So thanks to a crazy amount of traffic and hotel getting to most of Saturday was missed. When got there in time for most of CAGE THE ELEPHANT on the Fuel stage. Then it was time to head to the Damage Inc. stage for SUICIDAL TENDENCIES! I’ve NEVER seen them before and holy hell, were they good! Everyone in that band is a beast! Especially the rhythm section of drummer Eric Moore (T.R.A.M.) and bassist Tim Williams. Kicking it off with “You Can’t Bring Me Down”, they set off a steam rolling crushing set, playing hit after hit up until it was time for an INFECTIOUS GROOVES mini-set with Robert Trujillo on bass. It made the hassle of getting there well worth it!
Over thirty years in the game and Mike Muir of S.T. and INFECTIOUS GROOVES still rules.
I got to check out KIRKS CRYPT. A little museum of Kirk Hamments’ horror memorabilia collection. From vintage posters to painting and full sized costumes and masks. It made me very jealous! It To top it off, Linda Blair was there as well! I look forward to October for the release of his book, TOO MUCH HORROR BUSINESS about this collection. I caught most of ARCTIC MONKEYS headlining set on the “Fuel” stage, and boy are they very British! Granted they are, but still, they reminded me of BLUR and OASIS mainly. A good chunk of the crowd dug them a lot.
Then it was time for METALLICA on the “Orion” stage….
Whaddya mean no “Orion” at Orion Fest?
Starting with “Hit the Lights” they ran through four more songs as the warm up to playing the entire Ride the Lighting album. After a brief and kick ass intro video, they came out ass backwards! No, really! They started with“The Call of Ktulu” all the way to “Fight Fire with Fire”. I Enjoyed “Fade to Black” and “Escape” the most. They came back with a nice three song encore of “Battery”, “One” and “Seek and Destroy”. To much grief from a lot of people about no “Orion” The song, famously attached to the late CLIFF BURTON, for which this fest is named for. I guessed they’d save it for tomorrow.
Kirk shared his horror collection and then some guitar solos.
Set List:
Hit the Lights
Master of Puppets
The Four Horsemen
Sad But True
Hell and Back
The Call of Ktulu
Creeping Death
Escape
Trapped Under Ice
Fade to Black
For Whom the Bell Tolls
Ride the Lightning
Fight Fire With Fire
Nothing Else Matters
Enter Sandman
Encore:
Battery
One
Seek and Destroy
DAY TWO:
THY WILL BE DONE tore it up early on day two.
Now due to a lil health issue, I had a short visit to the ER that morning. As a result I missed GHOST, Oh well, would’ve been weird to see them in the daytime anyway. Some bands just work better at night. I was really bummed to miss LANDMINE MARATHON. I’ve wanted to see them for awhile.
Bummed I missed this band. I heard they were awesome.
So when I finally arrived I caught BEST COAST, like with ARCTIC MONKEY’S it was nice to hear something a little different and mellow. I got to see this cool new band called THE TRUJILLO TRIO, on the “Vans Skate Ramp”. Robert Trujillo & Family put on a dirty, crusty, grindy, punk rock show. I hope something gets released soon!
Robert Trujillo was a triple threat this weekend.
It was good intro to the insanity for THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER! I ended up pitting my ass off throwing crowd surfers left and right. Haven’t really done that a in awhile, holy cardio workout Batman! It felt great!
Ripper Owens and CHARRED WALLS OF TH DAMNED were amazing!
I had to sprint across to the “Frantic” stage to catch the first show of the year for CHARRED WALLS OF THE DAMNED! Ripper Owens’ and Richard Christy’s unstoppable juggernaut! They were awe-inspiring to watch. Then back to “Damage Inc.” for the headlining set from SEPULTURA! They are in the midst of a tour over in Spain, but flew in just for this. The pit felt like a UFC match and some douche was decked out in gloves and a mouth guard. It was a rough pit. Now musically, this band is amazing! DERRICK GREEN has been in this band long enough that I forgot someone else used to sing for them. New drummer Eloy Casagrande, that kids a monster! He even broke a bass pedal. after that I checked out the sick car show there while AVENGED SEVENFOLD closed the “Fuel” stage. They like fireworks and pyro just at much as METALLICA does.
