Here's another cool split from Terr?tten, this time from two Brazilian hardcore/punk bands. Gritos de Alerta starts off with some material that's rawer and more punk based than their split with Jesus Cr?st, utilizing more of a driving crust sort of feel as far as tempo and vocal consistency. The songwriting is still really strong, but the key problem is that the recording is raw and quiet, so the guitars are sort of thin and out front, with drums right behind them, and everything else kind of gets lost in the shuffle. You can hear the bass and vocals, but they're not prominent enough. The lyrics mainly deal with war this time out, be it the situation in the Middle East, religious fanaticism, etc. Heresia blazes through three tracks of a similar nature in their portrayal of hardcore/punk with some straightforward crust influences (the D-beat type of thing), and they've got a really strong recording as well. The vocal shouts are right in the heart of the music, the bass is really thick and important to the mix, etc. I like it a lot. The lyrics are succinct and to the point, dealing with a bleak worldview soaked in violence, hatred, etc. The record comes on clear yellow vinyl in a nice glossy sleeve with artwork for each band, and the high quality insert contains lyrics in Portuguese with English translations. Once more Gritos de Alerta has an awesome illustration on their half of the cover, while Heresia takes the Discharge-esque road. This time out Gritos de Alerta don't totally win me over due to the recording problems, but Heresia makes up for it with three killer tracks. Both of thse bands are ones to watch, though!
[Terr?tten]
Running time - 11:00 (approximately), Tracks: 7
[Notable tracks: Hist?rias dos Nossos Dias, Minorias em F?ria, Terrorismo Nas Ruas, 84/02]
Terr?tten Records - http://www.terrotten.com
