Are You God? "O EP Espelho de Carne" CD
[2+2=5]
Here's the debut CD EP from this Brazilian act out of São Paulo, and their style is still in line with the "freestyle deathgrind" that they were doing on their demo. There are tons of tempo changes, a lot of quirky riffing, vocals that run the gamut from low growls to midrange grunts and high screams, etc. The first track is just a sample (all in Portuguese), but then things kick in right away with "Sentimentos", jumping from blazing death metal to a solid midpaced grindcore vibe, all with unique bass runs and some start/stop guitar riffing (but not in a way that you would ever imagine). "Plano Furado III" even drops some sludgy Crowbar-esque riffing amongst vicious metalcore styled breakdowns, in addition to the blasting speeds and twisting grind runs. There are actually a lot of samples before and after tracks, and to be honest I find that to be a bit distracting because it disrupts the continuity of the EP. It's not a huge problem, but I would enjoy this more if they just tore straight through the songs and got down to business. The sound is pretty good. I like the mix a whole lot. The bass plays a solid role (and the bass tone kills), the guitars are nicely textured and clear without being too heavy, the vocals are right in there with the music, and the drums generally sound pretty good. Some of the drums can be a little bit on the rigid side at times, and there's an odd resonant pop to the snare that isn't always effective, but it's not a hindrance in my opinion. They've done very well in the recording department. All I would do would be up the bass even more (but not too much) and work on smoothing out some of the percussion. No big deal. The layout is awesome. The CD comes in a slim slipcase printed entirely in metallic gold ink on textured black paper. All of the imagery is just bizarre. And then inside there is a small booklet with one band photo and some other abstract imagery that is printed in light blue and black on very thin paper. The insert folds out to a much larger size to reveal the lyrics handwritten in a chaotic fashion on one side, and cleanly printed on the other with some additional recording information and such. Very nice. The lyrics are pretty cryptic and often deal with some form of death in most cases: "Step out of that pace, One more day - lose another day, No one but you decides, Blame them all, No way - you need your death, No way - you live death..." Great work. I'm really glad these guys hooked up with a cool label for this EP, because they really deserve more exposure, and I expect even better material from them in the future. (7/10)
Running time - 14:14, Tracks: 5
[Notable tracks: Sentimentos, Plano Furado III]
2+2=5 Records - http://www.terror225.cjb.net

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