The full title of the latest album by the Brazilians is ‘The Mediator Between the Head and the Hands must be the Heart’. So now you know. The very first thing one notices about this album is the drumming, as it is incredibly powerful and definitely provides an incredible edge that allows the band to bring forth brutality that probably hasn’t be heard from them in twenty years. Step forward Eloy Casagrande, whose debut album this is with the band. Mind you, finding out the Dave Lombardo was in the area and was going to guest on one song with him might have provided some additional incentive! The album was recorded with renowned producer Ross Robinson (Korn, Machine Head, Fear Factory), who worked with Sepultura on the amazing ‘Roots’, and co-produced by Steve Evetts (The Dillinger Escape Plan, Symphony X, Incantation), who previously worked on ‘Roorback’, the ‘Revolusongs’ EP and ‘Nation’. So there appears to have been a definite plan in moving back to their earlier sound, and certainly this has come out in the way that the vocals have been treated which in many ways have been pushed back onto the mix to allow the guitars and drums to really gain prominence.
Eloy and Dave worked together to provide some tribal drum patterns that reminds one of ‘Roots’, but in many ways it is the early albums that comes to mind when playing this. Artwork is also by a local Brazilian artist, Alexandre Wagner, so it again there is the feeling that although there isn’t a Cavalera in the band these days it is all about going right back to where Andreas and Paulo were when they started this journey all those years ago. To my ears this is easily the most consistent and brutal album since ‘Roots’ and hopefully the sign of more great material to come.
