Carajo Review Frente a Frente (2013) Genre: Alternative Metal, Heavy Metal, Groove Metal, Nu Metal, Punk

Carajo

Frente a Frente (2013)

Genre: Alternative Metal, Heavy Metal, Groove Metal, Nu Metal, Punk

These guys have been around for awhile here in Argentina and I have all of their albums, but I never had seen them live in a show for some unknown reason. So I finally got to see them play a live gig here at Cosquin Rock (2015), and they knocked my socks off. They played a super heavy set, with mostly songs from this album so I knew that this production in particular was going to be  super good, so here I go with my review of this admirable production.

Vocals and Lyrics: Corvalan gets better over time; you can see a progression from previous albums, but there is still room to improve. 8.5

Instrumentation:

Guitar: Hernan Langer, is maturing in his guitar playing, becoming more of a  well rounded axe-man, you can see a progression over time from there earlier stuff, and he plays a couple solos on this album which is well welcomed.

Bass: Corvalan’s bass playing is average on this album.

Drums: Andres Vilanova is a solid drummer. 7.6 

Melody and/or Structure: Some really good Riffs, and on one song “Venganza de los Perderdores” we have a Riff that is fused with melody, this is a new level of sophistication for these guys.   9 

Sound, Production and Feeling: Heavy sounding album with some interesting surprises like some string sections on a few tracks that are absolutely stunning in how well placed they are.    9.5 

Songs: Song writing grows in sophistication; each song has some interesting instrumental aspect or a cool production aspect to it , there is  a lot of attention to detail. 15

The Bad: 

Originality: The Band is growing out of there punkier influences heading to a darker and heavier phase.  9 

Overall:  58.6

A.N.I.M.A.L. Review Poder Latino (1998) Genre: Alternative Metal, Nu Metal, Groove Metal, Rap Metal, Hardcore Punk

A.N.I.M.A.L.

Poder Latino (1998)

Genre: Alternative Metal, Nu Metal, Groove Metal, Rap Metal, Hardcore Punk

I remember when I was a teen, and I had an alternative rock band that was making the transition to an alternative metal band and this album came out, really paving the way for metal bands back then

out of the blue  we had place to welcoming use to play thanks to these guys. This album was a commercial success here in Argentina and made it to the mainstream. I remember many of friends that weren’t metal heads buying this album, so this band real has the merit of being a fundamental element in our small metal movement.

Vocals and Lyrics: Andres Gimenez finally establishes his vocal style, and he shows a good use of melody. And as a treat Leon Gieco who is an old school rock/folkore singer is on the last track. Listening to this album in detail, I realized that my lead singer in my first band real used to copy ANIMAL’s lead singer, and still does.  8

Instrumentation:

Guitar: The Guitar is a Riff chugging machine.

Bass: Crovalan does good job, but the colossal bass solo on track six is Robert Trujillo (Suicidal Tendencies, Infectious Grooves and Metallica) that’s is guest on the album, it was a letdown to find out Corvalan didn’t play that solo.

Drums: The Drums have a super groove   7.1

Melody and/or Structure: As a said before Gimenez does a good integrating melody in some tracks, and the Riffs are great. 9

Sound, Production and Feeling: This album was produced by Max Calavera (Sepultura and Soulfly)  at indigo ranch were Korn and Limp Bizkit made their first albums, so you can hear their basic sounds in this album, but it’s little to conservative in the heaviness.  8

Songs: It’s probably their best album from start to finish, and you have 2 covers from the Ramones and Body Count. 12

The Bad:Nothing

                                                                                                     

Originality: They are the first Metal band to break into to the mainstream hear in Argentina and that were able to tour abroad10