Nervo Chaos "Legion of Spirits Infernal" CD
[Destroyer]
Here's some straight up death metal from São Paulo, Brazil that sort of reminds me of earlier Cannibal Corpse with a thinner sound and vocals that are a bit more standard (i.e. not completely indecipherable and fucked up low growls). The songs also tends to be more moderately paced and have more of a modern groove thing happening at times. But the songs are succinct, there's some solid playing with strong mosh grooves alongside hammer on/pull off riffs, and occasionally they'll drop a slick solo too. It's really not so bad, but the recording annoys me and I feel that it really holds them back. The drums are too damn loud, there's no low-end, the guitar tone is really choppy and not that heavy... overall everything is just too thin and spacious to work, and the mix being dominated heavily by drums and vocals doesn't help. They need to crank the bass, turn down the drums and vocals, and do a hefty amount of work on that guitar tone. The only other setback is that there's no real variety, so even as brief as the disc is, it gets boring about halfway through because so few songs stand out. The layout's alright. I like the crispness of the band logo, and the colorful nature of the cover art, even though the painting is sort of cheesy. The rest of the layout is more consistent, with the same fonts and images of apocalyptic old woodcuts and such. The lyrics are sort of weird because one minute they're talking about freedom of speech, then they're spouting off some pseudo satanic anti-christian stuff, and the next they're dropping a completely and utterly stupid song like "Pure Hemp", which is, of course, about nothing more than getting stoned and drinking. "Revenge has never been so sweet, Experience the fear, We break the rules, We're ready to go all the way, Freedom of speech is what we preach, Fight to be free from the land of the weak." More solos, more old school death metal riffing ala "Cold Feelings", less unnecessary modern groove, and a more powerful recording are the keys to this band's future. Slightly more creative tracks like "Legion of Spirits Infernal" are definitely promising, but overall this release lacks energy despite a few strengths. (4/10)
Running time - 36:59, Tracks: 14
[Notable tracks: Cold Feelings, When the Mask Falls Down, Legion of Spirits Infernal]
Destroyer Records - http://www.destroyer.com.br

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