Evilusion

Undercroft is one of the very few South American bands that I know, and the only one of these that I really respect - and I think they earned not only my respect, because, as far as I know, they were a support act for such bands as Morbid Angel or Kreator…

The music on this CD can be described as blackened death metal. In this band’s case, this is a mixture of old school death metal, in the style of early Death, with elements of black metal, such as the atmosphere, anti-Christian lyrics and the occasional shriek. So actually, this is very familiar with the music that bands like Deicide or Behemoth make… Except that Undercroft sounds less modern, even though they use some riffs that sound a bit like hardcore.

The thing that makes this band stand out is the fact, that here the songs are built that way so that you will want to shout along with the vocalist - try to do that with Morbid Angel’s music! Of course, there were some other bands like that in death metal history, but here we also have the indescribable atmosphere of Latino American rock bands - Brujeria also has this, except that their music isn’t so, I would say, hit-oriented and fresh. The essence of that atmosphere is held in “Carros De Fuego” - a song sung in Spanish. The drumming on the record is technical, but not overdone; the guitar riffs are very ingenious. Nevertheless, the music isn’t perfect: the snare sounds a bit too dry, if you know what I mean, and the growl doesn’t always snarl the way like it should… However, believe me, Undercroft’s music is massive and packed with an enormous load of metal energy - every song here is a great headbanging tune! We also have something like an extreme metal ballad here - “Bridges to Melissa” is a beautiful song, I have shivers down my back every time I listen to it - yet it’s still brutal and great to headbang to!

I know that this review is very subjective, and that not everyone out there will be satisfied with this album, but I am, and I believe that at least some of you will enjoy this record, therefore I highly recommend this for all extreme metal maniacs!