Review: Ataque Perif?rico “Esperto Que ? Esperto Morre de Velho” CD

This is fast and raw hardcore from Brazil. Emphasis on fast. Yes, there are some unexpectedly slow and punishing breakdown rhythms, but for the most part it's a mix of early-80's hardcore fury, crossover hardcore/thrash, and some tremolo picking chords/riffs that honestly sound very strangely like a hardcore take on black metal! I know that sounds ridiculous, and don't take it too literally as there's very little metal involved with this release, but it does kind of come off that way. A part of that is due to the guitar tone though, which has a rugged sheen to it. The recording is really the biggest setback on this one, as the backup vocals are overpowering, the guitar tone sounds a little off, the plunky bass often gets lost, and overall it sounds a little dry. They're on the right track, but the style of the ruggedness doesn't really fit the music with this one, especially with regard to the guitar tone. But, ignoring that, they crank out 13 short, fast tracks that almost never even hit a minute long, and the slower breakdowns are actually really cool - sounding totally different from most hardcore bands. The shouting vocals hit on a few really cool vocal patterns here and there as well, as the Portuguese language is very conducive to that. As is often the case with songs that are named after the band, "Ataque Perif?rico" is catchier and more memorable; "PPF" has a louder and more effective recording than the other songs for some reason and its 33 seconds of explosive speed are quite forceful; "Novela" is a mere 15 seconds of blasting crossover hardcore; "Cr?ticas" offers a great mix of furious speed and midpaced chord progressions; etc. After a few minutes of blank space at the end of the disc there are around five minutes of unlisted material with a quieter and even rawer sound. Some of the songs sound like alternate versions heard elsewhere on the EP, so I'll assume that this is the band's demo or something of that nature tacked on as a bonus. The layout is very minimal, all in black in white with a few band photos and some images of elderly people. The lyrics are all in Portuguese and I can't make much sense of them, but the titles seem to suggest socio-political topics as a few of them translate to being about education, war, etc. (I think). I'm assuming a few of them may be more personal as well, but there's no way to be sure. Not bad, but it does need work. The recording only needs minimal tweaking to reach an effectively warm yet still rough attack, and as far as the songwriting all I'd like to hear would be fast hardcore with the band's unique breakdowns, but no tremolo picking. Those riffs just don't sound as good and often kill the flow in otherwise awesome songs like "Z? Maria". There's definitely some promise here, though.