AVENGED SEVENFOLD likes to blow shit up!
After a cool video intro, METALLICA started of the set with “Hit the Lights” and “Master of Puppets”, like last night, then went to “Fuel”, “For Whom the Bell Tolls” and “Shortest Straw” before starting “The Black Album” (Metallica) in reverse. I don’t know what it was, but “The Black Album” just sounded better then Ride. Mind you I haven’t heard this about in over ten years. They just sounded tighter on this material. The encore this time consisted of “Blackend” and “One” and then a James spoke about the festival and dedicated the last song to Cliff, “Seek and Destroy” wait what!? Not “Orion”!? What the hell!? This is bullshit! That’s some of the comments I heard around me. My best guess as to why no “Orion”: maybe it’s kind of a bummer to play it and they didn’t want to end the festival on a downer.
Set List: Hit the Lights Master of Puppets Fuel
For Whom the Bell Tolls
The Shortest Straw The Struggle Within My Friend of Misery The God That Failed Of Wolf and Man Nothing Else Matters Through the Never Don’t Tread On Me Wherever I May Roam The Unforgiven Holier Than Thou Sad But True Enter Sandman Encore: Blackened One Seek and Destroy
Day two was more enjoyable than Day One, overall.
All in all, it was a great family festival. It was really good seeing kids there. I’ll most likely bring mine next year. There was enough different musical styles to keep everyone happy and it was worth the long trip to Atlantic City. I want to go back again so lets hope for an Orion fest in 2013!
One of the reasons metal is one of the most vital forms of music is that the permutations of sub-genres is never ending. The seed of a new style often begins as a kernel of an idea in one kid’s mind, sitting in his room wood-shedding. From there bands form around incorporating new approaches to existing ideas and influences to craft new music. Such is the case with WESTERN MASSACRE and their delivery which is described as “death groove”. The brutality of CANNIBAL CORPSE and JUNGLE ROT mixed with the mood and attitude of PANTERA, LAMB OF GOD or SEPULTURA is what we found on their full length Freedom Through Violence.
From the first notes of “Steel Casket” one thing is clear, these guys can bring the heaviness. Harsh guttural vocals fill your ears with dread while down-tuned riffs pummel your brain. Not only does this song have great sense of rhythm, but has a melo-death influence that many of the bands coming out of the Massachusetts scene tend to have. The band is as unrelenting musically as they are catchy, as proven by the hints PANTERA-esque southern licks that pop up here and there. Guitarists Kyle Leary and Chad Hoag shred all day long and will give the guitar geeks much to talk about. The second track “Brazilian Carnival” brings more of the same wrought iron chords and savage beats. Drummer Jeff Greene does a nice job behind the kit of blending his syncopated, off-time hits and fills with his impressive double bass work. For a band to make this match of styles work and be tight, the drummer has to hold it down and Greene does so at all times. Vocalist Matt Lentner seems like he’s gonna tear his own throat out on occasion, channeling Satan with is crazy high screams. The end of the song has a mosh part/outro solo/last riff motif is one that many bands would envy writing. “Facelift” starts off with more of the tough-guy mosh parts, but then adds this unique textural guitar theme that blew me away. From there you get a straight ahead face melter worthy of most modern metal bands. Once again you have two guys on guitar praying to the alter of DIMEBAG DARRELL at times with inventive playing, and slick ear candy. “Roadhouse” sounds like the bastard child of LoG and a beastly deathcore band, complete with sick blast-beats and scream along chorus. To change things up a bit “Blood and Stone” opens with a solid thrash riff, before transforming all HULK-like into a brutal deathcore song. Even bassist Nate Larsen gets to step out of his supporting role and throw down some tasty riffs. Next comes their eponymous song, full of galloping riffs and blind raging fury. Other top tracks on the album include “Defector” and the final song which is the epic title track. By cleverly writing original songs with this much brutality and flavor, this is a band we will be hearing from for a long time. You can buy their album from their website here.
