If I went to a foreign country and couldn't speak the language --- fair chance of that, as I only speak the one --- it would probably be very hard to communicate. But should I listen to music in that strange country, I might not be able to understand the lyrics but I could certainly enjoy --- or hate, or be bored by --- the music. Music is the one true global language. Anyone can understand it and anyone can speak it. That's what this section is about, in case you hadn't guessed.
The world over, music is essentially the same, and this goes double for Heavy Metal. Not that all bands in all countries play the same; of course they don't. But I could listen to an album by Rammstein or Baron Rojo or Moonsorrow without having to understand what they're singing about. The music, literally, does the talking. So here we're going to travel across the world, listening to the Metal from four different countries, not all that far apart in terms of culture but a world apart from each other in terms of language. We'll sample some of the Metal bands that play or come from there, and see for ourselves that Metal knows no boundaries, neither political nor geographical, and certainly language is no barrier to this music we love.
First up,
The largest country in the continent of South America, Brazil has a rich history, having been settled (conquered, if you will) by the Portugeuse Empire in 1500, hence their native language being Portuguese. It is the fifth largest country in the world, and was of course in the news recently when the World Cup was staged there for the first time since 1950.
Look, I'm not going to give you the history of the country. You're not interested, are you? If you are, here's a link
Brazil - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
but what we want to know about is the music; more specifically, the Heavy Metal music that comes out of this country. And so, let's dive into our first example.
Legacy of humanity --- Anubis --- 2010 (Distro Rock)
I heard these guys by accident. I'm into another band called Anubis (I featured them on my now-defunct Trollheart's Fortress of Prog) but they're a prog rock outfit, and when I downloaded this album I expected it to be one of theirs. Imagine my surprise when I was assaulted by hammering guitars, thundering drums and growled vocals! Still, for what it was it didn't seem all that bad, and as we're exploring metal bands from Brazil Anubis fit right into the frame. I do find it odd, perhaps even a little disheartening that a band who have been together for twenty years now have only managed to churn out one demo album --- and that in 2006, over a decade after they were formed --- plus a single in 2010, with this being essentially their debut album. The sands of time, guys! The sands of time...
Anyway, what's it like? Well, as you'd probably expect, it's hard fast and heavy, with the usual twin guitar attack courtesy of Renato Costa and Vinicius Carvalho, who are good at what they do. Anubis sing in English, though sing is perhaps a little kind when you listen to vocalist Sandro Costa --- is he related to Renato? I don't know: perhaps Costa is a common surname in Brazil. “Armistice Day” opens proceedings, but it's anything but a surrender as the lads go for the throat, pounding and screaming in that special way thrash metal enjoys. There's something of Slayer and a lot of the big German thash bands here, the likes of Kreator and Destruction. “Forbidden game” keeps the tempo fast and heavy, though there's really nothing special about it, the guitar riffs basically repeated throughout the song. It does slow down about halfway but then returns to its previous groove, and it's really been and gone before you can even notice it.
“School of hate” is more of the same: low, growling guitars and a snarled vocal with steamhammer drums. It's possibly a little slower than the last two tracks, but not that much, while “Dark hope” has a long instrumental intro, about the only thing that distinguishes it from what has gone before. As a matter of interest, I see that later on “Under the influence”
is an actual instrumental, so that may be something to look forward to: Costa's vocals are certainly not making this an easy album to like. That said, there's a pretty cool solo in “Dark hope” that shows the talent of the two axemen, but otherwise, like much of this album so far, it's rather unremarkable. Moving on, we head into “The last act” (shall I be unkind and say I wish it was? No, I won't, not yet) with a sort of galloping beat that almost hits boogie territory at times.
The title track is up next. Well, not really the title track --- there is none --- but the name of the band. Yeah, “Anubis” is also the longest track on the album by far, clocking in at over eight minutes. There's a reasonably long Sabbathish intro on the guitar before it all gets pumping and Sandro Costa roars in with the vocal, though after his growl it's back to instrumental really for another minute or so as the band take the song. When he comes back in he's singing in a faster, more rapid-fire delivery than he has done, and the music matches his vocal: fast, driving with much shredding. Well, at least it seemed to go in quicker than I expected, and we're on to “P.O.W” which rocks along nicely with some almost discordant guitar, taking us to that instrumental I mentioned earlier.
And it's been worth waiting for, with a sort of Gary Moore twist to the guitar, allied to a sound that I can only describe as Boston. Yeah. It gets heavier and punchier then, but retains the basic slow, almost balladic melody of the opening, putting it clearly in the running for standout on the album, as far as I'm concerned (not that it has much competition in my view!); a real pearl among the swine, and a great showcase for Carvalho and Costa, who really deserve to be in a better band than this I feel. “Slaves of misery” returns us to the banal and pedestrian, with a refrain a little too close to Maiden's similarly-titled “Chains of misery” for my liking, and the album ends on “Dream beyond the mirror”, a promising start with some laidback guitar that then comes through more heavily as the song gets going, but it's a nice introduction.
It's actually almost halfway through the track's six-minutes-plus length before we hear the vocals, but it's the guitars that carry the closer, with again some licks coming very close to Maiden territory, especially “The Trooper” and “Die with your boots on”. The problem here is that, like a broken fishing rod, this would be useless to an angler; in other words, there are no hooks in it, or very very few. Nothing is memorable, there's no Hum Factor and it's all pretty much more of the same. Not impressed, I must say.
TRACKLISTING
Armistice Day
Forbidden game
School of hate
Dark hope
The last act
Anubis
P.O.W
Under the influence
Slaves of misery
Dream beyond the mirror
I've had experience of Brazilian thrash before, when I came across on “The Meat Grinder”, and I really didn't like what I heard. Anubis have not done anything to change my mind on that score. I'm sure there are great metal bands in the land of Mardi Gras, but I've yet to encounter them.
As for Anubis, I think I prefer the progressive rock band, who are miles apart from this sort of music. Anubis was the guardian dog of the dead in Egyptian mythology, and stood watch not only over the bodies of pharohs and powerful people but no doubt their wealth too. I don't think he would be too bothered about guarding this particular tomb, as there's nothing new or innovative, catchy or even memorable here. Considering that this album took, technically, twenty years to record, you'd think they'd have come up with something better than this collection of tired metal cliches.
Pass.