fun listening here, especially to a handful of tracks like "The Girls of Manson Family", where the vocals and thrust of the instruments concoct a genuine, headbanging elixir I kept putting on repeat...but that is the SOLE reason I'm giving it the positive. When it comes to nuance or genuine nastiness, it falls behind a great many other acts in its niche, so I wouldn't want to mislead anyone into thinking it's glorious for anything beyond its own primal, bloated absurdity. The lyrical subjects are all painfully obvious, few tracks strive for anything beyond a few riffs, and certainly there are tracks which blend into one another on the memory. But when I turn off my expectations, dig the cool logo and cover art, and just want an acceptable hell-blast of leather and spike-endowed excess, then I'm the Devil evoked more than a couple smiles from me and so on some level it's both amusing and successful.

Verdict: Win [7/10]

https://www.facebook.com/satanworshipofficial

Sepultura - Machine Messiah (2017)

I can't sit here and tell you that Machine Messiah has rid itself of all the vapid, bouncing, predictable hardcore grooves that the band more or less mastered and subsequently exhausted with the albums Chaos A.D. and Roots back in the mid 90s. I also can't promise you that I've suddenly become a fan of Derrick Green's vocals; granted, the guy's been with the Brazilians now for almost 20 years, and his style has never deviated too far from the original, roughshod and grunting and barking aesthetics of his predecessor. No, despite the fact he has always been technically sound on the many releases he has fronted, his harsher vocals have always felt played out to me, lacking individual distinction against the hundreds or thousands of other groove metal or nu-metal growlers you'd have found at the corner bars during the Ozzfest era and forward. His sound has not changed much here, and it simply lacks the viciousness or raw, murderous quality that I associate with and love from early Sepultura.

But here's what I CAN tell you...

This is the most engaged I've been with a Sepultura record since 1993. That's not to say that albums like Dante XXI, Kairos and The Mediator Between Head and Hands Must Be the Heart lacked any semblance of highlights. Sure, I could string together a solid album's worth of content between 1994 and 2013. Maybe even a double disc set. But Machine Messiah manages to strike an eclectic range between the band's tribal instincts, their LCD grooves and then a slightly tighter and more technical Sepultura which offers a lot more candy for the ears. A lot of this comes directly through Andreas Kisser's writing and performance...when he leaves behind the stolid attempts to ape the success they had with such simple mosh components in the 90s post-Arise, he explores some more compelling and busy picking sequences that really tipped the balance for my desire to listen repeatedly. It makes me wish this were the norm for this band in the 21st century, that they had expressed a desire to become increasingly more progressive like a lot of their international peers had already achieved by the late 80s. I realize that would seem anathema to a core of their audience that just wants to reel around violently and crush each other, but it's a damn shame...

It even carries forward to the leads, which are very well executed, never extended beyond their welcome and almost unanimously catchy whether they just be frenetic and spontaneous, atonal, Eastern inspired and exotic, or all of the above. Having these licks riding atop even the most banal of rhythm guitar breakdowns instantly adds some levity and depth which I feel a lot of albums they've put out have largely lacked. Eloy Casagrande also turns in a spotless performance here, effortlessly putting up a level of energy that would be fit for most modern thrash or death metal records, but constantly applying that primal, ethnic, 'jungle' spread of fills and rumbling grooves that will remind many of the more (and only) interesting moments of Roots; only here, I like the riffs better, and that goes a long way. Bass-lines are perfectly mixed, just fat enough to register against the clean but punchy rhythm guitar tone and often a little busier than you've come to expect from that area. In truth the album sounds really great overall...polished but not lacking some force where required, and also leaving some room for the more elegant lead tone, cleaner guitars and so forth.

So with so much going for it, the few flaws here are quite easy to forgive. The vocals are acceptable, even when he's doing his lower range Layne Stayley-meets-Nick Cave crooning like in the titular intro or "Cyber God". Would I like it better with Max? I'm sure a lot of folks would, but that's not to discredit a reasonable effort from Green. The grooves in tunes like "Iceberg Dances" are straight from the Chaos A.D. playbook, or reminiscent of other bands from Machine Head to 90s Ministry, and even if a lot of them weren't so interesting, they do at least tap into that same, sweltering testosterone center in the brain that makes you want to riot a little. The lyrics are honestly pretty bland, the usual self-help sociopolitical stuff which is supposed to make you feel good but just doesn't possess enough grasp of imagination, metaphor or catchy phrasing to make that difference. Also it has a song called "Cyber God" and I really wish we were through with everyone having a song dubbed "Cyber" something. That feels 1998 at best.

But it's the strong variation in pacing between thrashers and slower bruisers, and the willingness to toss out a few new ideas like the colorful orchestration synthesized into "Phantom Self" that kept me paying attention through the entirety of the disc, and that give me some further hope that all sparks of inspiration and creativity have not fled the band across the decades, and maybe they're on the verge of producing something great again. That said, I'll gladly take stuff like this in the meantime.

Verdict: Win [7.75/10] (facing the blind of collective delusion)

http://sepultura.com.br/

Despot - Satan in the Death Row (2013)

The cover of Satan in the Death Row definitely gives off the vibe of a more traditional heavy metal record, but this is in fact an all-out, one man black metal express replete with synthesizer orchestration, lots of tempo variation and no shortage of atmosphere. Despot is a Brazilian project involving one B.A.V., who had previously spent years in other Belo Horizonte underground acts like Necrocult and Unholy Massacre before turning his attention strictly to Despot, and this is the first proper full-length experience which is being offered through Bandcamp. He covers all instruments and programming, and if nothing else I came away from the album pretty impressed by the guy's sinister energy and also his willingness to balance off subtle atmospherics with brutal intensity...

A great example of this is the track "Auto-da-Fé" which is a face-tearing black/death metal exhibition that seems like a bastard blackened spawn of Morbid Angel and faster Sarcofago, only he tosses in a lot of eccentricities like chanting and whispers against the filthy onslaught of proto-black/thrash riffs and mechanized sounding kick drums that will leave compound fractures on your skull. Vocals are a harsh, nihilistic roar with a bit of resonant echo, though he can easily veer into rasps or guttural growls for added effect. Subtle sweeps of symphonic keys are executed in the background to create a fulfilling level of drama. B.A.V. is also a rock solid bassist who makes the instrument well known with lots of grooving fills, and as a rhythm guitarist he is even better, keeping the riffs busy, varied and even semi-clinical or technical as he churns up a batch of thrash, death and black metal techniques with ease, cross-pollinating the picking styles so that they remain provocative and engaging even when they're not specifically catchy. The one caveat is that I felt the leads here were sloppy in execution...sort of arbitrary, indulgent, frivolous, uninteresting and not very well put together or even effective as fits of disjointed chaos.

