Deads Shall Rise

Stormin' outta São Paulo with a four-tiered, razor sharp albeit roughshod EP and, bringing up the rear, the "Screams In The Night" single is the Brazilian thrash/speed quartet Chromeskull, whose initial offering, titled Dead Shall Rise, entails 12.5 minutes of seemingly discordant heavy metal horseplay (excuse the visual pun) which, granted, sounds like the musical equivalent of, ahem, horseradish applied hard n' furious against a cheese grater, while still auspiciously parlaying the gang's affinity for 200 mph rhythmic undulations of a definite, chthonic order fit for both "scream queen" and "king"!

Dig the cavernously echoing yawp which yields a "chromatically" shredding ninety-six second long "Intro" featuring bi-lateral bass drum and snare swats culminating in a grande finale (s)mash-up before opener proper "Riding The Hurricane" spills out of the speakers, slick and and toxic, Exxon-like, to the tune of front/ax man Carlos' vitriolic, not to mention indifferently incoherent, vocal scrawls, the main riff of which segues into a caustic n' melodic mini-solo 'fore crashing, ramrod stiff, into a morosely plump and pendulous, bass-rife self-title track hilariously read, here at MA, as "Dead Shall Rises". I'm always (up &) down for token grammar uproar, notably, the Latin type.

That's not to say Chromeskull couldn't benefit from a bit of a polish or roundabout tune-up; all the same, said titular number is a keeper, especially soon as that ominously caroming bass line boomerangs in full, ghastly form alongside a schizoid lead, the bubonic lot reminiscent of Poland's Night Lord. Although, you're not to be blamed, if, at glance of its pictured cover, you suspect the lads of emulating Skull Fist or Stallion - here we go again with the equine fixation.

Close-cropped closer "Fast N' Rude" gallops at a quickened clip thanks to its manic opening bass stomp and turbo fuelled drumming. As far as the future is concerned, it may prove challenging for Chromeskull to retain a balanced momentum void of headache-y instrumental pile-ups. Good Lord! Let's pray it's nothing more than an issue of them finding and keeping their stride, as they so mendaciously rides...