Hellritage
Colemesis
•
April 13, 2014
I haven't really come across too many quality bands from the land of Costa Rica, but then again that's what music journalism is all about, finding new gems from new places. COLEMESIS is a Death Thrash band from Heredia, Costa Rica with loads of experience behind them. Formed as Death / Grind band in the year of 1991, the band evolved to Hardcore by the late 90's and later moved to Denver, United States, in 1999. Their sound drastically changed and they started playing heavy Death / Thrash Metal. But they disbanded in 2002, only to reunite again in 2009. With couple of EPs and Demos,
"Hellritage" is their 2nd full length album and they seem to give their best shot at it.
COLEMESIS is one of those bands that brings out organised brutality into their music. HELLRITAGE is full of screaming growling Death vocals of Fabbian Bonilla and great riffage worthy of air guitaring. "Vastamente Profundo" combines beautiful guitar solos with some insane riffs at the same time. The riffs of both Gabriel Morales and Fabbian Bonilla here are not continuous and are more on the lines of a core band to an extent, still giving the Death / Thrash feeling which the band intended to in the first place. The next few songs run like an uncontrollable fast running horse with full of power and precision, except that with "Amén Infernal" the guitar solos and the backing vocals become more audible and make their presence felt. The drums of Emilio Cortes have the right bmp and fall in the right place and everything about it feels right, as they don't overlap on the guitars or vice versa. The next few songs continue on the same line with occasional shift from high tempo to mid tempo riffs. While the solos in "Peace Was Never An Option" are nothing new and innovative, but it's the timing and the precision that's really impressive and works wonders for this song. "Hombre Pez" is another ordinary song and was quite disappointing considering the expectation the album had built up till then, but the album comes back to its best with "Ocaso 2:35", full of sharp riffage and occasional solos. "Fuck The Fashion" is one of the better songs in this album as it brings out a pure hatred anthem and makes you scream the lyrics along with the vocalist and also for the fact that it is only one of the 4 songs in the 11 track album written in English. But I had a feeling that the song overstayed its welcome and must have been just a 3 min song instead of a 4:36 min, and in the process testing the patience of the listener. The next 2 songs chug along similar to the first few songs in the album except that in "Serrucho" there is a beautiful piano play all throughout the later part of the song giving a nice pleasant feel to the song, and I have to mention that the piano is played only in the background of the main heavy COLEMESIS music and not as a solo, I really didn't see that coming!! The last song "Kuru's Seed Anthem" makes it feel that the previous song was like an intro this one, as "Kuru's ......" is just a 2 min beautiful soothing number filled with interesting guitar strumming filled with piano playing all along, giving a surprise ending to an otherwise heavy album.
The album cover art deserves a special mention as it matches the brutality of the music itself. While the production is quite impressive, the lyrics, I assume are mostly in Latin and speak of the societal rules and norms and how as an individual one doesn't need to follow everything that's being told to us, especially related to political subjects. All in all it's a good 45 minutes well spent, though with a few minor mistakes and glitches here and there, it's an album worth checking out for all Death Thrash fans and I'm surprised its gone unnoticed though it was released in last year.
8 / 10
Excellent
"Hellritage" Track-listing:
1. Vastamente Profundo
2. Hellritage
3. Amén Infernal
4. Reglas de la Opresión
5. Peace Was Never An Option
6. Hombre Pez
7. Ocaso 2_35
8. Fuck The Fashion
9. Dioses
10. Serrucho
11. Kuru's Seed Anthem
Colemesis Lineup:
Michael Mory - Bass
Emilio Cortes - Drums
Fabbian Bonilla - Vocals, Guitars
Gabriel Morales - Guitars
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