Some are likely going to have issues with the production on the record, in particular the drum sound, but I actually found them bombastic and pummeling enough to mesh in with the soaring synths and choirs, and grimy lead vocals, and it even gave a hint of an industrial/black impression circa Thorns. I do feel like the rhythm guitars would have been better served with a more potent and robust mix, that might have helped balanced out better against the programming, but in the end, for a one man project, you can hear just about everything and a little bit of rawness or imbalance does help to give Satan in the Death Row a refreshing, hellish visage that takes you back to the 90s when black metal recordings were all slightly 'imperfect' in legendary ways. Most importantly, though, B.A.V.'s riffing style is rather peculiar, with a lot of early 90s death/thrash flair that you don't normally experience in the context of black metal. Morbid Angel, maybe, but some of the patterns even reminded me of bands like old Atheist or early Sadist which I never would expect on a black metal production, though this is probably just my imagination.

At any rate, Despot is a compelling project, worth your support in at least checking out, because while there are clear parallels to 90s black metal delivered through the atmospheric synths, that give the record that sense of nocturnal majesty you might recall from a record like In the Nightside Eclipse, Born of the Flickering or Enthrone Darkness Triumphant, the supporting structures of the rhythm guitar are generally even more interesting and give this album a semi-original sound that was compelling to become lost in. The mix can be tightened up, with fatter guitars and maybe a better tone for the bass and guitars, but this guy is no joke, and anything from the concentrated majesty of "Le Roi Nu" to the scathing sympho-black-thrash of "Egregious" just reeks of fiery creation and actual effort being applied. The lyrics are also quite awesome, minimalistic fits of infernal and haunting poetry. I dug this. Check it out on Bandcamp, and let the man know what you think.

Verdict: Win [7.75/10] (she still wonders as she burns)

http://despotband.bandcamp.com/

Butcher - Astral Karma (1993)

A band so obscure that I'm sure its own members have difficulties trying to recall it, Brazil's Butcher was nonetheless an interesting commodity in that it was performing a far more classically tinted, progressive brand of thrash metal amidst a scene rife with dirtier, black and death-fused acts or others clinging desperately to the coattails of the national heroes and pioneers Sepultura, who were by that time blowing up across the world to the point that labels were interested in headhunting a few other South American acts who might compare. Astral Karma was the quartet's sole full-length effort, released through Cogumelo after years of demos, but my own first encounter with them was the Warfare Noise III split (same label) that featured several other equally-unknown groups who had themselves only ever gotten to the demo level. Props to Butcher for cranking up its career a notch, however futile or fleeting the end result, and also for taking such a unique approach to the medium, which is simply unlike anything else of its time in its geographical region.

The writing here is characterized by a heavy use of technical, often indulgent riffing that walks a fine line between pure neoclassical shred, fusion jazz influences and a surgical depth redolent of the German bands Mekong Delta and especially Deception Ignored-era Deathrow, which is naturally what drew me into Astral Karma, being an incurable whore for that style. In fact I would not be surprised to find that album, The Music of Erich Zahn, Voivod's Dimension Hatross, Watchtower's Control and Resistance, DBC's Universe, or early Coroner and Psychotic Waltz in the guitar player's collection, because he manages to put his own spin on comparable picking techniques that are easily the dominant factor on this album. The bass playing is likewise intelligent, fluid and busy, far more than you'd expect of peers like Sepultura or even The Mist, though it suffers from being a little lower in the mix than the rhythm guitars and vocals, so you can't exactly bask in the man's skill even when you want to (but it's audible enough to brand the guy a South American Ron Royce). Solos are heavily technique driven and not all that compelling on their own merits, but then again, most of the rhythm progressions could be considered 'leads' for other bands, so you're getting plenty of fretboard exploration at any given moment.

There's not a lot of 'boom' to the kick drums, but the snares are dominant and powerful enough to allow the listener's mind to access the contours and momentum of each rhythm guitar sequence, while laying in a number of great fills and grooves to the shifting landscape of technicality. Vocals are a gritty, grainy style that actually reminded me of Snake (Voivod) in the later 80s or when he was punking it up on the reunion discs. Obviously this is a lot more monotonous and exhibits less range than the guitars, but with just the right level of reverb on them I enjoy how they crash against the instruments and 'center' the recording, keeping it firmly rooted into the thrash perspective rather than letting the guitars fly off the hook. Which it could very easily do, because while Butcher was not as manic or dense as Florida's Cynic or Russia's Аспид (Aspid), Astral Karma was clearly focused on an audience of musicians rather than your garden variety hi-top sporting Anthrax and Nuclear Assault 'banger. 'Dressed to impress', despite the budget restrictions on the production, but unfortunately the 90s had become a dead zone for this style...why else would an album like Deception Ignored, arriving later in the previous decade, not continue to make ripples? Fuckin' gangster rap and grunge!

Now, Astral Karma is not without a few flaws. The lyrics read like pseudo-science prose, and contain a lot of cool imagery, but can seem a little hard to follow being that English was likely not the members' primary tongue. The pure prog/fusion rock pieces like "Spiritual Space" or "Analytical Soldier" are hardly mandatory, even if they open up the listener to the band's more eclectic than usual influences. Both are performed smoothly and help to break up the raging neighbors, but they don't serve much other purpose other to confirm the band's jazzier experimentation just shy of Pestilence's Spheres or Cynic's Focus. Inaugurating the song "UFOs" with a morsel of the Close Encounters theme is a little cheesy, but at the very least they compensate with a pretty incredible track that sounds like what might occur if Yngwie Malmsteen had guested on a Voivod record and made Piggy's eyes roll up in consternation. I also had mentioned that the leads are quite formulaic and predictable if you're a heavy fan of the scale based classical style, and this occasionally extends into the rhythm guitars of tunes like "Inside" or "Quest" which feel like pretty familiar patterns even for the 80s/90s. Astral Karma also cycles through so much material in attempts to flood its audience with content that it doesn't dwell on its more memorable riffs quite long enough...

That said, if you can track this down (and let's be honest, that will likely have to be in digital form), it's well worth the time for any fan of this small, limited niche of the thrash or power metal market. I wouldn't go so far to dub it 'brilliant', since it hasn't exactly molded or changed my life like No More Color, Deception Ignored or Control and Resistance, but for an 'out of nowhere' recording, Butcher's talents were substantial, and they packed a lot of effort into this that, in a just world, would have panned out into them securing further releases and building up a following. As it stands, Astral Karma is all we've really got to remember them by, but its well worth listening to, especially in today's environment where Vektor has (deservedly) become such a player in proving that intelligent thrash still has some life to it. You could 100% imagine Butcher as a proto-Vektor, just a bit rougher around the edges, so if that comparison lights up your groin, please check this out and revel in the might-have-been.

