Quo Vadis

The music displayed on Metralion's Quo Vadis is blatantly Brazilian sounding. You could literally play it as background noise. But even in the other room Captain Brazilian Metal could perk his experienced ears up, slick his long curly hair, swing his cape, and save the day by detecting its coined hard-to-miss aroma. His voice is clear enough, that if one would speak Portuguese they would understand what he is spewing on the microphone word for word. And even from the instruments to the production.

The production varies in loudness per instrument. It sounds as if you took really poor quality instruments and recorded them on dated recording equipment. That shouldn't matter if the music is good, right? However, in some ways it is a hindrance. The vocals are especially loud, compared to the buried guitars. The snare drum rivals the vocal level for some reason. So you are still able to figure where the tempo is in the song. But at the same time, it is hard to decipher what could be potentially crushing riffs overtop of the other instruments.

Like discussed before, it is hard not to avoid the vocals because they are literally the loudest sounding 'projection' on this album. There is a layer of reverb, or maybe it has a slight hint of delay or echo attached. Because it sounds like he is singing through a megaphone, while the music is playing live in the background. It has that megaphonish, if-you're-standing-too-close-to-one-you'll-know-what-I-mean kind of sound quality to it. He uses a type of sometimes talking level, sometimes yelling level, mildly strained, rougher voice. Every moment and again, he will use an abrupt growl or scream/yell to impact a section. It has a certain tempo, that makes me want to sing along if I knew what he was saying. 'Hey. You stole my breada. Now you're deada. You're not going to lasto. Because I'm gonna stick my foot up your peasant asso. Den-den-dddddd-den-den.' The guitars are deeply buried in the background compared to the vocals. You can sense certain riffs. Although, when there are solos, the volume is turned up. And during a mid-paced section, the guitars are leveled with the bass and the drums. Although, each song is split up unevenly between fast and mid-paced structure. So you don't know what you'll end up with. The bass guitar is heard slapping around and clear. Because the highs sound like they were turned up more than the lows. At some points it is louder than the guitars. The drums are centralized around the snare drum. It probably worked out better for them and it keeps you on track with the music, since the guitars are awash with buzziness. He plays a basic style, and he primarily sticks with snare, bass drum, and his hi-hat. Even though at points it is hard to hear the other two besides the snare drum.

Overall, Metralion's Quo Vadis, with its mismatched production at points, is an alright slab of mid to late 80's thrash metal. It has a tainted quality to it, with a rough edge, not just production wise, but music wise too. The vocals could use a lessening of volume and the faster sections could use more guitar presence. This seems like it was also an in-country release as well. Displaying all Portuguese song titles and band name. I can see Metralion probably being remembered by an older 80's Brazilian metal crowd. However, their music is distinctly displayed in its own quarters. It doesn't hold up to some of the other exports that are well known that have come from the same country. Although, it has a specific period and flavor attached to it, that might take you back to a certain time: where spikes, boots, leather, tan skin, and a roughened Portuguese language were just as natural as blinking and breathing.