REXOR offers us straight up heavy metal from Brazil. With their new album "Powered Heart" they show off their great riffs and some good songwriting.

Opening up with "Blood Swords", the band gets heavy right away, with some cool guitar parts and a vocal delivered with anger and grittiness. "Powered Hearts" feels a little more traditional, with a grooving main riff and a really cool melodic chorus that is done really well with power.

"Powered Hearts" keeps all of its songs fairly short by metal standards, with 9 songs clocking in at less than 40 minutes. The band definitely has a sense of focus and what it wants to achieve in each song and they do it well! Songs like "H.M.F" and "Infinite Road" are pure old school metal through and through, and tracks like "I Scream" offer a bit more modern fair with chunky speedier riffs and some powerful rhythm section playing.

One of my highlights is probably "Vegas Locomotive" which has some great riffs and lots of energy throughout the song, with a really cool vocal that really rocks here. There's also a ballad in the form of "Seal Of My Heart" which I thought was a nice addition, as many traditional style bands focus on the heavier stuff and often ignore the softer yet equally musically viable material.

The album ends on "Evil Knights" and this is a great ending to the album, with some of my favourite riffs of the album and a really great drumbeat throughout. The vocals have a really aggressive sound here as well and it all comes together to form a great sound.

The production is fine for the album; it's about what you'd expect. The guitars are a little more modern sounding as are the drums but it feels very old school in style.

"Powered Hearts" is a good, solid release and should be checked out by fans of the Brazilian metal scene.<