Verdict: Win [7.75/10] (in the story of a closed book)

Chaos Synopsis - Art of Killing (2013)

While serial killer themes have been previously enacted by extreme metal acts as diverse as Sigh, Dahmer and Church of Misery, it's great to see that Brazilians Chaos Synopsis have put so much research into the concept of their sophomore Art of Killing. It seems as if they really tried to get into both the heads and histories of each of the murderers they represent here. The footnotes included with the lyrics are helpful, and a number of disparate cultures are represented here, so this can be seen as an examination of sick fucks worldwide (USA, Poland, Japan, Brazil, Ukraine, Colombia, and so forth), which naturally contributes to a broader palette of splatter in terms of the imagery unleashed. I bring this up primarily because it's one of the more compelling components of the record, not that it lacks some inspiration musically, but the riffs and production border more along the familiar.

Branded death/thrash, Chaos Synopsis clearly favors the latter in terms of how they construct the music. The guitar progressions are very punchy and clean in tone, with a lot of mutes and simplistic chord structures that don't exactly break the bank creatively. Occasionally you'll get a evil if understated tremolo lick, as in the bridge to "Vampire of Hanover", and the vocals often accommodate a guttural bark, but the proximity to brutality is tenuous at best. Instead, you've got a spry, choppy selection of guitars redolent of other modern, polished thrash acts like their countrymen Torture Squad, Greece's Suicidal Angels or Germans Cripper. You could reach further back to the hints of Bay Area 80s Slayerisms, moshing potency of Anthrax and S.O.D., or the clinical picking tint of the European greats Destruction or Pestilence, but these aren't so prevalent that the album becomes yet another knockoff. No, they balance enough of their inspirations into a voice of their own, but I feel as if it comes with a cost: the production seems a fraction too sterile for such a savage amusement, and it often detracts from the level of abuse necessary to convey the chaos, pathos and tragedy of these killers and killings.

Granted, bassist/vocalist Jairo does a pretty slick job of capturing the anger and frustration through his blunted ravings, which sound like a street savvy, less raucous hybrid of Max Cavalera and King Fowley; but often burst into more grotesque growls or distorted, narrative samples. However, there's not a lot of inherent melody to his performance, and when the band tears off into a chorus-like sequence, the dynamics rarely differ. The drum mix is decent here, just as loud if not louder than the boxy rhythm guitar, but percussive enough that you can feel the kicks, snares and fills much like a knife being plunged between your ribs. Bass lines are about 50% following the rhythm guitar, and 50% layering in some fills to help break up the banal certainty that often comes with this genre. Leads are efficaciously sporadic, incorporating elements of hard rock and blues against a more surgical technicality; and interestingly, they're not highly drowned in effects, so you're getting a lot of the guitar's natural tone there. Flashy and noodly, but eerily appropriate.

Ultimately, since the focus here is so heavy on the riffs and vocals, the former are called to task to carry the rest of the load, and there just weren't enough that really stuck to me. Tracks like "Rostov Ripper", "Demon Midwife" and "B.T.K. (Blind, Torture, Kill)" are nothing to scoff at, capable of whipping necks into a frenzy, and fists into neighboring faces, in total 80s fashion. But Art of Killing comes up short in its lasting impact. Many of the songs just aren't as sinister as their respective serial killers, and the production is simply too clean to really convey heaviness or emotion. Chaos Synopsis can write their thrash riffs, and they have a solid sense of momentum that in of itself generates some excitement, but beyond that I didn't feel as if the music kept calling me back, like some grotesque snapshots of a murder spree crime scene which I could not look away from out of horror. Seasoned, dynamic and well-scripted, but the record lacked that extra 'oomph' to really drive up the body count.

Verdict: Indifference [6.75/10]

http://www.facebook.com/chaossynopsisbr

Queiron - Sodomiticvm Per Conclave (2012)

While they've never released an expressly 'bad' album, I've not really been easy on São Paulo's Queiron in the past, strictly because I've just felt that there was a lot of latent ability here which wasn't manifesting into the band's songwriting. The results were a slew of more or less average fast, brutal death metal records which followed closely in the footsteps of their precursors Morbid Angel, Deicide, Krisiun, and maybe the 'death' years of Behemoth. This time out, though, the Brazilians firmly plant a rainforest up my posterior, because the riffs and songs here are very much pronounced, memorable, without abandoning the savagery of its predecessors. From its seductive cover image to the variation of its compositions, Sodomiticvm Per Conclave is a step above its sinister elder siblings and will, in a just world, widen the band's exposure through the underground circuit.

They set this up with an evil, almost martial march of ambiance that transforms into an instrumental called "Ordo Iconoclastic Rebellis", threaded with guitar harmonies. Here you really get the first sense for this more potent, pummeling production. The drums are set just right for the battering ram blasts and fills, though the kick drum does occasionally feel boxy (not a huge problem). The guitars have this robust, crunching richness to the slower, palm muted patterns, and yet they still hold up for the harried assault of chords used to adorn the blasted passages. However, the band has really refined its sense for melody, and the note progressions in tunes like "Perversion in Khaoz" or "Slavghter Ministry" implement a lot of tried and true, classic heavy metal and rock lead techniques into what otherwise prove a less palatable blueprint of brutality. Clinical harmonies are picked through some of the chugging patterns, and the songs on this album distinguish themselves from one another far more than on The Shepherd of Tophet or Impious Domination. Even Marcelo's vocals, which come across like a mixture of classic Sinister and the dual guttural-rasp technique of Deicide, seem more poignant and punishing.

I also really loved the exotic (if overbearing) sense of atmosphere they create through ritual pieces such as the intros or the brief "Templvm Perversvm". Like a lot of death and black metal acts, these guys really use the Latin thing to the point of near-cheesiness. U's become v's, f's become v's. They love that letter: v. But once you blend this all into the extremist undercurrent and the bevy of solid, entertaining riffs that support the album as a whole, it all transforms into something very much fulfilling to the sinister being in each of us. Okay, so Queiron aren't reinventing the wheel, and a myriad of death metal groups like Septic Flesh and Nile have already given us great blends of atmosphere and aggression, but I'll still take this over the garden variety vapidity one finds in the architecture of many also-ran bands and albums. Sodomiticvm Per Conclave is perhaps not a 'great' album, but it kept me interested through almost the entire 50 minutes, and certainly provides a case for one of the more improved acts I've heard this year.

