México bárbaro

At first glance, Transmetal appears to be one of the hardest working extreme metal bands of all time with approximately 30 full-length albums to sift through. On closer inspection you'll find that a little less than half of those albums are re-recordings of classic songs (usually to celebrate a new vocalist) or live recordings. Transmetal started out as an aggressive, simple and raw thrash band in 1987. Ten years later the Partida brothers had evolved into a unique, straightforward, mid-paced death metal band.

"Mexico Barbaro" is the last album in Transmetal's chronology that I would fully recommend to fans of old school death metal. This is a Morrisound Studios recording, with all elements handled by Scott Burns. The result is a production sound akin to "Serpents of the Light" but with a clearer, heavier drum sound and more bass presence. Not that much has changed since the recording of their popular "Dante's Inferno" album, which was also a Morrisound job. The production is clear and has a nice punch to it with guitars and vocals balanced well against each other.

Lead vocalist Alberto Pimental returns for another album while taking a break from his (unexceptional) band Leprosy. Alberto's accent brings Max Cavalera to mind, Sepultura fans should check out "Dios Nos Agarre Confesados" for a studio trick that might be familiar. As with the majority of Transmetal releases, all songs are sung in the Spanish language. The language barrier is only a problem if you are the type to pay attention to death metal lyrics. The vocals are particularly clear, and Pimental's accent is vicious enough to be (understandably) hard to ignore. Guitar riffs are mid-paced or slow, with a few speedier moments ("Rio Rojo" has a few nice breaks) but the pace stays somewhere between Obituary's "Slowly We Rot" and Death's "Leprosy". The style of riffing is more rock and less death metal than in previous releases, but not too far removed from what they did on "Dante's Inferno." While bands like Monstrosity (Corpsegrinder guests on two tracks here) were going full speed and incorporating a hefty amount of technicality into their work at this time, in 1996 Transmetal slowed things down to a jogging pace and essentially cut lead guitar solos from their sound. The result is mixed, the lack of lead guitars lends more focus on the groove of the rhythm guitars.

While best enjoyed in tandem with "Dante's Inferno" this is one of the better Transmetal releases to start with when digging into their huge discography. "Mexico Barbaro" has a lot of personality and a brutal swaggering riff style that was unique to the band. Thrash metal fans should probably try "Muerto En La Cruz" or "Burial At Sea" first, and decide how much more death metal they'd like to hear incorporated into the sound.