There comes a first for everything in the realms of AGM. This review marks the first of two things in my life, the first review I’ve done in a foreign country (coming to you from an internet cafe in Athens, Greece) and also the first review I’ve written regarding material from a Brazilian band.
This certain Brazilian band are named in a solid logo on the front of their CD; “As Dramatic Homage” it reads, stating the album’s name “Atmosphere of Pain/Anthems of Hate” underneath. ADH as they will from now on be conveniently known in this review play a rather interesting brand of thrashy Black/Doom metal, generally separating the two to create a counterpoint between the aggressive Black Metal sections and the more laid back and atmospheric Doom passages.
This contrast between light and dark is one which is very familiar to most avid listeners of Avant Garde Metal, and ADH carry this idea off quite convincingly. The majority of the album generally stays more in Black Metal territory than in Doom; blast-beats aplenty, screeched vocals, but playing more interesting riffs, melodic in an evil kind of way and used in a way which you would not find on a normal BM album. The band really shines though in the parts where they slow down a bit; eliminating the distorted BM guitars for more melodic clean ones, playing soothing arpeggios over more distraught sounding backings, with one of the main highlights of the release being death growls over clean, mellow guitar playing.
The guitar tone in the more aggressive sections is very ugly; heavily distorted, but unforgiving to the player. The production’s budget is made more evident here than in the other parts of the music, but doesn’t detract from the music any more than minimally.
Drums here are what you would generally expect given the apparent genre of the band. Marcelo Manhães doesn’t really go beyond what you would expect, but his playing fits the music well.
The overall impression left when the album finishes is a very positive one, perhaps contributed to by the fantastic outro to the final track, but I wouldn’t necessarily advise you to drop what you are doing and get this release. It is enjoyable and holds up to scrutiny, but it’s not perfect. Although you can find bits of the music which seem innovative, the tone of the album is of one re-iterating past gems rather than blazing new ground. A good album and completely worth listening to if you are a fan of the genre, but not an instant classic.
-Simon Brand
VITALS:
Release: 2004
Label: Independent
Avantgenre: Avant Garde Black/Doom Metal
Duration: 26:35
Origin: Brazil
Official site: http://www.myspace.com/asdramatichomageband
Review online since: 12.07.2009 / 17:26:55
| TRACKLIST:
01 – Excogitation |
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