Verdict: Win [7.75/10]

http://www.myspace.com/queiron

Grave Desecrator - Deathspells Rising (2011)

What with the utter worship of all things decrepit, old school and evil in a growing, international crowd of underground pundits, I'm surprised a group like the Brazilians Grave Desecrator haven't taken off further. Their last album, Insult was an effectively grimy and antiquated mesh of black and death metals which drew upon their own national forebears, in additional to the expected influences elsewhere (Bathory, Darkthrone, Hellhammer, so forth). I'm not going to lie: there is not a single new idea present in any of their music, but for what they do, the occult and satanic extremity recalling the late 80s and early 90s, they know how to get the blood rising in the proper appendages, and continue to do so with Deathspells Rising.

This is, however, not a brand new album, but a compilation featuring odds and ends from the band's 13 years of existence to its day. My favorite chunk of this record would be the live set, consisting of six tracks that had yet to be released to the public. They don't all seem to hail from the same performance, but at least the versions of "Revelations (of the Beast)", "Carnal Obsession", "Midnight Sinner", "Cursed Mass", and "Christ's Blood", all from their 2008 full-length debut Sign of Doom, all sound appropriately menacing yet professional. I love this group's raw but clean guitar tone, recalling a bit of that old Hellhammer abrasion, and the dark, blunt callousness of the guttural vocals is a perfect fit with the pump of the rhythm section. There are a few other rehearsal pieces on the album which also come from different periods, but aren't quite as impressive as their official incarnations.

As for studio content, they've got the entire 2001 demo front and foremost, and the sound here was pretty spectacular as well, with raw and ruinous guitars that churn out these voluptuous, hostile tremolo patterns which under the earlier vocals, which were more of a straight, carnal black rasp. A definite boon for collectors who, for geographical or scarcity reasons could not get their mitts on it before (though some of the songs are also on the full-lengths). Rounding it out, Grave Desecrator has incorporated another rarity in their 2003 7" EP Cult of Warfare and Darkness, a brutal rendition of Bathory's "Sacrifice", which hails from a period of the Swedes' career which obviously had an enormous impact on these Brazilians; and there's a new studio cut which also reminds me of something that might have come off the Bathory s/t, mixed with a little Motörhead rock. The production here is a bit deeper than normally, but as far as the style it's one I hope will manifest on the next studio album.

Mileage is going to vary on this thing based upon whether or not you've already experienced the band or if you've got a chubby for the retro black/death aesthetic in general. I do feel it could have been more complete, including the tracks from their Tombs on Fire split and 2010 EP (which had a few cool covers), but the chances are that there were licensing mix ups or they just didn't want to render those recent works irrelevant just yet. If you did enjoy Sign of Doom or Insult, however, or you worship the old school or hybrid sounds you'll find on underground labels like Nuclear War Now!, Hell's Headbangers. Despise the Sun, etc, then dive on in, because the hellish magma's fine. Nothing original, but Grave Desecrator know how to stick a pitchfork into your face.

Verdict: Win [7/10]

http://www.gravedesecrator.com/

Poisonous - Perdition's Den (2010)

The expression 'old school' is a cliche that's been beaten to death many times over, myself not excluded from the practice; but few metal artists can it apply to so rigorously as Brazil's Poisonous, a band which eschews the past 20+ years of technicality and progression in the genre to produce some of the most authentically un-evolved brutality you're likely to hear south of the Panama Canal. I remember quite enjoying the group in their prior incarnation, Impetuous Rage, who flirted with a somewhat more complex aesthetic on their 2007 debut Inverted Redemption, but you could consider Poisonous a mild reinvention of their sound into something more primal and bare-boned in its execution.

Perdition's Den is certainly woven of a mildly 'cavernous' persuasion, but not so much that it emulates the droves of Incantation worship groups currently saturated the scene. You won't hear dark ambiance threaded through the metal songs (though there is plenty on the horror-themed intros and interludes), nor any severe excess of reverb on the vocals or guitars. Instead, this pays more of a direct tribute to the formative tones of Autopsy's Severed Survival or Mental Funeral, Death's Scream Bloody Gore or Leprosy, or Obituary's Slowly We Rot with perhaps a few nods to the Dutch forebears or their countrymen Sepultura back in their youth. Low end, viscera churning axes wrought from both feverish tremolo patterns and condensed walls of sluggish chords. Weighted chugs serve as ballast for the blunt guttural delivery of the vocal. Tense and tactile drumming which feels as raw as in the rehearsal space, and thick, swerving bass which oft sounds like a passive but curious ooze creeping along the listener's ear canals.

I mentioned in passing that the band incorporated some creepy interludes here. Despite the cheesy use of the pitch shifted vocals in "Demons" or the swelling nightmare of low pianos and distant ringing that is "From the Infernal Rift", these really help to break up the chugging and roiling density of their neighbors and help to curb some of the monotony the album might otherwise suffer from. I wouldn't say that the actual riffing patterns used in cuts like "Under the Blessing of Death" or "Worthless Christ" rivaled their influences in terms of sheer spookiness or notation, but regardless Poisonous bring the full, morbid package due to the consistent antiquity of the songwriting, the bassy depths of the production, and the steady threat level of the growl. Nothing too memorable in terms of its individual tracks, but they can certainly put you in a mood for ritual sacrifice and fiend summoning.

The Brazilians feels distinctly old and unforgiving, without playing too heavily on the nostalgic trends currently in rotation, and for this reason I'd give Perdition's Den an easy recommendation to fans of US acts like Funerus, Blaspherian or Cianide who place a similar emphasis on sincerity and simplicity. Though the record was originally released in 2010, it's gotten some new life through metalhit.com with fresh cover artwork and extra tracks, so check it out if your tastes are aligned to that crucial 1987-1990 era and those who would resurrect it.

Verdict: Win [7.25/10]

http://www.myspace.com/poisonousdeathmetal

Krisiun - The Great Execution (2011)

Krisiun is a band that has taken me some getting used to, as I've experienced a number of their live performances at which I found the music to feel dull and repetitious, despite its brutal architecture. I could also say the same for their albums, but a number of them have grown on me, from the 90s excursions like Apocalyptic Revelation or Conquerors of Armageddon to their 2008 outing Southern Storm which showed an increase in songwriting depth and variation that was well timed in such an enduring career. The Great Execution is the band's eight full-length, and continues along the axis of its direct predecessor, that is to say a more versatile approach which channels their massive Deicide, Vital Remains, Morbid Angel influence to an appreciable breadth of possibility, if not the most breathtaking results.

