Awakening The Slaughter is a thrash metal demo released in the 2017 in Brasília, Brazil. It contains old-school thrash metal songs, with fast paced drums, lightning riffs and agonizing screams. Jhonata "Darkhell" Gonçalves plays the guitar, Rômulo Aráujo plays the drums (both ex-Slaver and Massacre Bestial) and to complete the trio, Gabriel Zenön (Rev Raptor, ex-Diabólico e Sinistro, Sunset Riders, Speedkills) plays the bass. The line-up would end up changing later, with Gabriel playing drums and Rômulo playing bass, plus the addition of Iury Morais (Transtorno Nuclear) on the second guitar.
The demo kicks off with "Total Armaggedon", the album's instrumental track. It starts with simple but effective gallop riffs that drive the song until it's heavily old-school death metal influenced breakdown, then gets back to the riff aggression and explodes in the end, leading to the next track, my second favorite, "Poserslaughter". It's the first non-instrumental track and, although it certainly contains vocals, it doesn't have any lyrics, nor do any of the songs here, a big downside and disappointment I had with this album. Despite the fact there is no way to know what the singer is saying, you can get the idea from the title of the song. There are great riffs in here: the pre-chorus riff, for instance, is great by itself, and the second guitar harmony can't help but make it better. Other hot spots are the double-bass acompanied riff in the middle section right before the solo and the inverted mosh riff that comes after the solo. Speaking of solos, they are simple, but well crafted with loads of whammy bar dives and squeals.
Moving on to the next track, "Command to Thrash" begins by showcasing the songs intro riff as it melts in with the thrash beat drums after a "Ugh!" that reminds me of Celtic Frost. This song is one of the simplest, following an almost constant beat and having few changes. There are tempo issues in the middle section before the solo, but although it sounds wrong, it doesn't ruin the listener's experience. The track's positive aspect is the chorus, with sticks in your head after a listen. It's one of the most popular songs playing live, but it's my least favorite cut of the record. The bonus track, and the last one off the album is called "Infection Noise", a digital-only single released before the making of this album. The production is obviously different from the last three tracks, the guitars being less defined in the mix, cutting cymbals and primitive sounding drums. The vocals sound like they were recorded in an echoy garage. Despite it's inferior production, the song structure is one of the best displayed here, the riffs sound a lot like Violator, wich was a huge influence for the bands guitarist, taking in consideration he played in Slaver, which Márcio "Cambito" from Violator was also a member. There are some great drum fills and I absolutely love the faster "blast-beat" section just before the song ends.
The production in the first three tracks is really good for a demo, the guitars have a fat tone to them, the bass is very audible in the mix, drums and cymbals sound snappy and well defined. . The riffs are good, the bass follows the guitar almost flawlessly and the drums are fast and effective in driving the madness in each and everysong. Again, I would really like to be able to read along and follow the vocals, but unfortunately you can't find the lyrics for these songs anywhere. To summarize, it's a real good display of musicianship and you can notice clearly the more Teutonic thrash influncials in this band, and if you are into old Kreator, Tankard, Dark Angel and Hypnosia, you should go and check out this band right now!