Devastación total

As any good metalhead knows, thrash metal experienced a revival on the last decade, allowing the old school of thrash to revive their glorious 80’s era and at the same time, spawn many new and interesting bands from all over the world. This of course, includes Mexico.

Centauro is a Mexican band, hailing from its north-western side and giving honor with its name to the legendary revolutionary general Francisco Villa AKA “El Centauro del Norte”. After that introduction, let’s get down to business with their first full length album, Devastación Total.

Let’s start with the good: The music is intense and fast and it doesn’t deviate much from your typical thrash. Even though Centauro lacks any innovative input to the genre, I think this is a fault of the genre itself and not the band’s; thrash has thrived with few innovation (with some amazing exceptions, of course) on its whole life as a genre, and that includes the new wave of thrash bands. Almost all of the album is fast, with a few notable exceptions, like “Despliegue Negligente” and “Hospitus Genetiv”, with the last one including a good bass solo, and two of the best guitar solos in the whole album. Speaking of solos, this album is full of them, with most being fast, shredding solos. However, both Ivan and Fernando experiment a bit with melody and slower solos. Again, the second solo of Hospitus Genetiv is the perfect example.

Another thing I like is the lyrics, written in old good Spanish. I find it quite hard to write good lyrics in Spanish because of the nature of the language. That’s why most Mexican metal bands write their lyrics in English. The lyrical theme of this album is mostly social criticism and about war, with a few exceptions like (again) Hospitus Genetiv and Azote de Leviatán. The aggressive vocals of Iván García also help a great deal to the over-all intensity of the album, even if they are a little unintelligible. A notable example of vocal lines that make me want to bang my head like crazy, are the ones on the slow part of Metrópolis en Llamas, a highlight of the album.

With all that being said, there are a few things I didn’t like about the album. First of all, the drums sound too “artificial”, so to speak. My first guess is that they weren’t recorded, but programmed using software like Superior Drummer. Being in a band myself, I know how hard and potentially expensive is to record good-sounding drums, and many bands are embracing the practice of programming their drums, even if they have a more than capable drummer. This is the case of Centauro, since I’ve watched them perform live, and Mario Rivera completely destroys (in a good way) the set live, sounding even better and faster than in this album. Another thing I didn’t like is the last part of Metrópolis en Llamas; the whole song is awesome and is one of my favorites of this album, but that last part after the silence just seems totally out of place.

In conclusion, this is a good album with few set-backs that don’t detract from the listening experience a whole lot and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a fine thrash band, and if you are a Mexican guy/girl looking for national talent, this is where it’s at. Having heard their previous works, I can honestly say that this is a huge step in the right direction, rising their musicianship, aggression and production value of the record itself. I can only hope that their next effort will be even better.

Stand out tracks: Metrópolis en Llamas, Ataque Fatal, Hospitus Genetiv, Destruye al Enemigo.