The Brazilians pace themselves fairly well here, but I can't help but feel that a lot of the actual riffs being performed are highly predictable and unwilling to change up the progression of notes into something more satiating to the ear. "The Will to Potency" is an almost tribal escalation of momentum, but until about 3 minutes in, and the great lead sequence, it feels underwhelming. "Blood of Lions" integrates a lot of chugging, thrash influence but this often manifests in a pretty bland selection of mutes, and once again the bridge and guitar solo are more musical than the remainder of the track. Fortunately, the deeper in, the more exciting and memorable the actual rhythm guitar content becomes, so songs like "The Extremist", "Violentia Gladiatore" and "The Great Execution" itself are spring-loaded with great riffs that feel as if they deserve the Mosyes Kolesne leads, which are in general excellent across the entirely of the album.

One of the tightest functioning death metal bands in existence, the execution of the musicianship here is pure precision, and that's always a pleasure to experience, even if they're not among the more menacing or memorable of death metal acts internationally. Max is a metronome of steady muscle who never wavers, and the crisp and clean tone of the guitar suits the percussive nature of their composition. I'm not a big fan of the bass-lines, which too often seem to follow along with the rhythm guitar so that you rarely notice them, but then, Alex Camargo is also doubling up as vocalist, a position in which he is superior. The Great Execution definitely seems to me like a clinical, modern upgrade to the roots of their countrymen Sepultura, bathed in the context of Krisiun's USDM influences. It's not quite as forceful as Southern Storm, but shares in that album's more adventurous use of the guitar in the bridge and leads to create what is a damned solid, if not perfect, listen.

Verdict: Win [7.25/10]

http://www.krisiun.com.br/

Sepultura - Kairos (2011)

Though a 'true' reunion with Max Cavalera has been in demand for many years, Sepultura is one of the few internationally renowned metal bands to have not repealed its new front man. You've got to admire such resolve, because the pressure must have been huge this past decade, with thrash coming back in full swing and lots of fans, old and new shelling out hard currency for new albums with classic lineups, reunion tours, etc. That being said, I've yet to hear a single Derrick Greene fronted Sepultura record which I could place upon the same plateau of quality achieved early on with albums like Chaos A.D., Beneath the Remains, and Schizophrenia.

Sure, they've tried, and individual tracks from albums like Nation and Against have had their moments, but it just doesn't seem to be working out for me. I just can't get into the guy's vocals. Technically, he's got a broader range of styles, yet I've felt as if the band were always missing something without Max's gruff if misguided presence. Kairos, the band's 12th album, is an appeal to the past, the band returning almost wholly to the simplistic thrash riffing that placed them on the map in the footfalls of Slayer, Possessed and other primal giants of the form. It's not so much a mirror into the band's 80s catalog as it is a second attempt at a Chaos A.D., and the decision to include various external influences (primarily industrial) into the social political, tribal and 'feel good' lyrics only reinforces its retread grounds.

Alas, the Brazilian superstars have once again come up short, and Kairos is yet another quizzical full-length that begs the question: how does Sepultura sustain itself off about 15 years of middling and underwhelming composition? Are the classics still such huge hits on tour? Is the fan base in total denial? Did they invest in a successful stock portfolio in the mid 90s? To think, there is practically an entire generation now of fans who have grown up with Green. I guess the band must be doing something right, even if the quality of their output seems so borderline wrong...

Kairos does attempt to be that Sepultura record everyone's been waiting for since 1993 (or in the case of many Chaos A.D. haters, 1991). A few of the early birds ("Spectrum", "Kairos") have relatively hypnotic, basal mute thrash rhythms which build expectations rather high, and then defecate all over them, as they go basically nowhere. Green cycles between his emotionally charged, Phil Anselmo snarls, somber narrative tones, and the straight up caustic style which is his best, and the band just phones in a handful of primitive beats and rhythms which never build up enough fire to resurrect the momentum of yesteryear. There are some creative leads tossed about the track list, and a handful of curious riffs that rekindle the band's 1989-93 personality (like the ringing guitar line in "Born Strong"), but there never seems to be more than one, or possible two little rhythms worth a damn anywhere.

Like Chaos A.D., there are the expectant moments of versatility and experimentation, manifest here through some minor ambient segues ("2011", "5722"), and industrial pieces: the first a cover of Ministry's "Just One Fix", plays rather close to the original version, with some South of Heaven-style leads thrown in at the end. The second, a Sepultura original called "Structure Violence" which blends the tribal, groove and industrial elements into what is at least the most interesting overall song on the entire album. But the remainder of the album is nothing more than the law of averages being spun repeatedly. "Mask" might have a decent riff tucked into its bridge, but in getting there one must survive its tedious grooves. "Dialog" opens with a latent melody to its muted, driving chords, but fails to flower into anything worthwhile. Then you have pieces like "Seethe", the same pedestrian hardcore/groove metal the band have been releasing to no avail for the decade before this.

By this point it must seem like I've a serious hate on for this album, but that's not at all the case. Kairos is not bad. In fact, it's mildly more appealing than the band's hot selling, tribal nu-metal effort Roots, and there are a half dozen riffs I could single out which would have been quite ace in a more potent environment (Max Cavalera vocals optional). The production does the album a measure of justice, being crisp and poignant, and Jean Dolabella attempts to keep the simplicity of the song structures adaptive and interesting with his drumming. But the music and lyrics are in general pretty undeveloped (like "Mask", which almost reads like a cheesy, preemptive backlash against the internet generation who have hounded the band for a decade), and at the most its a pale shadow of something like Chaos A.D., which was for its time felt so original due to the tremendous grooving force, and cultural and local political influence. Kairos is just kind of 'all right', and once again, that's just not enough.

Verdict: Indifference [5.75/10] (bridge the gap between the gaps)

http://sepultura.uol.com.br/v7/

Hibria - Blind Ride (2011)

Brazilian power metal might take a backseat to the other, more prevalent genres in the region (death and thrash, specifically), but it's certainly a fairly saturated scene. Granted, none other than Angra have really made strides beyond those borders, but 2004 brought an explosion of potential with the Hibria debut Defying the Rules, a storm of superb riffing and Iuri Sanson's passionate cries. I did not get it up quite so much for the sophomore The Skull Collectors (2008), but it was a fairly balanced attack and certainly not a loss in momentum. Three years later, the band have returned for their third opus, Blind Ride, and it's by far the most modernized of the three, with a dense production and a lot of busy, charging riffs that wouldn't be out of place on a melodic death metal album of the 21st century.

