Louvado Abismo : "s/t"

 

This band from Portugal gets it. All too often I hear new post-punk bands and they are not packing the kind of punch I need, so I go back to listening to my old Killing Joke and Christian Death albums. This album stomps with dark aggression to make something that is sonically intense, The plead of the vocals feels real rather than someone trying to recreate what has already been done, but true to the legacy of the genre.  I can't understand any of the lyrics, at least at the volume I am currently listening to this album. The vocals are shouted on the second song, which marches in from a storm. Many layers of sounds build the dark apocalyptic clouds that comprise what they sound like. 

The third song sounds like Christian Death jamming with Alien Sex Fiend and Crash Worship. The guitars are more industrial strength as the album progresses, with the vocals doing a ghostly junkie moan. "Espuma" has more of a tribal pound to it. The vocals have a chanted hook to them as the song's pieces fall into a very natural flow. The guitar to "Bons Ventos" carries a metallic charge to it. The thrashy chug, owes more to Killing Jokes more metallic moments, as it also creates a sonic tension. "Vazio" splits the difference by taking the throb of metal riffing and sailing off into waters obscured by a dense haze of atmosphere. The guitar churns under it in an almost Tool-like manner. 

The album does touch on goth moods, but the crusty stomp of combat boots marches the album into a bleak dystopia, that is more organic than what we think of as industrial in the present day. They invoke a more grooving ambiance to the pound of "Corpo Inerte" that feels almost more like a Black Sabbath riff. The slow machine-like grind of " Mundo" builds in the energy of its throb. The lyrics are sung in their native tongue, so unless you are fluent in Portuguese , the narrative voice is more of a percussive element and their voices are more of an instrument than a narrative voice.  The last song is an instrumental outro.Overall this is a great sound track for the apocalypse, which is the best barometer for the music that eases us into the coming darkness, I will give it a 9.5 . 

PST182