Denver bred young-thrashers HAVOK are back on the attack with a new EP release. Following up last years’ solid Time Is Up album, the band has been tireless road dogs in 2012. This EP will be one more way to bring some new HAVOK madness to the masses as they roll from town to town.
Opening up with one of two originals “Point of No Return” picks up where the best of Time Is Up left us, excited to hear some new guys interpret the classic 80s thrash style. What HAVOK does that few of their peers in the neo-thrash scene do is keep a sense of modernness and maturity. These means while the band shows their love of the genre that inspires them, it is not mere wrote copying. They are creating original, modern thrash with cool stylistic touches. Bolstered by some co-production work from JAMES MURPHY (DEATH/TESTAMENT), the fun factor is still switched to high with sick drumming, shredding solos and killer gang vocals. Like any good band rocking this style, guitarists David Sanchez and Reece Scruggs really bring the fire, especially Scruggs and his lead playing. “Cradle To The Grave” begins with an incredible beat by drummer Pete Webber that kicks the creativity up another notch. Some urgent riffs crash your ears before Sanchez kicks in with his vocals. Rather than ape the style of so many great thrash singers he goes his own way with an approach that is aggressive, not too growly and cool. The ending riff of the song is massive and would be great mosh pit fodder live. Closing out the EP are two excellent covers. “Arise” by SEPULTURA is a classic and the band kills it. It is a few notches faster than the original speed, but it sounds good. Equally strong is their take on SLAYER’s “Postmortem/Raining Blood”. Credit again to Sanchez for keeping his own voice throughout the tracks and not trying to imitate the great vocals of MAX CAVALERA and TOM ARAYA respectively. This EP is like a gift to the loyal fans and sure to bring in a few new ones. I’m looking forward to seeing these guys on the SHOCKWAVE tour this summer.
My review of Sonisphere will be done in three parts, the first two dealing with the music, and then a third part dealing with the experience as a whole. The Sonisphere in Spain is held in Getafe, which is on the outskirts of Madrid. This year’s edition was held at the Auditorio John Lennon, which is essentially right next to a military base. Due to my commitments as a father, I left home for Madrid later than expected, but got down there right as Lauren Harris’ new band SIX HOUR SUNDOWN hit the stage (made it down in four hours). Now by reading this, you might think I actually got to see her band. I listened to them while in traffic. See I got there and the abundance of parking that was promised was non-existent, as a result I had to park 2 kilometers (almost a mile and a half) away and walk with thousands of others that had been thrust into the same situation by the promoters. All of us were struggling to find the parking lot, when we got there, we found it was full. So if you didn’t get into that lot you had to drive in circles till you found parking on the street, 2 kilometers away! Anyway, more on this in part three, there is plenty to discuss. Now to the music.
By the time I got into the actual festival SIX HOUR SUNDOWN, SKINDRED, KOBRA AND THE LOTUS, RISE TO REMAIN, CORROSION OF CONFORMITY, and SONATA ARTICA had already played. By the time I did get in, LIMP BIZKIT was on stage playing “Break Stuff”, and proceeded to play just hits, “My Generation”, “Take A Look Around”, etc. Due to the fact that I got in mid-set there were tens of thousands of people in front of me, so I decided to go to the second stage and wait for KYUSS LIVES! The organizers (Last Tour International) had the brilliant idea that for the first time in the festival’s existence they would have bands overlap one another. So even before LIMP BIZKIT was done KYUSS LIVES! hit the stage. John Garcia, lead singer of the band remarked the fact that it was odd they were playing at the same exact time; he wasn’t the only one to do so during the course of the two days. The band tore through stoner classics that included “Gardenia”, “Supa Scoopa And Mighty Scoop”, and of course “Green Machine”.