Of course, Sanson's vocals ensure that comparison ends only in the flavor of the guitars, because he's got the same, emotionally charged, accented style as he's used in the past, only with less of the higher pitched screaming. I won't say that he's quite the match of the riffs on this album, because they blaze through with such a focused intensity, leads careening of the verses and bridge that they almost seem to leave him in their dust, but his presence lends a level of wild aggression that might otherwise not be felt. "Shoot Me Down", "Welcome to the Horror Show" and "The Shelter's On Fire" (which sounds a lot like what the band were writing on their debut) are so bristling with guitars that they barely know what to do with themselves, so you're in for a bumpy ride moored in thick, competent bass and Eduardo Baldo's armored, muscular drumming. The overall tone here reminds me of Firewind, or perhaps the past few Nocturnal Rites efforts, only the Brazilians throw a lot more at you.

But does it stick? More often than not, it doesn't. The instrument performances are bewildering to say the least, and the deeper one gets, the chorus parts seem to grow catchier, like the belligerent "Sight of Blindness", the bouncing "Tough is the Way" or the flighty and frivolous "Rotten Souls", but as entertaining as the band is when swallowing you in its talents, these are just not the sorts of songs one will raise his/her fist to in 5-10 years. We'll all still be canting the lyrics to "Steel Lord on Wheels", "Living Under Ice" and other debut highlights. Blind Ride is a minor fascination that has more heft through its speed, pro tone and remarkable musicianship than the durability necessary for a timeless power metal album. Good, not great. Enjoyed for now, absent on the horizon.

Verdict: Win [7/10]

http://www.hibria.com/

Grave Desecrator - Insult (2010)

Brazil's underground black and death metal culture hasn't gotten a lot of attention lately, though the wealth of bands there is simply not in dispute. Grave Desecrator are a candidate for breaking out beyond their borders, as their brand of flashback death metal certainly brings to bear the influence of not only the early recordings of countrymen like Sarcofago, Holocausto and Mutilator; it also seems the perfect fit for the current wave of retro loving being given to bands who evoke the earlier 90s sounds of Incantation and their like. Their second full-length for Ketzer is not the first for Hells Headbangers, as they released an EP with Repulsion and Mortuary Drape covers just a few months back, but its easily an improvement over the debut Sign of Doom.

Part of this is the sheer wall of sound these Brazilians produce. Dark, carnivorous guitars embossed with just enough fuzz and fibrous Repulsion influence to represent the very graves the band desecrates, soil being churned aside with a rusted spade as the bones of the lost are uncovered and then molested. The riffing cycles channel through standard death and thrash patterns that range from Hellhammer to Bathory, and though the band is considered a hybrid of black and death, the former is quite clearly only derived through its recording aesthetics and inspirations; Insult is much more of a primal thrash and death piece, as heard clearly in the title track, "Serpent Seedline" or "Decline of Faith", or the evil indoctrination to "Stained by Blood". About the only unexpected track might be the instrumental "The Satanic Coven", which seduces and then spurns the listener with its wicked melodies.

Grave Desecrator write some pretty effective songs, but they do occasionally suffer from a little bit of familiarity and a lack of anything to look forward to. Once the initial thrust and momentum is captured, there is very little but variation on the standard themes, and I'd love to hear the band rip out some insane breakdown or more unexpected tempo shifts. That said, I do love their lead work, which is purely placed in the old school death camp, wailing monstrosities that shadow the rhythms like butchers awaiting their next shipment of flesh. Insult is a great sounding album, and should be worth at least a listen if you enjoy the gray areas of black, death and thrash that are inherent in many Hells Headbangers or Nuclear War Now! artists, but it might not be one remembered six to twelve months hence.

Verdict: Win [7.25/10]

http://www.gravedesecrator.com/

Angra- Aqua (2010)

Aqua, the seventh full length album from Angra is the second water-centered power metal album this year following Wuthering Height's Salt. Lyrically, Salt focused on Coleridge's conception of the ocean, while Aqua derives its inspiration from Shakespeare's The Tempest. In between references to moments from that play, Angra philosophizes on the power of water. Unlike Temple of Shadows the storyline in Aqua is relatively obtuse and ultimately meaningless if you aren't familiar with the play.

Aqua opens with "Arising Thunder," surely meant to call back to "Spread Your Fire" with its shredding riffs and extended showy solos; however, the whole song seems to be lacking. Nothing sets it apart from a dozen other album openers; it's the least imaginative track on the album.

Fortunately they kick things up a notch with "Awake from Darkness." There are plenty of hooks here from the drum work of the returning Ricardo Confessori, to the kind of weighty and soaring choruses you'd expect from Falaschi. This song also marks the first hints of influence from The Tempest:

A broken dignity,
an upsurge soon to be.
Within these books I find my hope
and liberty.

Flashes of clearness cross my eyes
revealing power.

If it has been years since Senior English, "Awake from Darkness" introduces Prospero, the usurped Duke of Milan / magician, who uses his book-learnin' to try and take back his dukedom.

"Lease on Life" is your standard "Wishing Well" type ballad. Its pleasant and a nice break from the metal, but again, like "Arising Thunder," it is simply not as good as its Temple of Shadows counterpart. Fortunately the album reaches a high point with the next song "The Rage of the Waters." It's standard Angra in a good way: convincing riffs and flashy solos in the appropriate places.

Most people probably remember Caliban from The Tempest (or X-men I guess), the indigenous beast man of the island, forced into slavery by Prospero. "A Monster in her Eyes" covers this territory.

Long before you came, you have found me here
and never begged for your help.
This whole land will be mine once again,
and all my sacrifice will be worth to price,
and never again I'll be a monster in your eyes.

I like everything about this song except the chorus. There is some nice acoustic work and backing piano in the solo that works very well. However, I found Falaschi to have missed the mark on the vocals here, and the "I'll be a monster in your eyes" line became extremely grating on repeated listens.

Fortunately, the albums ends strongly with "Weakness of a Man," easily the high point of the album for me. It opens similarly to "The Shadow Hunter," not with a flamenco style, but simply attention grabbing acoustic work. Angra play a lot of solos, so much that it doesn't seem worth mentioning when they do, but they do get quite creative with them on this song which really improves it.

I found my interest in the album waning after repeated listens. The concept is nice and as far as I know untouched in metal music, yet I couldn't help comparing the whole thing to Temple of Shadows. This is one of those situations where if this was any band but one of my favorite bands I'd give it a much higher rating. Yet this is Angra, and while Aqua has a lot of the elements of their previous albums, it lacks the originality, completeness and showmanship that made them great.

