The Ecatepec Burst: Delivering the Metal Madness
This year
is a really good period when it comes to the thrash releases. New albums were
recorded by such names as Testament, Kreator, Tankard, Destruction, also many
young metal crews stated that they had found thrash metal instead of their
blood. I don’t want to write and cogitate if it is the next trend or fashion,
or it is not, the main thing from my point of view is that Mexican Asedio is amongst
those many young bands playing this kind of metal. The band, coming from
Ecatepec, released the second album called “El orígen de todos
los males” (in English: “the root of all evil”), but the songs has been published
in the web since the end of the previous year. So, delay is enormous, time was
dragging on unmercifully, because their first album “Somos nada” really
thrilled my metal world and maltreated my senses in absolutely positive way. And
what is more, their debut album is the best newcomer in this century in all
metal categories. Thus my expectations were gigantic, and Asedio had to face
really challenging task to prove metal quality and show that “Somos nada”
wasn’t accidental performance. And if the band managed to record the album on
proper level, the main question strikes my mind: did new album beat the debut?
With hope yet with some anxiety I came into the world of “El orígen de todos los males”…
The first
thing I knew about the album was the front cover. And I have to write frankly that
is simply perfect, in the nowadays flood of new pictures, this one is very
recognizable. In one word: appetizer. Even if all the songs were ready to
download from the web, I decided not to listen to them. So I was patiently
waiting many months for the package from American Line (Asedio’s label).
Someone can say I’m fucking insane or something like this, but I really don’t
care. If I have a physical copy, I can listen to the recording and review it. Period.
Finally, the cd has landed, so long wait has given its fruits at last. The
first surprise: only almost 28 minutes of running time and one instrumental
song that opens the entirety. The next element: production, fortunately still
drowned in the chains of underground. The sound is massive, selective, vivid
and pounding the mind, thus everything is perfectly audible here and served in
proper proportions. This sound isn’t so harsh and raw as compared to the debut
album, it is given in rather modern way, but fortunately with no signs of
artificiality, such common in present metal productions. Simply, the new album
has a really good realization of sound.
And what
about the main element? What about the music? For sure releasing such killing
stuff as “Somos nada” cannot force me to praise blindly new performance, but I
can state absolutely consciously that the second album is undisputedly better.
In the review of their debut, I had a wish. I knew about the band’s metal
talent, and I wanted to hear more their activities in this way. And now, during
listening to the material I know that the power of metal has not been lost. The
interesting thing is placing instrumental miniature (lasting almost one minute)
as an intro, fortunately it isn’t done on keyboards, by on guitars only. It is
just perfect start to the upcoming record and in my opinion it is like a small
determinant of the things to come. I mean, it has some kind of fearful and
horrific yet full of sorrow atmosphere, and to be honest, I didn’t expect such
a fine opening. But I assure that Asedio didn’t change the thrash style into
death/doom or stuff like that. One minute passes by, and “Morbosidad del alma”
enters the stage. And it simply crushes my head! This track is a quintessence
of the whole album, where after rather slow riffs work, the voice of Jorge Baez
gives a signal to attack. As compared with the debut, Jorge brought more
brutality to his vocal lines, now he prefers growling-like style (with some
blackish screams in some parts), again in Spanish, however his effort here is
very clear and understandable.
Of course
riffs are the base of Asedio music, that’s obvious for the thrash crew, mostly
they are played in fast tempos. Although I heard many of them, here there is a
really fresh work from both guitarists. And each song is confirmation of my
words. Still I can hear stunning melodies in thrashy way, but this time Asedio
didn’t show melody lines like for example in the first track “Batalla contra la
esperanza” from the previous album. Here I got more sounds ‘in hiding’, what
makes this album more difficult in overall perception. But do not get me wrong,
musicians didn’t serve complicated music and broken arhythmic tempos. This is
very direct and straight-forward music which has only one task: to conquer my
senses. And only one song is longer than magical three minutes and this is the
title one. It is hard to state if it is the best one, but for sure “El orígen de todos los males” is a track which I cannot leave without any
words. It is opened by child cry, then very calm yet absolutely sad guitar work
lasts until about forty second, when heavy guitars and rhythm section join. Believe
me, I heard many so-called songs full of all-embracing sadness, it was
characteristic for death/doom scene from the nineties, but aforementioned
beginning beats everything I have ever heard in this genre before. In addition,
the sadness feeling is strengthened by all artwork inside the booklet. The title
killer isn’t maintained in slow or mid-tempo, but I’d like to glorify the
chorus, tempo changing and two superb guitar leads. Simply I love this track,
its atmosphere and exploiting layers of thrashing energy. So after six minutes
the last song “Vastagos del miedo” brings another hurricane tunes, it is still
classic band shot in my head, but there is one thing I cannot understand. And I
have some remembrances from the closing track “Victimas de la prohibición” from
the debut. Here the situation is the same. From my point of view the track is
incomplete (yes, that’s correct word!). Well, when the song reaches 2:50, everything
becomes calmer and gives place absolutely amazing guitar lead. It is a very
good idea to end the album in this way, but it lasts merely 35 seconds and I
want to hear more such paralyzing and memorable sounds. I think the sounds
disappear suddenly and I can’t put up with this. My overall mark isn’t maximal
and it gets out of the ending of “Vastagos del miedo” only… but from the other
hand, I don’t treat it as a drawback.
I’m not
going to write in detail about the whole musical entirety. The remainder is
also maintained in top-notch performance beyond the shadow of a doubt. Fast
attacking riffs dominate with some rhythmical breaks here but the drummer
Samuel Segura fortunately doesn’t use blast beats (of course he doesn’t, it is
pure thrashy energy exclusively!), the solo leads are played in faster tempos (“Esencia
de la negación”, “Virtud de la ambición”, “Culto a la rebelión”) or slower (“Morbosidad
del alma”, “Monumento a la indignidad”). Each song has an enormous potential to
be a live killer for supporters and metal maniacs. The shortness of this
material causes that every single second of music coming to my mind is worth
its weight in gold. Moreover, Asedio for me is some kind of revelation with a
real power of true metal with no idea to pollute their murderous compositions
by any modern shit. Everything has its place: music, songs, vast imagination, metal
vision, choosing the best form of expression and front cover. What is more, in
inundation of so many materials coming from every site, Asedio is like an
emperor amongst village fools. I am surprised myself a bit writing such words
about this album, when I compare it with the records from this year released
even by big and famous metal names, and to put it briefly, I can see no rivals
for these Mexicans. I am quite old metal freak, I listened to many metal sounds
in my life, and now I am really happy during listening, absorbing and praising
such thrilling and stunning thrash record. It gives me a hope that nowadays metal
still has something to say, and the foreseeable future is just great for the
band with such spirit of metal. And for sure, by this album Asedio joins the pantheon
of Mexican metal gods. Yes, absolutely superb stuff…
99/100
-Tlacaxipehualiztli
(previously written for Encyclopaedia Metallum, on December, 2012, now modified a bit)
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