Next up was SOUNDGARDEN, I got to see them on Lollapalooza 96 with METALLICA, they were one of many other bands that stopped existing shortly after the tour, RAMONES, and SCREAMING TREES, being the others. I can’t consider myself a die-hard fan of the band, although I enjoy a lot of their material. I either really enjoy their music, or it bores me. That said, I know a lot of SOUNDGARDEN die-hards that were a step away from doing the O face during the band’s performance. Stand out tracks for me included “Jesus Christ Pose”, “The Day I Tried To Live”, “Outshined”, “Rusty Cage” and “Slaves & Bulldozers”. Their set was good, but for me, it was as if some of their tracks broke up the flow of the festival. It was like hitting the breaks all of a sudden, and dragging (the operative word) to a halt. Still a good set, just not someone I’d set out to specifically see.
Here is a little tidbit about the festival culture here in Spain, the headliner isn’t the last band to go on, this is something Burton C. Bell of FEAR FACTORY mentioned at the close of day 2. SOUNDGARDEN were the headliners of day 1. MACHINE HEAD hit the stage next, and if I mentioned that the SOUNDGARDEN die-hards were elated to see their band, the MACHINE HEAD faithful were down right pissed. You know all of this nonsense that Bruce Dickenson says about American crowds, and how in Europe they’re just happy to see you and celebrate? How they don’t care if you only play a greatest hits set? I think you had several thousand people really angry at MACHINE HEAD that would beg to differ. Why you ask? They played 7 tracks, and 5 came from their latest album Unto The Locust. “Imperium” and the closer “Halo” were the only two to not come off of the album. So now you’re thinking wait, they closed with “Halo”? And “Imperium” was the only other song that wasn’t. Where’s “Davidian”? The DJ that came on two hours later emphatically launched into his set and proclaimed “here’s the one MACHINE HEAD forgot” as you can hear Kris Kontos legendary intro. So, I understand both sides of the coin here, if I’m MACHINE HEAD, I’m proud of my latest album, and I want to play songs off of it, but I can also understand the fans, you’re playing seven tracks, and five come off of the new album? I didn’t hear one positive thing about the set afterwards. Spain has always been a strong hold for the band, even when the The Burning Red came out. A generation of Spanish metal heads have grown up in this country with MACHINE HEAD, SEPULTURA and PANTERA being their biggest inspirations. It was also surprising to many that with such a reduced set that Rob Flynn would take several minutes to intro “Darkness Within”. Personally I thought the set was alright, not as good as other times I’ve seen them, not as long either, and the sound was not that loud (more likely the organizer’s fault and not the bands.) I personally enjoyed the opener “I AM Hell (Sonata in C#)”, and the two classics I mentioned “Imperium” and “Halo”.
Once MACHINE HEAD wrapped up, it was off to see doom metallers ORANGE GOBLIN. They were the surprise of the day for me. Although I’ve know the name for a while, I can’t say that I know enough of their catalogue, and will definitely check them out more in the coming days. With this said I did enjoy “The Fog” which came off of their latest release A Eulogy For The Damned.
Letting the music of day one sit with me roughly 48 hours, I’d have to say the day was full of good bands, nothing great and nothing that was over the top memorable. THE OFFSPRING and ORANGE GOBLIN were by far the best acts of the first day.
For album number eight since leaving SEPULTURA, Max Cavalera has continued to expand on his vast musical legacy. To his credit, just like his first notable group, every album has been different from the last while retaining what can be called his signature tribal metal sound. Some of their albums are more hardcore flavored, others have been more focused on world music and more recently he has guided the band back to his thrash roots. All of these elements are at play and added to the mix are a heavy influence of classic death and black metal for the first time in this band. Although not a wild stretch for Max and company to pull off, the new sound and direction has invigorated their sound and helped to make Enslaved one of their finest efforts to date.