Verdict: Win [7.5/10]

http://www.angra.net/

Korzus - Discipline of Hate (2010)

Though they're arguably one of the original Brazilian thrash acts, few would know it, because Korzus have ever eluded any real measure of popularity outside of their home territory. Still, the band managed to hang on all these years, producing full-length efforts at 4-6 year intervals since their 1987 studio debut Sonho Maníaco, and with a stark difference than most of their pre-21st century peers: Korzus do not hail from the same black/death/thrash hybridized roots as a Sepultura, Vulcano, Chakal, or Sarcófago. They're pretty much straight up thrash metal, with a slight parallel to the Bay Area sounds of Testament, Forbidden, and so forth.

I've never been impressed with much of their earlier work like Mass Illusion, and I feel it's safe to say that Discipline of Hate is the most polished statement of aggression the band has yet issued, with a slick and crisp mix that is nothing short of professional. Several long time members remain in the band: bassist Dick Siebert and vocalist Marcello Pompeu, the latter using a blunt but scorching tone that recalls the tough but modern California hammering of Machine Head, Defiance/Skinlab, Slayer and Testament among others. In execution, this works wonders against the taut and clear riffing component, which might not seem all that original, but creates a competent balance of violence and power that feels like a tasteful mix of Forbidden, Artillery and perhaps Japan's heavily riffy Ritual Carnage. At no point do Korzus indulge in any retro stupidity, this is business as usual and moving forward, with no slovenly tin drunkard 'thrash' acknowledgments in the lyrical topics.

Granted, the titles and a few of the sequences feel a bit generic. How many songs can be named "Revolution", "My Enemy", "Truth", and "Slavery" before the actual music becomes dulled by the tangible lack of ambition? Fortunately, the saturation point has not yet been reached here on Discipline of Hate, because some of those named rank among the album's most exciting. "Truth" opens with a bouncy, Excel-like riff before moving into a descending Slayer style and then Pompeu's vocals drip acid above a rocking riff not outside the sphere of Exhorder, Pantera and mid career Corrosion of Conformity. "Slavery" spouts incredible force, with intricate but blunted riffing that veers in and out of death/thrash as it breaks your neck by hurling bricks at the back of your head. "Revolution" and "Under His Command" are meaty outbreaks that easily terminate the latest works of Slayer or, say, Germany's similar sounding Dew-Scented. "You Reap What You Sow" is even better, with some intricate guitar melodies fresh throughout the track, nicely countering its more brutal hooks.

Not all of the writing is perfect here, but there are no real stinkers or duds. There are a few dull groove rhythms, but few last for very long, always interjected by some energetic burst or cutting lead. Discipline of Hate is the crown of the bands' quarter century career, and that means a lot from a band that many have either not heard of, or given up on after some limited exposure to their formative works of the 80s, or their cheesy attempt to branch out to nu metal hardcore groove on the abysmal K.Z.S. (1995). Discipline of Hate is where Korzus belongs, and with luck it will win them some attention from an international thrash scene desperately starved for more serious acts than the spastic retro-teens it is constantly bombarded with.

Verdict: Win [7.75/10]

http://www.korzus.com.br/

Lustful - Profane (2007)

12 years is certainly a long time to wait for a follow-up album, but for whatever reason, Lustful's Profane came out after such an extended hiatus. Their debut, The Almighty Facets was probably not a high impact effort due to its primitive recording and the ease with which any underground band could get lost in the death swarm of the 90s. The band were not completely inactive in the interim, having contributed to a Sarcófago tribute in 2001, but original members Freddy de Marco (guitars) and Rodrigo de Carya did eventually to their beloved brutality, surrounding themselves with a new arsenal of power players like guitarist Fernando Fernandes (who sadly passed away last year) and entering a studio to grind out their sophomore Profane.

Naturally, this album features a huge leap forward in production over the debut. The raw, ruptured turbulence of those uneven guitars is here replaced by a crushing, modern edge that feels like a thousand blunted axes beating in the doors of an old woodshed, with some innocent victim trapped within, in a state of total terror. The vocals are similar, but less of the grunt belch and more of a more bloody, rasping tone. The bass is not highly distinguished on this recording, lost beneath the sheer savagery of the guitars, but the drums completely kick ass over the debut, a swampy rage storm that will simply not allow the listener to drift off, whether they are grooving along in a rock format, blasting off or hammering the toms. Lyrically, the band continues their path of blasphemy, here focused centrally on the lies and fallacy of Christian or other organized religious mythology.

Like the debut, Profane opens with a creepy intro, a ghostly female vocal line over the sounds of crunching ambient warfare, soon battered in with the pummeling drums and old school chagrin of "The Dogma Child". It's a delightful mesh of Morbid Angel and Deicide aesthetics with a whiff of Swedish savagery, but the band are not devoid of a melodic sense and here the bass is actually quite virile, popping and plunking along below the violence. In a way, the band feels a little closer to their countrymen Krisiun here than on The Almighty Facets, but not too close for comfort, and Lustful relies more on dynamic range than that other band's straightforward, take no prisoners blasting. There are quite a number of songs here, one more than the debut, and while a few are brief, simplistic bursts of ghoulish sacrilege like "Killing Whispers", "Fetish" or "T.R.S.O.T.W.", most are quite reasonably structured. Favorites include "Masquerade in Hell", with a horrific intro transforming into slow rhythmic escalation into vile and crude death thrashing , the warlike grooves of "When God Died" which recalls a South American Slayer on a killing spree, and of course the closing title track "Profane" with its seductive samples and eerie, slow paced spiral of damnation.

Profane does lack some of that nostalgic appeal of its predecessor, but that is only to be expected here, since the band is leaping into the 21st century with production standards they only wish they had back in their formative years. Musically, there is just no contest; this is by far the superior of the two albums, with more standout riffs per track and a fresh, aggressive tone that I'm surprised has not turned the heads of more death mavens. If you're into South American death like The Ordher, Queiron or Krisiun, then I truly recommend you check this band out. They may not be as extreme in their delivery, but they are capable of evoking sufficiently dark internal spaces through which their riffing crashes and thrusts the spear of attrition into the listener's ear canals.

Verdict: Win [7.75/10]

http://www.lustful.com.br/

Lustful - The Almighty Facets (1995)

Though my search through the obscure Brazilian territories rarely turns up a qualifying gem, I have long held a fascination for the explosive extreme metal scene in that vast South American realm, starting with the dark blackened thrash of the late 80s through the death metal outbreak of the following decade, into the current. A chief source of cult interest would be the near legendary Cogumelo records, responsible for a great number of underground acts like Chakal, Sextrash, Sarcófago and Vulcano. There is simply something so perceptibly raw and diabolic to the output of these bands that I feel some primordial attraction, even when the actual riffing falls behind the caustic, hostile atmosphere.

