Five quick tracks of metallic hardcore from Brazil. Just like their demo, the band name had me anticipating something more grindcore oriented, but their style is really more of a heavy form of hardcore with some crossover influences on occasion in some of the speedier areas. I really like the harsh screaming vocals, which rest in the midrange and have a more aggressive sound than a lot of this stuff. Some of the rhythms kind of hit a little bit of a groove at times (see portions of "Culture of Terror" and "Rise"), but I enjoy the faster vocal patterns and many of the midpaced breakdowns are really powerful. The overall songwriting still feels a little lacking to me, I can't place what seems to be missing, but something about the energy level isn't consistent throughout. The end of "Sindicato do Crime" drops some thrashy riffing that sounds a lot like something off of Sepultura's "Beneath the Remains", and I have to admit really digging that a lot! And "Last Genocide" has a thicker breakdown that gets darker and more oppressive with slower tempos and nice snarling vocals. The sound isn't bad for a self-released effort. The drums are a little dominant in the mix but do sound very good, the guitars are heavy, and the vocals are really forceful with a lot of texture. I'm not making out much bass, and the guitars need to be louder to fill up more space, but they're on the right track for sure. The disc comes in a slim jewel case with fairly minimal artwork and lyrics, plus a xeroxed insert providing English and Portuguese translations for the songs based on what language they're actually sung in (it's an even split of English and Portuguese in the actual vocal delivery). The content covers topics such as war, fear and manipulation, the sex industry, and the oppression of Latin American countries... so the messages are direct and quite serious. Not bad. They're improving slowly with time, so hopefully their next release will be a real keeper. Keep it up, guys!
[self-released]
Running time - 9:37, Tracks: 5
[Notable tracks: Sindicato do Crime, Last Genocide]
Grinding Reaction - [email protected]
