Here's some rugged death/thrash out of Distrito Federal, Brazil that would probably be promising if the recording was better. Right now everything is distant and muddy, except for the kick drums, which are thick and way up front, dominating everything else. I can't make out an ounce of bass, the guitars and vocals are obscured by the kick drums, and even the snare is almost impossible to hear! The mix makes it kind of hard to gauge exactly what's going on here as far as how strong the songwriting actually is, but I like the fact that they tend to keep things brief (generally under three minutes) and only rarely do some boring groove riffs come into play. The vocals are a deep combination of shouting and growling that's not quite what I would classify as a death metal vocal style, but it's not really a thrash vocal style either. So the vocals are as much a combination of the two genres as the music is. My ears adjust to the recording a little bit as things progress, but not enough to truly help the situation. "Incorporating the Pain" picks up the pace a little bit and cranks out some guitar playing that's straight out of the mid-80's thrash handbook, making it one of the better songs on the disc. If everything on the CD sounded like this, I'd be all over these guys... I love it. "Pain and Hate" is another short and thrashy track with some nice lead runs and a bit more tempo variation, so they've definitely got the juice in 'em. I really dislike the layout here. I'm not big on the band logo because it's hard to read, the font choices are cheesy, and the imagery is hard to recognize and inconsistent, making for a haphazard appearance. The back cover has a cheesy photo of the band perched on rocks superimposed in front of a huge explosion, and I could do without that especially. Most of the lyrics are somewhat violent and bleak, written in rough English, but they always deal with reality: "Repression is coming, torment, With cops and guns, torment, Their slow paces reach their big runnings, Torment more and more... Guns are in action, torment, Dogs bark, torment, Can you feel the fire of bombs burning your body? Torment more and more... Can be peace time?" I do have to fault them for having a song called "Motherfucker", though. I mean... come on. That's just too goofy. But shit, with a little bit of work I bet this band could chalk up a killer thrash record... it's hard to say, but I'd hope for the best.
[self-released]
Running time - 30:38, Tracks: 10
[Notable tracks: Incorporating the Pain, Pain and Hate, Choose Your Guns]
Flashover - http://www.flashover.cjb.net