Into this metropolis of morbidity thrusts the unknown Lustful, a band who produced a number of demos through the earlier 90s, signing a deal with Cogumelo for their debut The Almighty Facets, a title which seems unintentionally raunchy and humorous considering the sick but seductive, comic book 'appeal' of the cover art. Here is an unrelenting if derivative death metal band who somehow manage to put a smile on the face despite the lack of trying to truly stand out among the mindless and myriad hordes of similar bands in the middle of the 20th century's closing decade, overcoming the substandard production woes to produce an article both genuine and crushing. Essentially you've got a filthy South American thrash/death influence here hailing from a Sepultura or Sarcófago crossbred with US influences from the usual suspects in Morbid Angel, Deicide and Suffocation, a band affixed with blasting menace, carnal grooves and viral outbreaks of sloppy lead work that resemble those of Slayer or Morbid Angel.

The Almighty Facets has a boxy, crude guitar tone which seems messy and antiquated in the rhythmic core, but far brighter and more attractive when panned to individual speakers. The vocals of Rodrigo de Carya are disgusting, like an extreme take on Jeff Becera of Possessed if he were to growl a lot deeper. There are 13 tracks here in close to 40 minutes, most of which are too short to wear through the welcome veil of fresh abuse that one wears when exploring nostalgia for all things ghastly and extreme, but taken in context they can be fun while they last. Several evoke straight up old school death metal lines like "Pride and Fear" or "The Drunk", while others seem to operate on a thrashing/speed blitzkrieg, like the short but intense "Manic Blemish". Most attractive are the songs which build upon compelling intros, like the creepy "No Sense" and its opening synthesizers and guitar riff, or the wall of ripping feedback that inaugurates "Buried Alive".

Not all of the riffs are worthwhile, and the lion's share seem to be all too typical of the day and age, though this might not completely interfere with the cravings of the primitive underground advocate, the only breed of man out there that would be interesting in such a band as Lustful. The solos are well enough written, like in the closing track "Seven Almighty Faces", but nothing terribly inspiring. Aside from the intros and the rather uneven mix of the record, it's not long on atmosphere, but then, these aspects do provide enough menace that the name of the band will stand to memory, even if so few of the individual songs do. It's a solid debut if you're not too picky about technicality or innovation, which were not often major selling points of this period, and something worth breaking out once in awhile if you're interested in the lower tier Brazilian bands and their level of attitude, aggression, and blood-thirsting purity.

Verdict: Win [7/10]

Torture Squad - Aequilibrium (2010)

Torture Squad is a band I've occasionally run into through my auditory excursions, usually with the same result. The band will drop an album every few years, develop buzz in a few circles, I'll check out their latest output and find myself quite underwhelmed. This was less the case with the past few efforts, Pandemonium and Hellbound, which showed slightly more promise than I had expected from exposure to the band's late 90s output, and by now the Brazilians are seasoned veterans with 20 years behind (a dozen productive). I can only assume that expectations must be running high for this effort, but I'm not sure if they've been met.

Through Aequilibrium, the band's sixth career full-length, they stick to what they know best: pure riff centrism focused around slower and mid-paced tempos, a gloss of melody and two vocal styles. One that sounds like an abomination of Kreator's Mille Petrozza, Rotting Christ's Takis Solis, and another that represents a horde of nondescript, faceless growlers covering the guttural spectrum. Their material walks the line between the thrash and death genres, with the actual riffing more in the former camp, and the vocals often hinging on the latter, though they throw things in reverse every now and then with a more brutal guitar line or angrier thrash vox. Very often, they'll use both the vocal tones simultaneously, which may contribute some depth to the simplicity of the songwriting, but I don't feel that its much of a benefit.

Musically, I can't say I expected all that much. I've never found the band to quite match the hype that surrounds it, and I fear this is yet another case. They're extremely tight and competent, and I laud their tendency to write simpler rhythms rooted in both the 80s originators and 90s death/thrash obscurities like Protector, Merciless or Assorted Heap, though I'd argue that Torture Squad generate more velocity (if not quality). Strangely enough, the band does not seem to carry much of the Brazilian influence one might expect. The dark tones of early Sepultura, Mutilator, Chakal and Vulcano are rather absent, and Aequilibrium is a compact modernization of the genre which truly relies on its guitars to carry it forward. That's not to say the rhythm section is absent, because there are some great bass and drum fills here and the vital energy runs through all players.

With so much riding on the riffs, it then becomes critical that they be raging and memorable enough to snag the ear on each drive-by, and this is where the album falters. Few thrash acts out there will offer the diversity, the 'complete package' of Torture Squad, and its obvious that the band spent time and effort to compose each of the 8 new originals (I'm not counting the "Last Tunes Blues", a worthless outro before the bonus track). There are capable leads running throughout, often placed into jammy sequences in the middle of tracks like "174" and "Storms", but the actual thrash riffs, as dynamic and polished as they present themselves, are almost unanimously forgettable, whether the primal fundamentals of "Storms" and "Black Sun", or the more death-oriented fare like the sequence initiating "Azazel".

All of Aequilibrium's compositions weave their way through a number of thrifty tempos and the band never seems to run out of ideas, unlike the lions share of modern or 'revival' thrash bands who beat the same drum until violently ejected from the hall, but they just never stick, and though I felt like this might change the more I listened through, I arrived at the same conclusion on the 3rd and 4th listens as the first. The album is too tame to produce the 'feral' energies that I derive the most enjoyment from in this genre, nor is it progressive enough to enthrall through sheer fluid proficiency. The lyrics range from acceptable and cliche-ridden ("Generation Dead" or "Azazel") to just plain weak, as found in the awkward "Raise Your Horns", a silly self-referential track loaded with cliches of growing up a thrasher, failing where a "Thrash 'Till Death" by Destruction was more blunt and successful.

Certainly these Brazilians have a number of positive qualities to them, which makes it all the more frustrating that this effort just doesn't seem to take off. At best, its an inoffensive piece of average thrash metal with a death influence largely delivered in one of the vocal formats. Modern, written and mixed to adequate standards, but lacking both the wild abandon and superb songwriting characteristics that festoon the genre's legends (which usually excel in one or both of these departments). The addition of a new studio take on "The Unholy Spell" from the 2001 album of the same title is welcome here, but I'm positive I'd rather be listening to the past two efforts than this, as they featured a more enduring medium of bone crunching entertainment.

Verdict: Indifference [6.5/10]

http://www.torturesquad.net/