Pandemonium is a good descrition for an album such as this. For all 45 minutes, you have no choice but to band your head to the ensemble of thrashing riffs and brutal vocals. It's almost like a whirlwind of insanity. After listening to two songs from this record, you just want to grab your favorite kitchen knife and have a good, long talk with that guy who bullied you back in high school - and maybe do some work on his sister as well. I myself have come to mutilating my neighbor's dog with a broken blender while allowing a meat tenderizer to rape his face. Also, I've been meaning to slaughter...wait, wasn't this supposed to be about music?
The album begins with the traditional Intro. Some eerie sounds fill the gap for the first 45 seconds until a deep godly voice starts reciting something like 'welcome to the so and so' (hard to decipher). Afterward they let their South American heritage come out with various instruments producing a definite Latin type sound. The killer track Horror and Torture follows. It begins by showing the brutal heaviness and speed combination that this band excels in. After a solid thrash intro, Vitor picks up his high pitch scream. The alternating between those and the deep growling sounds incredible. It moves nice and fast until the solo. This solo by the way, couldn't have been faster. Great speed which follows the structure of the song and sounds all too metal. (these guys are so metal they must have a hard time getting through airports) Once it picks back up with the main riffs it gets slightly heavier and features some great lead guitar riffs until the end of the track.
Towers on Fire has some cool intro synth that floes right into some baddass riffs. The alternating drums and bass/guitar has sort of an exploding effect. The blast beats and growling are nice and the lone guitar parts are very well placed. The drumming stands out to me here - they seem to carry the song. The guitar goes along for the ride, and they ridse it pretty well. It's amazing what palm muting can do. Once again Vitor's voice sounds excellent when shrieking and never fails to shine at the right moments. The drums carry a nice blast beat/double bass rhythm. The guitar solo (shred fest 2004) is very super fantastic good. It seems to carry the heaviness but with evident emotion...great stuff. Various riffs are played including some nice low pitch heavy sections. World of Misery comes next, and starts out very dark with a lone guitar. The drums and bass play short bursts until the full music comes...and comes hard. The track has a perfect combination of heavy, choppy riffs and lead guitars. It carries it through the vocals, which sound more brutal here than on any other. This song is more evidently death than any other. And lets not forget the brief bass solo - das ist prima! I guess overall this is just a damn good song. Some incredible riffs are played just before the most chaotic solo ever. And once Vitor starts growling again I could've sworn I was listening to a good brutal death band.
And let's not forget about the oddly titled Leather Apron. Some pick scrapes preceed to the actaul music, which is slow in the beginning. The guitars stay fairly controlled while the drumming gets crazy. The music flows nicely with a good rhythm under the deep screaming. This song never gets too insane, but has great structure. The music is consistent and flows wonderfully. Near the end the bass is accented nicely,and...was there not a guitar solo? Someone correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think I heard one...very strange. But during the closing area type thing Vitor does some unique stuff with his voice. Out of Control, the legendary track six, is just what the title says. Where Leather Apron was slow and steady, this one just explodes right from the beginning with their trademark speed and heaviness. The guitars play some sehr sweet riffs under the vocals and have some quick mini-solo type leads dispersed throughout. It's a highly instrumental track featuring another great solo, sounding like it goes back to the traditional metal with heavily distorted fast as hell solo with great effects. Vitor ends it with that cool vocal alternating thing again.
The aptly titled Pandemonium, arguably the title track, is more chaos of course. The music is low pitch and fast and mainly highlights the vocals. 'Tis quite linear, but has breaks with good flowing sounds. More sweet leads carry a good rhythm the whole way through while Vitor holds like a ***ing two minute scream - his growling voice was layered over that to make some of the best vocals on the album. That song is over all too soon. The beautiful instrumental Requiem for the Headless Rider follows bringing a much needed breath of air. Too much metal can start to wear you down after a while (physically, that is). The acoustic carries a relaxing sound but the background is dark synth, making a haunting sound. Very fitting for a band and album like this.
The record draws to a close with the song The Curse of Sleepy Hollow. I guess these guys have some kind of an Ichabod Crane obsession. Oh well, it's a great song. The music rapidly speeds up and slows down right from the beginning, and the previous interlude makes it seem even heavier than usual. The rhythm once again flows extremely well here. The guitars play many fast/slow normal/palm muted variations where the speed of the song is constantly changing. The vocals keep going steady on top of it complete with another thirty second growl. The guitar solo plays an incredible melody, too bad it's way too short. This track is pretty unique compared to the previous tracks, so never overlook it even though it's the last song.
Conc...
No extreme metalhead should be without this album. That is the lesson I learned some months ago by my fellow MXers, and have lived by it ever since. This album artfully fuses thrash and brutal death metal and the band itself helps put South America on the musical map. This has a little something for everyone (except for those who don't like constantly kickass in-your-face non-stop mad-crazy heavy metal). Anyone into some degree of heavy music should check this out, I think this band deserves way more recognition for what they do.
Recommended tracks:
Horror and Torture
World of Misery
Out of Control
Final Rating - 3.5/5
Get this my friends - it will be time well spent.
If you're wondering why this was done the old track-by-track style, it's because this was a review I wrote a long time ago but had to repost as it was never ported over when sputnik was set up.