“Resistance” kicks things off with a punishing double kick drum part and frenetic riffs. The main lick sounds kind of like an alarm of sorts, announcing the musical terror that is to come. The first track is short and to the point like some of the original SOULFLY and it works. Very punk meets death metal feeling. The single “World Scum” alternates between grindcore-esque blast-beats and Max’s trademark stomping chorus parts. The song is full of rage, but not without melody and the co-production by Max and Chris “Zeuss” Harris let’s everything shine. “World Scum” was apparently the first song Max wrote with new drummer David Kinkade (ex-BORKNAGAR) and this sets up the vibe for the album with brutal guitar parts of sick death and black metal inspired beats. Adding to the ill sound of the song is Travis Ryan of CATLE DECAPITATION on guest vocals. He is a good match for Max’s sound and makes the track even better. “Intervention” is another furious paced track with more of the great lyrical and vocal work Max is known for. The slowed down ending of the track just crushes. Fortifying the band is the addition of bassist Tony Campos (STATIC-X, PRONG, MINISTRY, ASENSINO). Tony adds a lot of low end heft that the band relies on. He is especially valuable on the most brutal passages since he has a great picking hand for speedy riffs.”Gladiator” is another top track made for mosh pits and screaming along to at a show. The vocals are again top notch and sound fierce as ever. “Legions” is a old-school feeling track that could have been from the Arise-era. Lead guitarist Mark Rizzo shreds all over the place and provides plenty of melody against the grinding chords. Lyrically and philosophically Max sounds anguished by trying to cling to his spirituality in the face of organized religion. Without being too preachy he is able to drive his point home to the listener. “American Steel” is a bit more on the experimental side with some chilled out elements, but still has that crunch you want to hear most of the way through. “Redemption Of Man By God” continues the religious theme and features strong guest vocals by DEZ FAFARA (DEVILDRIVER/COALCHAMBER). When Dez and Max trade off lines with each other it sounds like pure, evil magic. “Treachery” might be the most brutal track on the album and is one of my favorites by far. Insane battle drums, sick guitars, black metal motifs and some inventive grooves that inspire a lot of headbanging. The middle section of the song could fool people into thinking they picked up a spacey sounding MASTODON album for even more added texture. “Plata O Plomo” is an amalgam of thrash, power groove, flamenco guitar, and even some melo-death lead guitars. There is also a rap en Español vocal by Campos that is excellent. Other top tracks include “Slave” (the Berimbau is back!) “Chains”, “Revengeance” which features Richie, Zyon and Igor Cavalera Jr. and the latest chapter in the bands’ eponymous beautiful instrumentals, “Soulfly VIII”. SOULFLY has managed to condense the soul of their entire history into these vibrant, rebellious songs while still pushing boundaries of what heavy music can be.
Max Cavalera leads the charge on one the best SOULFLY records yet.
GREG PUCIATO certainly has a lot of irons in the fire these days. Whether he’s working on a solo project, laying down mystery vocals for an as-yet-announced project or touring his ass off with DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN. Now, Puciato has revealed that there is even more in the works – and when you’re talking about more music from Puciato, we tend to get very excited around these parts. Check out what he posted on his Facebook page:
“Working on some “to be released eventually” music, plotting late 2011/early 2012 DEP misadventures with Weinman & Wilson, and making plans to head out to Phoenix this weekend for another writing session with Max Cav. Good start to the week…productivity is trumping ADD on this Monday afternoon/evening after a week of “I’m home from tour” celebration. How’s everyone’s week starting out?”
