Holy Beast
We Are The Damned
•
April 18, 2011
With a great opening intro followed by a sad melody that reminded so much of MY DYING BRIDE , WE ARE THE DAMNED hit with an extra large portion of Portuguese Death Metal, which was a little bit technical, but who said that it was bad. Actually the right term here is evil - and that is what these guys channeled, a demonic growl penetrating your soul.
On the first track there was a feeling that there was nothing that I haven't heard before, however, when it came down to the song "Devorator Dos Mortos", I noticed, right from its beginning, a powerful guitar followed by screams from hell. Its middle showed a sudden abnormal surprise in the image of an acoustic, melodic section that eventually lead into yet another barbarian riff..
I was impressed by the range of growl vocals on "Christian Orgy", too bad it was a short song. On "AtroCity Idol", I could hear the Black Sabbath influence within the heavy riffs with a wink to the classic Doom / Stoner style of Metal that is so heavy and massive. Even though there was some fine aspects up till that moment, only from the melodic opening of "Viral Oration", the album began to be more exciting. What made it more interesting is that through the whole song the vocalist whispered while through the chords he seemed to growl his throat to death.
As I mentioned, from this point on the songs rose to new levels. The drums smashed everything that was on their path on "Glorious Grisly", speeding with amazing technique."Vengeance Havoc" was one of the greatest tracks here, it's got all the right combinations as the evil guitars riffs and the virtuoso vocal that combined well the high note growls with lower toned ones.
On "Raping The Law Of The land" it seemed that someone heard too much of Lemmy. I think that it was a kind of blessing. It was something like a melodic MOTORHEAD on Death Metal pills. I would have given anything to be in the band's concert and shout with all the crowd the end of the song. Another good track was actually an semi-instrumental with heavy powerful riffs. The strong point here was definitely the singer that showed impressive growls and great drumming.
As for the production, the band took their sound to a high level that was similar to ENTOMBED, something that reminded me a lot of the sound one of their albums, "To Ride, Shoot Straight And Speak The Truth", especially the song "Wreckage", yet, a lot more polished.
The weak point on the album was that the truly great songs were on the second half of the album and that was shameful. Another weak spot was the lack of a broad lead guitar section on the songs. I couldn't understand how it was possible to do without even a single, short solo. All I could listen to here summed up with loads of heavy riffs, nothing above it. That is why most of the material didn't quite develop beyond. Only a few songs truly caught my ears, I think that this band got a lot of potential, hopefully it will be fulfilled on their next release.
6 / 10
Had Potential
"Holy Beast" Track-listing:
1. The Anti-Doctrine
2. Serpent
3. Throne Of Lies
4. Devorador Dos Mortos
5. Christian Orgy
6. Diogo Alves 1841
7. Atrocity Idol
8. Summon The Black Earth
9. Viral Oration
10. The Glorious Grisly
11. Vengeance Havoc
12. Raping The Law Of The Land
13. Lucifer VIP (Chapter II)
14. Neo Pigs (Digipak Bonus Track)
We Are The Damned Lineup:
Cabrita - Guitar
Leffaia - Drums
Correia - Vocals
Texeieira - Bass
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