First things first, let's be absolutely clear upfront: this is not a review for the latest album by Canada's foremost caucasian Reggae rapper. That man has not released a full-length album in almost two decades, and his "Informer" heyday is another decade behind that. This is not to say we offer deference, only that his work is not the task of METAL TEMPLE to critique.

Instead, for this review, we're staying in the hemisphere but crossing the equator to Brazil, where in spite of tropical climes, a band called SNOW has emerged with their debut album, "Fast N'Heavy Loud N'Slow". Born as a side project of the band TIGERSHARKS, the sound between the two groups is fairly related; where TIGERSHARKS are mostly Power/Skate Punk with a bit of Stoner Rock added, SNOW gives an inch to Sludge, which in the true nature of the genre, proceeds to take a mile.

Track one, "Skate Fast Die Hard", is much more SUICIDAL TENDENCIES than INFECTIOUS GROOVES, but here the side project injects a bit more Metal into the song than does the prime band. "Prensado" proceeds to Sludge things up a fair amount, rumbling like an old car going uphill and just as shaky. "Perfect Lies" follows up by getting back on the board, as it were, like a skater holding onto the bumper of the previous song's car.

"Nowhere Fast" is nowhere near fast, and is comparatively speaking a lumbering giant on this album, the second longest track at three-forty-three. A satisfying classic Punk windup introduces "Paradoxical Conflicts" before segueing into the album's gem and the longest track, "Escape From Brasil"; pressing their foot firmly on the Stoner gas pedal, it actually feels like the needle hits the gauge's Doom lines, and they really picked their best effort for a single.

Closing things down are the penultimate "Good Vibez From Hell", which carries on from the prior track while pulling back but only a little. Finally, in the way mixing blue and yellow gives you green, "Crying Lies" gets just a little bit of Thrash going, almost inadvertently, and staying in form, there's no discernible outro, it just stops dead.

Strictly speaking, this is an honest Punk album: eight tracks, just about a half hour, and still a full-length release. As the band says, it would sound great at a skatepark but it could be played anywhere where Punk or Sludgy Stoner Rock can be appreciated. While it isn't groundbreaking or life-altering, "Fast N'Heavy Loud N'Slow" does competently take a place in the modern Rock catalog, and "Escape From Brasil" in particular has a good case for the all-2021 playlist.

Altogether, this is really a solid album. The lyrics do sound a bit jarring at times, an issue that occasionally beguiles translations to English. Their style of play with Portueguese lyrics could be sensational, at least for a few songs. Other than that, the BLACK-FLAG-featuring-MAX-CAVALERA-on-guitar vibe possessed by this album is downright radioactive. If you can hear "Fast N'Heavy Loud N'Slow", be careful, because you're in the kill zone.