CRNKSHFT - S/t

#FOR FANS OF: Heavy/Hard Rock/Post-Grunge, Alice in Chains, Pantera

I’ve to admit that my first impression of CRNKSHFT wasn’t the best. Not only because of the no-vowels all-caps stupid-looking monicker, my inability to guess the correct pronunciation (“Crankshift”? “Crunkshift”?), or the album cover, which reminds me too much of something that Five Finger Death Punch would come up with, but also the fact that they mention groups like Shinedown, Godsmack, and other butt rock bands I totally despise as influences. But some people say you don’t have to judge a book by its cover, or a band by the way they chose to present themselves, and CRNKSHFT manage to overcome my prejudices, most of them created and developed by years of liking to talk a lot about things I don’t like, with their debut EP. Not sounding that much like the aforementioned bands, or at least not in the way I use to remember them, this Canadian group delivers four songs of good “modern” hard rock, with heavy guitars and catchy choruses. Instrumentally, they sometimes remind me of the rockier Metallica, and the vocals sound in-between Alice In Chains and the typical post-grunge “clean growls”. Without being mindblowing in any shape of form, I never wanted to skip any of this songs while I was listening to them, which is a lot more than what I can say about any fucking Puddle of Mudd song. If I had to pick a favorite, “Breaking The Silence” would’ve been played to death at Mtv, and the catchyness of “Tears Me Apart” is really hard to miss. The mixing and production are great, very professional without sounding overproduced. There are some things to improve, obviously: CRNKSHFT don’t seem very interested in taking many risks, with the songs being a little samey-sounding in repeated listens. And sometimes they come as a little over-dramatic, although their subtly socially conscious lyrics makes it a little more palatable than with other bands of the same style. Overall, CRNKSHFT’s self-titled debut EP is a pleasant surprise. I’d recommend it to anybody who likes any of the aforementioned bands. And if you don’t like them, you can listen to it and rock some tunes without any guilt. (Martín Álvarez Cirillo)

(Self - 2017)
Score: 70

https://soundcloud.com/crnkshft

Path of Desolation - Where The Grass Withers

#PER CHI AMA: Melo Death, Dark Tranquillity

Although theirs sounds more like a monicker for a doom or a depressive black metal band, the guys of Path of Desolation are far from those styles. Coming from the Swiss city of Lausana, this melodeath quintet (at least, they were a quintet when they recorded this album) has been playing since 2013, and they had their first studio experience with their 2014 EP 'Soaked Jester'. 'Where The Grass Withers' is their first LP, and is a more than a decent demonstration of melodic death metal, in the vein of Dark Tranquillity, with their heavy use of synths although lacking the clean vocals. The album shows all the other elements that we’ve come to associate with this genre, like the Maiden-esque riffs mixed with more thrashy ones, nice acoustic guitars and the use of more traditional song structures. Everything is in the proper place, and the band shows that they’ve have studied every trick known in the “Gothemburg’s Guide To How To Melodeath”. The problems with the album start to show when you play it in full a couple of times. For example, the production lacks some strength, sounding clean and nice but kind of generic, and although there isn’t any truly bad song, it’s hard to point out real standouts. Nevertheless, this isn’t really a tedious album: singer David Genillard delivers great death growls and there are a couple of nice moments in this album, like the opening “The Crown and the Empty Hall”, the piano in “The Hunting Prey”, the featuring of Anna Murphy (ex member of fellow Swiss folkmetallers Eluveitie) in “The Uninvited” or the mixing of acoustic guitars and electric guitar melodies in “Exit Nightmares”, a nice closer for the album. But this is an album that prefers to use what it’s already known to success than trying to capitalize in its unique traits, which isn’t really a bad thing: we all like to watch action or horror movies, even if there are a lot of storytelling tropes that we’ve seen a hundred times and maybe more. But sometimes the repetition of elements will only appeal to fans of that particular genre, as it’s the case with the debut LP from this Swiss band. Having said that, Path of Desolation have the potential to release truly great albums if they manage to develop their strengths, which they’ve, and find a sound that they could call their own. (Martin Alvarez Cirillo)