So, there you have it! DEP will have some new material for us shortly and, probably even sooner, a new tour! Now we have a confirmation that Puciato is writing with MAX CAVALERA (Soulfly, Sepultura, Cavalera Conspiracy) for a new project as well. I’m most interested in a new DEP record but I’m most curious about the collaboration with CAVALERA — there are a lot of questions there, like “who will handle lead vocals between these two” and “who else is involved”. Unfortunately there are no answers to these questions yet, however feel free to speculate below!
It’s well over a decade since Sepultura have been struggling to get out from under their own shadow. Now with Kairos, the sixth post-Max and now fully Cavalera-less entry, the Seps remain fighters-against-the-odds with an album that feels natural and poised: perhaps more so than most of Seps Mach 2′s past offerings. Where 1998′s Against was fueled by the anger of their post-Max situation and subsequent entries merged experimentation with what we would expect from any era of the Seps, this is the record where it all seems to come together. Consider this: perpetually “new” vocalist Derek Green has been in the band longer than the elder Cavalera. He finally feels like a natural part of the band versus being shoehorned in.
There’s no denying that there’s been a lot of forgettable material aired over the past decade. Kairos has its share of unmemorables – the biggest offender being covers of Ministry’s “Just One Fix” and The Prodigy’s “Firestarter”. Yet, with this entry, the good topples the unremarkable. There’s even a song or two like “Relentless” or “Mask” that may become part of the band’s live show.
With drummer Jean Dolabella taking the stool from Iggor Cavalera and guitarist Andreas Kisser leading the creative charge, the bulk of songs are shorter, blunter and straight to-the-point. The likes of “Seethe” take that focus to heart. While the band has opted for self-production in the past, it sounds like producer Roy Z. (Halford) has helped bring that focus to the fore. Unlike the last album, A-Lex, there’s no thematic noodling to deal with. For better or worse, Sepultura is still on a mission to silence any doubters. This time, they’ve got ‘em down down to a dull murmur.
I will admit that I have liked something about every one of TRIVIUM’s albums up to now. Ember to Inferno (Lifeforce) started it off back in 2003. While they might have seemed like a novelty at the time (their relative youth, the budding neo-thrash movement, metalcore) they have grown a lot over the years into a solid act on record and an excellent live proposition. Front man Matt Heafy, who is still just twenty five years old, has become a very accomplished songwriter and vocalist in the preceding time. From his own band to projects like being one of the leaders of the Roadrunner United album, Heafy has been plotting a course in metal all pointing to this time and place in the bands career. Just prior to reviewing this new album I got to hear some of these new songs live for the first time at the Mayhem Festival. In Waves definitely continues the growth arc of the group.
With the opening piano and military drums of the intro of “Capsizing The Sea” you get a nice bit of drama to begin the album. They came on stage to this live before launching into the title track which is also the first single. The song is an uptempo chugging rocker with equal parts metalcore, modern metal and active rock. Heafy, to his credit has never apologized for having a great melodic singing voice nor should he. At the same time his screaming style, which he went away for a few albums has now been brought back en masse. He sounds super harsh and truly killer on these parts. The cool melodic verses and balls out hardness of the chorus is a nice change from the norm and I dig it. Heafy also doesn’t get enough credit for his introspective and philosophical lyrics. “Inception of The End” is a more thrash/melodic death metal inspired affair with even more light/dark vocal work played to full effect. The song has some of the best guitar riffs on the album between Matt and lead guitarist Corey Beaulieu. Both of them have continued to improve as lead players as evident by several striking solos on the album. Also, recent addition Nick Augusto is a big improvement on the drums over departed founding member Travis Smith. Augusto’s pounding rhythms and inventive beats have definitely helped the band step up more than in the past. There is even some blast beasts that show up for accents on some songs! “Dusk Dismantled” is another harsh song that was leaked early by the band and is already a big hit live. I definitely hear a LAMB OF GOD influence on this song and it surely one of the hardest, most straight up songs the band has ever done. The combination of growling lead vocals and hardcore backing vocals on the chorus is well done and it’s cool to see the band explore some new ground. “Watch the World Burn” is one of the more catchy songs on the album with an almost active rock verse. The infectious melodies can not be denied and I suspect this song will be a video/single at some point. This idea continues for the rest of the album with some radio friendly tunes like “Black” and second single “Built to Fall” mixed in with more tough songs like “A Skyline’s Severance” and “Drowning In Slow Motion”. I also like the acoustic guitar jamming of “Ensnare the Sun”. The bonus version of the album has many extra tracks like the God of War III video game song “Shattering the Skies Above” and a cover of SEPULTURA’s “Slave New World”.
