Here we have 24 tracks of old school styled Brazilian hardcore/punk with some crossover flare on this band's debut full-length. A lot of the old school influences are drawn more from early 80's hardcore than anything else, but it's not overly aggressive, which is where the punk and crossover styles really come in. Every once in awhile, though rarely, they'll even throw in a quick little ska chord progression, which surprises me every time. The shorter tracks absolutely seem to work best for them. "Presos" is less than a minute of catchy hardcore/punk with a little bit of melody and great vocal patterns, and "C?ncerdi Pele" is fast and aggressive, one of the most aggressive tracks in fact. The production is pretty solid. The drums sound nice and natural, the bass tone is killer, and for the most part the mix is solid. On occasion the vocals can be a little loud (and the slight distortion on the vocals is unnecessary), and I think the guitar tone needs to be a little smoother on the distortion, but it doesn't bother me. After all, this is their first release. The layout here is okay. It's not the best, but it gets the job done. There are a few wacky live photos (including one of the band playing live while dressed like women) and a humorous illustration of a rat in a Black Flag shirt, so I assume the fun keeps going with this release. I'm not sure what the clown on the front cover is all about, but hey, whatever. Once again the lyrics are all in Portuguese without translations, so I'm not sure what the content deals with, but I think it's probably a mix of humorous material with a little seriousness thrown in on occasion. All in all this is good, but not as good as the band's other work. The songs can tend to sound a bit similar to one another and even though the disc is only 32 minutes it can wear thin after awhile. There are a few throwaway tracks (take the cheesy and far too long introduction to "Deturpa??o Divina", for example, complete with keyboards) that do detract from the flow of the record, but there's still a lot of cool shit going on. Keep their name in mind...
[L?j?]
Running time - 32:16, Tracks: 24
[Notable tracks: Querir!? Vai!, Olhos Queimando, Presos, C?ncerdi Pele]
L?j? Records - http://www.laja.com.br