(Self - 2016)

Score: 65

https://pathofdesolation.bandcamp.com/album/where-the-grass-withers

Holocausto - War Metal Massacre

#FOR FANS OF: Black/Thrash, Sarcofago, early Sepultura, Sodom

In the eighties, Brazilian metal had a lot of provocative bands, but Holocausto was for sure the one that stood out the most in that area. With their constant references to the Nazi regime in their image and lyrics, it didn’t take long for them to be accused of being nazis, even if they expressed that they only adopted those symbols to express the horror of the Holocaust. And their music was as extreme as their image, because 'Campo de Extermínio' ('Extermination Camp'), their debut from 1987, still sounds as brutal and violent as it was at that time, with their sloppy technique, their blastbeats, monstrous vocals, and simple but effective thrashy riffs.

This period of rawness ended up being a little short-lived, as Holocausto decided to start changing their sound in their follow-up 'Blocked Minds', where they left the nazi image and Portuguese lyrics, and adopted a crossover thrash sound in the vein of Suicidal Tendencies. The following albums saw Holocausto with the same approach to songwriting as fellow Brazilian bands Sepultura and Sarcófago, never releasing the same album twice and experimenting with more technical riffs and some industrial and noise influences, but unlike those bands Holocausto never managed to capture the same impact of their debut. Internal turbulences and a constant change of members didn’t helped, and they split-up at some time in the mid nineties. Although they reunited in 2005 to record the hardcore-tinged 'De Volta Ao Front' ('Back to the Front'), they didn’t do a lot more.

That is why 'War Metal Massacre' is so welcome as an addition to Holocausto’s discography. With all the members that recorded 'Campo de Extermínio', with the exception of the drummer Armando Sampaio, and a cover that reminds of the one in that album, the intention is very clear and simple: they want to go back to their roots.

The most interesting part of this six-song EP is in the last three songs, the ones that Holocausto composed for this release. It’s complicated to talk about them individually because there isn’t much difference between them, but what they don’t have in variations is compensated with an incredible display of force: “Eu Sou a Guerra” (“I Am the War”), “Corpo Seco / Mão Morta” (“Dry Body / Dead Hand”) and “War Metal Massacre” show Holocausto going back where they feel like a fish in the water, with blastbeats, punchy riffs and lyrics about the horrors of war. Sometimes they sound like 'Obsessed By Cruelty'-era Sodom, but with much better sound. If sometimes critics have used terms like “war metal” and “noise metal” to describe Holocausto’s style, this are songs thet justify those claims.

“Massacre”, “Destruição Nuclear” (“Nuclear Destruction”), and “Escarro Napalm” (“Napalm Sputum”), the three other tracks from this EP, are re-recordings of songs that the band released in their first years. And here they’re present in their best versions: even if there aren’t a lot of changes, with the exception of a short rainy “Black Sabbath”-like intro, the musicians playing them, have improved their technique and the better quality sounds manages to make that the rhythms of Nedson “Warfare” Conde, who was the first drummer of Holocausto, sound as violent as they’ve to be. To “go back to their roots” is something that not a lot of bands manage to do, because a lot of times they end up sounding like tired versions of what they used to be. But with “War Metal Massacre” these Brazilians manage to combine the search into the band’s origins with the experience they’ve gained along these years. I don’t know if a lot of people were expecting new material by Holocausto, but it’s a great surprise nonetheless. There isn’t a single bit of filler in 22 minutes of music, and it’s a perfect comeback for a band that deserved a lot better. Will they manage to get that with the release of an LP? We’ll only have to wait. (Martín Álvarez Cirillo)

(Nuclear War Now! Productions - 2017)
Score: 80

https://nuclearwarnowproductions.bandcamp.com/album/war-metal-massacre