Brutta - Self-Titled (Review)

Brutta is a solid, heavy-hitting band straight out of São Paulo, Brazil, and the UK. Although they are relatively new, the trio of Adriano Ribeiro (Athemon) (guitars, vocals), Tom MacLean (Athemon, ex-Haken) (bass), and Gledson Gonçalves (drums) have many years of experience working together under their belts - and that's how Brutta came into existence. The newly formed trio is all set to unveil their debut self-titled album, to be out on June 17th, and I'm here to discuss it.


And the descent into desolation begins with the title-track "Brutta". With dense guitar sounding riffs based off power chords accompanied by the black metal blast beats, this is a typical black metal piece. Tracks like "Mortem" and "Frgmntd" gives more insight on the band's usage of dissonance riffs and chords. With each passing moment, the dark and dismal atmosphere of the album is developed in its dissonant layer stacking. With few melodic guitar passages aside, "Frgmntd" sounds no less than a horror story. 


The production of the album hugely improves the listening experience overall. Keeping the vocals up-front, "Bastards" is a track that pumps up its aggression through its vicious lyrics like "There is no God!". Case in point, you can actually make up the lyrics from the black metal mix - that seems atypical but Brutta has managed to achieve it.  "Inferno" and "Limbo" are tracks that lead you into the cesspool of dissonance, encapsulating the nasty gritty atmosphere. While "Devon" has a sludgy, doomy vibe which anticipates towards a furthermore upcoming destruction, it keeps a restraint to it and continues a controlled journey.



It's worth mentioning that
Brutta embarks upon an atmospheric world building through the entire runtime of the record. You won't find such complexities or nuances in each song, but those present serve the greater purpose of the album. The basslines are nasty with its overall tone and shines throughout. While the production of the album is a thing to be appreciated, it makes the album vocal-centric too. While the drums and guitars shine in the first-half of the album, you can feel a sudden lack of ideas in riff-writing in the second-half, leaning heavily on vocals for the most part. 

With its minor flaws aside, Brutta puts forth an enjoyable and unique record. Scrape down the basic elements of black metal, execute those in a fashion of extreme metal while keeping up with the good production quality - that's how I would sum up Brutta's self-titled album. It's an album catered mainly towards the black metal audience. Though I wonder how the die-hard black metal fans would react to it? For me, it's an enjoyable record nevertheless!


Rating: 3.5/5.0

Website: https://www.facebook.com/bruttametal

Genre: Black Metal, Extreme Metal

Worldwide Release: June 17th, 2022.



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