Annihilation

Few years ago a friend of mine passed me this CD telling me it was seriously one of the most brutal things ever listened and I immediately agreed with him. At the time I used to listen to Krisiun and nothing else from Brazil so I was really shocked by this “Annihilation”.

Nine tracks of unbelievable violence. The guitars are really a wall of impenetrable fire (I read they put together 4 guitar lines in the production!! Madness!!), while the drums are always on blast beats with few times on fast bass only and slow snare while the vocals can be described as typical growl ones with a harsh touch.

The technical level is one of highest in brutal death metal I believe. The title track, after a small intro, is a total devastation with a long, tapping, hyper fast, technical guitar solo at the end. “Steel Siege” has one of the most brutal and clear-cut beginnings I’ve ever listened to. The guitars parts are like a shrapnel in sound and speed.

The guitar riffage on “Red Spike” reminds me early Deicide for malevolence but with an over blasting production, while the main riff on “Unleash The Fire” is total impact even being very catchy. If you want a massive, bass drum fast part with hyper destructive riff check the beginning to “Unborn Consecration” that ends in a fast blasting riff supported by eternal blast beats.

Even now I can’t believe my ears listening to the lead guitar part at the beginning of “Bringer Of War”. Terrific! The production helps but the brutality is absurd (in a very good way). Holy shit what an album…pure madness with perfect, unearthly production and inhuman violence. Bestial assault.

I don’t know about calling this album the fastest around, but it is definitely fast as hell. I was in the mood for something brutal and blasting so my friend recommended this to me, and I was not disappointed at all.

Rabaelliun unleash total chaos on this album, and at no point does it ever cease to slow down. The guitars fast and aggressive throughout the whole disk. It literally feels like they are trying to blow you away with the guitars here. Riffs explode from the speakers like atomic warheads. Blazing solos flay my skin and leave it hanging from my exposed muscles. Seriously, these riffs are brutal. No, not chug chug chug palm muted brutal. More like a jackhammer pressed up against your sternum brutal.

The drums are also killer on this album. Very fast blasting that seldom slows down comprise the core of every song. On some albums that can get awfully repetitive, but not in this case. Why? I don’t know, it just seems appropriate to be blasting nonstop here.

The vocals are well performed and also very aggressive, just like everything else on this album. There is no lack of conviction here. This man has great confidence in his performance.

The bass? Well, they pretty much mixed the bass out every song so I can’t really tell. Probably brutal. Overall I greatly enjoyed this album, start to finish. If you need a lot of variety in your music, or if you are afraid of having your face melted, this album may not be for you. Otherwise, I highly recommend it.

I heard this band was faster than Krisiun (who I am a big fan of) so I bought this CD from Redstream.org for $10. What I got when I put this into the cd player, was the fastest drumming I had ever heard in my life. Add up the drum speed of Krisiun with Devourment's and you have Rebaelliun. A total blast fast from hell, and blindingly fast fills. The drums on this album will definately blow speakers up.

The guitars are also fast. Not just fast, I mean FAST. The guitars are very similar to Moyses Kolosgne from Krisiun, but played just a little faster. The vocals are not as good as Krisiun's but they are pretty brutal. The solos honestly shred and have a ton of insanely fast melody, they even finger tap at times! The bass is not audible much and the lyrics cover killing god and destroying his followers.

I compare this band to Krisiun so much because they sound very similar. I enjoy Krisiun a little more than Rebaelliun, but Rebaelliun is faster.

If you like speed, you'll like this album.

Rebaelliun have pulled a complete 180 it seems. Going from a slightly sloppy trio to a world class quartet rivaling the true greats of the genre in speed, songwriting chops, and pummeling extremity. Annihilation, their second full length for label Hammerheart Records is an unending assault on the eardrums. If I had to use two words to describe this CD, those two words would without doubt be "war" and "hatred". Although conviction and contempt certainly come to mind when hearing Death Metal of this caliber. If the Brazilian "scene" had a musical equivalent to the Houwitser cannon, it would most definitely be Rebaelliun. Where Krisiun invalidated themselves and abdicated their throne with that massive blubbering spineless failure "Ageless Venomous" Rebaelliun are right there to pick up where they left off. Sorry guys, move over. You are old news. That's right, Rebaelliun will conquer you. Buy "Annihilation" if you dare, but be forewarned. Contained within are 8 of the fastest, most punishing tracks to ever (dis)grace your stereo. Everything is exactly where and as it should be. The mix is perfect. The musicians' performances are to the letter. You will find no high-end mixed clicking double bass lameness here. The drums beat your fucking face in as they have not been since Sandoval on "Blessed Are The Sick". The guitarists possess the fastest right hands I have ever had the pleasure of hearing in my life. And, although the bass is somewhat buried as usual, keeping up with these two fretboard demons is no small feat. So I am sure it's every bit as impressive as the rest. The vocals standard low end death growls, but seem to have an indescribable tone about them that conveys the urgency of the music so perfectly. If I had one qualm here, it would the fact that amidst all this insanity, the sheer unrelenting driving force can be just a tad monotonous at times. That's not to say that they are boring, but there is little variation in structure and tempo. Which isn't a big deal if you ike things to be 100% asskicking and in your face all of the time. Every so often, I get the inclination to slow it down some. Even so, the sum output of Rebaelliun is something that cannot be ignored, whether you are a DM purist or a "softy" like me!

"Holy Shit!" And a BIG smile on my face was what happened when I for the first time heard two songs from this album before it's release.

Talk about improvement (not that Rebaelliun wasnt good already). Their skill at their instruments are so much better on this album and they prove it with playing disgustingly (a positive comment ;) ) fast and tight! And thank's to the great production you can hear this easier. Seriously, how can you play music like this and survive? Especially at a live situation. Talk about stamina.

Some things that are new this time around besides the furious speed is that they use SOME melodies and some catchiness. The melodies lie's in the riffing and the guitarsolos. Of course this is not happy melodies, this is (true) death metal folks. So no reasons to worry about this.
Also, they have a new singer. His name is Lohy Fabiano, an old friend of the Rebaelliun boys actually. He played with them when they were known as "Blessed". But he choose not to continue when Blessed changed name to Rebaelliun, he was active in some other band(s) at the same time so he decided to stay with them instead. His growls are quite similiar to former singer Marcello Marzari so there are no big changes there. If you didnt knew Marcello has joined another Brazilian Death Metal band - Abhorrence. So check them out too. Not as good in my opinion, but you never know what they have in mind for us in the future.

Bottom Line: This could perhaps be the fastest death metal album out there at the moment! So if you like fast, technical, well played death metal with alot of nice touches - This is it!