Deafkids - Metaprogramação
Angry Metal Guy
As one of the resident “I like weird music” suckers in the AMG offices, it fell to me this month to take on the latest from Brazilian noisemakers Deafkids: their third album, the copy-and-paste titled Metaprogramação. These fellows create a bizarre fusion of noise rock, punk, and Brazilian polyrhythms, leaving us with something that is both disturbing and hypnotizing at the same time. Newly signed to the Neurosis label Neurot Recordings, and actually supporting (along with Bell Witch) Neurosis for their upcoming brief North American summer tour, all signs are pointing up for Deafkids. Now, how to go about reviewing something that Steve Von Till describes as “sonic Ayahuasca?”
“Vox Dei”1 is the opening track, two and a half minutes of deep, reverberating, echoing intonations. It’s both mesmerizing and eerie as it morphs into blasts of feedback, leading into what could be considered the songs proper. “Alucinações de Comando”2 is a better example of the album’s fare, as it combines an industrial drive, robotic droning, delay-drenched vocalizations, and Brazilian percussion into one thick paste. This is more or less the standard going forward, as many of the tracks here promote the same feelings, but with subtle changes to instrumentation and flavor. “Pacto de Máscaras,”3 for example, is underpinned by a subliminal beat loop, with layers of grinding feedback and delay-drenched yelps atop it, and “Mente Bicameral”4 is a frantic number, bringing in some punk touches with a simple yet frantic bass/drum line and occasional jolts of distorted guitar, again with loops and delays of vocals and Brazilian percussion. It’s the closest to a conventional song on Metaprogramação.
Metaprogramação by DEAFKIDS
Deafkids do their best work on the two longest songs. “Raiz Negativa (Nao-Vontade)”5 could be considered to be the showcase track based solely on its seven-minute length. It’s the same as all the other songs, with primitive percussion loops, grinding, simple bass, jarring guitar riffs, and loops of delay-ridden vocalizations. It has moments of intrigue and moments of panic. It truly encapsulates the entire album, which makes one wonder just how much value there is in most of the other songs. “Espirais da Loucura” 6, the other long number, is very tribal in nature, bringing back the voice of God from the opening track amidst tribal percussion. The rest of the album’s standard motifs appear throughout the song as well, but the arrangement is such that this is one of the more interesting cuts.
The rhythms that hold the songs on Metaprogramação together all sound the same by the end. It’s mesmerizing and hypnotic, at times alluring and disturbing (“Camisa de Forca,”7 being perhaps the most ominous of all the cuts), but a sense of monotony can settle in over the course of the entire album. When the two longest songs showcase all Deafkids have to offer, it makes one wonder where the value is in the rest of the album. That’s not to discount the overall cool factor we have going on here; rather, it’s intended to point out the fact that the songs don’t exactly separate themselves from each other too well.
I can imagine seeing Deafkids perform these songs live would be quite an experience: the noise, the loops, the feedback, and the polyrhythms are all enticing in a very “don’t go into that dark room!” kind of manner. Cranking Metaprogramação is definitely unnerving, and I’ll certainly be going back to a couple of tracks throughout the year. But until I drink an entire bottle of Mescaline, I’m not sure if I can do the entire album.
Rating: 2.5/5.0
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Neurot Recordings
Websites: deafkidspunx.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/deafkidspunx
Releases Worldwide: March 15th, 2019
The post Deafkids – Metaprogramação Review appeared first on Angry Metal Guy.
Thu Mar 14 10:14:30 GMT 2019Drowned In Sound 80
Since 2012’s Six Heretic Anthems for the Deaf EP, Brazilian trio DeafKids have imaginatively explored the possibilities of discordant noise. While they hinted at the breadth of experimentation they were capable of on 2017’s Configuração do Lamento, their latest takes their sound further and into more curious territory than they’ve previously ventured.
Metaprogramação by DEAFKIDS
Working within the realms of D-Beat, metal, noise, hardcore, and punk, Deaf Kids’ Metaprogramação pushes this heady mix towards deep-psych levels. ‘Vox Dei’ begins the record with a noise that sounds like the mouth of hell being conjured open by deep monkish chants. Yet, the title is from Latin, meaning ‘the voice of the people is the voice of God’, and suggests DeafKids’ subversion extends beyond sonic flux to the themes at the heart of the record.
The noise horror expands to insect-like electronic twitches before seamlessly morphing into the babbling polyrhythms and robotic vocal clamour of ‘Alucinações de Comando’. From the outset, Metaprogramação promises to be a formidable experience, which the rest of the record goes to great lengths to fulfil.
At times, as on ‘Templo do Caos’, the album recalls the psych rumblings of Terminal Cheesecake, but with a more savage and angular attack. The lurching guitar riffs of ‘Mente Bicameral’ disrupt already chaotic rhythms and dizzying vocal delay and it feels like five songs in one, yet miraculously manages to not just equal, but transcend the sum of its parts.
Which could also go for the album as a whole. Rarely can a band tether this many genre-specific tropes to a coherent centre, but DeafKids are deft mixologists. Flitting between mad little 40-second-interludes and seven-minute-plus epics Metaprogramação accomplishes a strange symbiosis amid disparity and tension.
The warped, percussive brevity of ‘Estímulos Alucinatórios Verbauditivos II’ feeds into the ambitious build of tracks like ‘Espirais da Loucura II’, which assimilates South American rhythms with stark electronics, delayed vocals, and circling metallic guitars. Somehow DeafKids can pair the most unlikely noises and achieve an arresting outcome.
Metaprogramação is by no means a light work, and more often than not DeafKids evoke dark overtones. But there’s also a tangible sense of delight in the extremes they go to, as on ‘Vírus da Imagem do Ser’ where they appear to revel in the ruthless pitch of their playing and the reach of their experimentation.
Metaprogramação is a genuinely exciting record, and ‘Raíz Negativa (Não-Vontade)’ is an animated example of the fire they can engineer. The techno pulses are an unyielding foundation from which the band explore a multitude of instrumental, vocal and electronic avenues. The relative peace of quieter moments is swiftly shattered by a barrage of percussion and ramped up guitars, which is indicative of how unpredictable the record is as a whole.
That unpredictability lies at the heart of the album, as Metaprogramação encourages the listener to question what they hear, to distrust their instincts, and to reassess their expectations. DeafKids fearlessly walk uneven ground with little regard for what tools they use to aid their passage. Whether they’re tapping into metal, hardcore or experimental noise it’s all in service of stimulating and awakening dormant senses. You’ll be hard pushed to find a more enlivening listen.
Tue Mar 19 14:24:12 GMT 2019