Perspective

The Portuguese metal scene woke up late for the classic metal craze, and the old school canons remained unaltered over there for at least the first half of the 90’s. Consequently this brought some nice fruit starting with the thrashers Ramp who remained Portugal’s most celebrated thrash metal export including with their transformation into faithful Pantera followers at some stage. Moonspell (earlier as Morbid God), of course, the most renowned band from the small country, and one of the finest products of the 90’s. Then 1994 poured the band under scrutiny here and the death metal innovators Thormenthor, followed by the modern progressive thrash/deathsters Afterdeath (later Nameless) and the great technical/progressive death metal outfit Disaffected a year later.

In other words, almost every single metal genre was represented in this small, but essential group including the good old power metal due to the ever-present veterans Tarantula. So Portugal was a nice place to live, at least from a retro metal fan’s perspective, and that brought a huge revenue into the country since many a wealthy, and not so, metal fan relocated there from all parts of the world. Kidding of course, but the thrash side of the fandom must have rejoiced on all counts getting a hold of the album reviewed here. The band belong to the not very voluminous progressive thrash metal fraternity which members are also luminaries like Anacrusis, Depressive Age, and a few other less known acts like the French Threshold and the Canadians Last Breath. In this train of thought, this fabulous trio are not out with all the technical guns blazing, but prefer the more elaborate, more atmospheric approach to winning the listener. And the latter would hardly mind that once exposed to the jarring hectic riffs of “Within You (It Hurts)”; this unnerving delivery is nicely matched by the cool dramatic semi-clean vocals which disappear once the dazzling lead section commences followed by a smattering melodic accumulation.

An arresting beginning by all means which continuation comes wrapped in “Luminous Green”, a raging shredder serving plenty of quirks later like burpy bassisms and sudden virtuoso leads, disorienting the fan as what to expect although the band stay the aggressive course moshing out with reckless abandon, the amazing leads springing up again until atmospheric undercurrents ala Anacrusis interfere only to be driven away by the exiting portion of speedy blitzkrieg guitars. “The Masonry” is an officiant battle-like hymn the band reducing the speed by a healthy notch at first, but expect all hell breaking loose in the second half the guys unleashing a whirlwind of furious vitriolic riffs before a cool pacifying balladic passage puts an end to this “madness”. “In the Machine” is a spastic technical thrasher with a frequent change of pace and a cavalcade of awesome speed/thrashing crescendos the ensuing “hurricane” blocked by a slower doomy epitaph. “Here M.G.R.” is “here” to combine hard-hitting shreds with alluring balladic sections, both sides alternating the whole time, on top of some brilliant technical vortexes and impetuous proto-deathy “skirmishes”. “La Dance Les Morts” is an all-instrumental masterpiece with sweeping virtuoso melodies, screamy twisted leads, and fast maddening tempos with surreal technicality assisting on the side; more than a worthy warm-up for the closing progressive opus “Ethereal (Unniverse Lung)”, a nearly 8-min long riff-fest of the highest order, a speed/thrashing roller-coaster with the staple melodic “distractions” amply provided at every corner alongside slower, almost doomy, additives the show stolen by the fantastic dramatic lead sweeps which throw more than half the Shrapnel catalogue out the window, this attractive drama “mortified” by a nice soothing balladic exit.

Classic thrash couldn’t possibly get any better than that in Portugal, and the rest didn’t really try hard to top it up although Ramp’s “Thoughts” came close. Still, it may have been matched by some brave souls later if it wasn’t for the groovy/post-thrashy transformations which caught up with the Portuguese scene as well. That’s the reason why the band’s sophomore album “Servants of the Glow” remained unreleased until some 17 years later when a compilation appeared containing both full-lengths. It’s a loss for sure cause that second opus was of a similar high quality, maybe a bit simplified with a bigger presence of direct, more immediate moments, but a compelling listen nonetheless. Alas, this compilation wasn’t a precursor to a reunion stunt, and the three “wolves” of Portuguese thrash still remain enshrined somewhere. Even if they never show up again for another spell with the music industry, be it in sheep’s clothing or under any other guise, they should rest assured that their place on the metal pantheon will be secure for aeons on end.