I’m not a very superstitious guy in life. However, sometimes signs jump out at you and glare in your direction until you notice them. After a few listens of the new EP from Brazil’s DESALMADO, I sat down to type this review and a funny thing happened. Out of nowhere my laptop, recently out of the repair shop started typing out a series of repeated numbers all on its own. All the numbers were strings of 666. Over and over again. 666. I shit you not! I’m not sure if my laptop is possessed or not, but one thing I do know is grindcore in Portuguese is muito surpreendente! Formerly known as EL FUEGO, the band is nearly finished with their full length opus produced by SEPULTURA drummer Jean Dolabella. In the meantime we have the Hereditas EP to tide us over until then.
Furious, fast and undeniably vibrant sounding, the band blends grindcore, hardcore and thrash styles to craft an expert slab of metal. Even in just under fourteen minutes you can hear the high quality of the songwriting and playing in the group. Lead track “Condenados Pelo Odio” sounds like old-school SEPULTURA to begin with after a thunderous opening. However, quickly it drops into a breakneck thrash/grindcore tempo that nearly reminds me of early KRISIUN. Fast and brutal is the way to go and for this and clearly shows the band has listened to a lot of NAPALM DEATH and KILL THE CLIENT growing up. The ending groove is just massive and killer. Second track “Em Sua Honra” just a short blistering jab in the eye musically. A wake up call with sick guitars and crazy vocals by front man Carlo Augusttas. His growling scream calls to mind Kevin Sharpe (BRUTAL TRUTH/VENOMOUS CONCEPT/PRIMATE) and is terrific. “Miseria Escravatura” is another quick burner chock full of great riffs and histrionic tempos. I fear someone is gonna hurt themselves trying to head bang and keep up with the power and speed of these songs. Moving a notch beyond the typical sounds found in most of the genre, DESMALDO is not afraid to change it up and show their other influences too. Drummer Ricardo Nutzmann definitely has a bit of the old Igor Cavalera tribalism in his stick work and you couldn’t fault the guy for being impacted such a legendary drummer from his country’s most important band. “Chagas Avertas” bashes and slashes away with razor wire riffage. Guitarists Estevam Romera and Bruno Texieira have good tones and can do more than just pedal a basic riff. These guys can really play whether it is thrash, punk or even a touch of death in their style. Bassist Maria Piti has a really sweet tone, albeit it is buried too much in the mix like most grindcore. The best track here is “Manto de Sangue” which means “cloak of blood”. The track is just vicious sounding and the guitars sound like hot saw-blades in action. The final song “Hereditas” is yet another harsh one. This band gives me a lot of hope and I’m really looking forward to their full length album later this year.
Below you can stream ‘Break Me Out,’ the opening track from Brazilian metallers Mindflow’s fifth album, available soon from Nightmare Records! Our own thoughts on the record were that, “While elements of Dream Theater (and maybe Pain of Salvation) abound, With Bare Hands isn’t exactly a conceptual heist, either. Rather, both bands seem to share common ground when it comes to well-produced, heavy, keyboard assisted metal, based around heavy percussion and rhythm.”
Says guitarist Rodridgo Hidalgo about the track, “‘Break Me Out’ is a song that pushes you forward and it is all about never giving up: you will get hit sometimes and fall to ground but you always get up again… stronger.”
