HEADCRUSHER
“DEATH COMES WITH SILENCE”
Album Review by Dark Juan
9/10

Headcrusher are:

Alejandro Ospina : Drums
Gustavo Calderon : Bass
Kike Valderrama : Vocals
David Coloma : Guitar
Carlos Ramirez : Guitar

To business – let’s see whether my head is going to be crushed. Headcrusher hail from Peirera, Colombia, a place that does not have a massive metal scene as far as I am aware. Are they the best thing to come out of South America since Sepultura, Corona beer and expensive cocaine? Let’s find out.

The band display a very eclectic set of influences – I hear melodic technical death metal, pure eighties thrash and a lot of hardcore breaks. If anything there is a bit too much reliance of hardcore breaks in the middle eight, but the melting pot throws up an interesting and engaging sound. The producer of this album has done a fine job. Every single instrument, drum beat and cymbal crash is crystal clear and the vocal line sits very comfortably in the mix, being powerful and in your face without overwhelming the rest of the band. Good job, amigos!

The songs then. The intro tune, Ignis Fatuus, doesn’t give you the slightest hint of the brutality contained within. It’s gentle, lulling you into a false sense of security. A slight pause and then there is an explosion of electric alchemy and we are into Seismal. Vocalist Kike Valderrama has an almighty set of lungs, his guttural roar reminding me at times of At The Gates and at others of earthtone9’s Karl Middleton at his most bug eyed and furious. In fact, At The Gates seem to be a prevailing influence. This is not a bad thing. The drumming is very reminiscent of Adrian Erlandsson but with more blast beats. You can never have too many blast beats. Both guitarists are very good indeed, their work being machine like in its accuracy but maintaining that organic quality that all good guitarists have. They are fluid and capable and I like it!

All good so far then. Every song on here has something to recommend it to your attention although A Plague Upon Us is slightly weaker than the rest of the album. It’s a perfectly respectable tune, but it is just missing something to my ear. I can’t tell what it is. Maybe it’s because I am still slightly hung over. Red wine is a bitch when your demented friend from Sheffield keeps filling your glass. Especially when you only went to get your missus from his house and were still there six hours later. Highlights of this album for me were Eternal Butchery, being a speedy slab of grind a la Carcass during the Necroeroticism – Descanting The Insalubrious years. Seeing as Carcass are one of my favourite bands, you can see what a high honour I am bestowing on these hombres and the title track is a proper bruiser being uncompromising and powerful.

It’s time for another Dark Juan Patented Torturous Metaphor – remember Death Race 2000? The first one with Sylvester Stallone in it playing Machine Gun Joe Viterbo? This record sounds like that. It’s sleek, insanely powerful, painted matt black and armed with machine guns and spiked wheel hubs trailing strips of tattered flesh behind them as it screams around a bend sideways and takes out some innocent bystanders. It’s a welter of blood and bone on the windscreen while the psychopath behind the wheel giggles and hits the nitrous again.

Tu musica es esplendidamente violenta. Gracias, senors.

The Patented Dark Juan Blood Splat Rating System gives Head crusher a magnificently violent 9/10. That’s enough blood to have authorities worried about the quantity of blood found in the drains of that creepy house on the corner where the insanely polite and quiet man lives alone with his collection of dolls.

Tracklist:

Ignis Fatuus
Seismal
A Plague Upon Us
Black Hearted Demons
Trails Of Devastation
Intermission
Fatal Error
Eternal Butchery
Death Comes With Silence
I Am Death (Outro)
Gritos Del Sur (Bonus Track)

http://www.headcrusher.net/
https://www.facebook.com/headcrusherheavymusic/

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