Horned God "Chaos, Bringer of All Revelations" CD
[Listenable]
I'm sort of surprised this band got signed to a decent label. I've heard so many awesome bands from Brazil that go ignored, and this band, whose last record was far from special, gets signed? Admittedly this is a much better record than "Absit" was, but they haven't necessarily learned all that much, as they still start the disc with an utterly ridiculous synth intro that kills the initial intensity, the recording is still problematic, and as far as writing goes, this is slightly more inventive than average Brazilian death metal that focuses on raging speeds. Comparisons to Krisiun and Rebaelliun wouldn't be uncalled for, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't think that one of the reasons these guys might have gotten signed is because they added a former Rebaelliun member to their lineup shortly after the release of their last full-length. The recording... I can deal with it, but it's lacking power. The drums are way too rigid, but thankfully the mix tends to take care of that. What I don't like is that there's no punch. Everything is thin and flat. There's a lack of thick lows and bright highs, so everything just jumbles together in the middle. The leads tend to cut through the mix and jump out front with a biting sort of distortion, and I can scarcely hear an ounce of the bass guitar back there. With better production this would actually be a really good CD. The standard formula here is the same: Play as fast as possible and inject some brutal thrash in there at times, but they've got some raging tapping solos and a more unique vocal snarl, and they make more use of tempo changes, somewhat akin to Morbid Angel, so their overall style is a bit different than your usual high speed Brazilian death metal band. The slower rhythms in "Envenomed to Survive" have a classic American death metal feel, and the title track has a lot of dissonant chords with moderate tempos - definitely more memorable than all of the constant speeds elsewhere. The presentation is light years ahead of their last record. It still has its problems, but it looks like a million bucks compared to what preceded it. The artwork's not bad, I'd just prefer to see a stronger band logo and fewer pentagrams all over the place. As track titles like "War Goes On" and "Satan isn't the Enemy of Men" should suggest, the lyrics are fairly typical attacks on christianity and calls for war and violence and all that stuff. I'm a big fan of Brazilian death metal as long as it has a good sound and a certain level of intensity, so this band is definitely on the right track now, as opposed to their last record. With suitable production quality and a little bit more variety they could stand out from the pack, but even if they were to remain as they are, a forceful sound would make them a suitable companion to some of the better known bands from their homeland. (6/10)
Running time - 34:34, Tracks: 10
[Notable tracks: Envenomed to Survive, Chaos, Bringer of All Revelations, Slimy Embrio]
Listenable Records - http://www.listenable.net

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