Queiron - Sodomiticvm Per Conclave (2012)

While they've never released an expressly 'bad' album, I've not really been easy on São Paulo's Queiron in the past, strictly because I've just felt that there was a lot of latent ability here which wasn't manifesting into the band's songwriting. The results were a slew of more or less average fast, brutal death metal records which followed closely in the footsteps of their precursors Morbid Angel, Deicide, Krisiun, and maybe the 'death' years of Behemoth. This time out, though, the Brazilians firmly plant a rainforest up my posterior, because the riffs and songs here are very much pronounced, memorable, without abandoning the savagery of its predecessors. From its seductive cover image to the variation of its compositions, Sodomiticvm Per Conclave is a step above its sinister elder siblings and will, in a just world, widen the band's exposure through the underground circuit.

They set this up with an evil, almost martial march of ambiance that transforms into an instrumental called "Ordo Iconoclastic Rebellis", threaded with guitar harmonies. Here you really get the first sense for this more potent, pummeling production. The drums are set just right for the battering ram blasts and fills, though the kick drum does occasionally feel boxy (not a huge problem). The guitars have this robust, crunching richness to the slower, palm muted patterns, and yet they still hold up for the harried assault of chords used to adorn the blasted passages. However, the band has really refined its sense for melody, and the note progressions in tunes like "Perversion in Khaoz" or "Slavghter Ministry" implement a lot of tried and true, classic heavy metal and rock lead techniques into what otherwise prove a less palatable blueprint of brutality. Clinical harmonies are picked through some of the chugging patterns, and the songs on this album distinguish themselves from one another far more than on The Shepherd of Tophet or Impious Domination. Even Marcelo's vocals, which come across like a mixture of classic Sinister and the dual guttural-rasp technique of Deicide, seem more poignant and punishing.

I also really loved the exotic (if overbearing) sense of atmosphere they create through ritual pieces such as the intros or the brief "Templvm Perversvm". Like a lot of death and black metal acts, these guys really use the Latin thing to the point of near-cheesiness. U's become v's, f's become v's. They love that letter: v. But once you blend this all into the extremist undercurrent and the bevy of solid, entertaining riffs that support the album as a whole, it all transforms into something very much fulfilling to the sinister being in each of us. Okay, so Queiron aren't reinventing the wheel, and a myriad of death metal groups like Septic Flesh and Nile have already given us great blends of atmosphere and aggression, but I'll still take this over the garden variety vapidity one finds in the architecture of many also-ran bands and albums. Sodomiticvm Per Conclave is perhaps not a 'great' album, but it kept me interested through almost the entire 50 minutes, and certainly provides a case for one of the more improved acts I've heard this year.

Verdict: Win [7.75/10]

http://www.myspace.com/queiron

Queiron - Templars Beholding Failures (2004)

Two years after the lackluster Impious Domination, Queiron returned to the studio to grind out their second full-length Templars Beholding Failures, which was to be superior in every possible way, with the one possible exception remaining the band's adherence to blind bouts of infuriating speed that does little else than to blast beyond your ears into the infernal landscapes of the band's imagination. However, the album sounds quite a lot better, with a more balanced drum/guitar attack and bass that still sounds as busy but is not quite so prevalent. Grous' vocals sound a little hoarser, but there is not much different there. The guitar solos shred a little harder, there is a bit more attention to evil old school riffing, and the entire package simply feels more hostile. And hostile is exactly how this style of death metal needs to be.

This album, of course, reminds me even more of Krisiun than the last, because the two bands share that same penchant for writing fast and playing hard and very rarely letting up. It does not always work out well, especially in a world where a death metal fan can reach for any of hundreds (if not thousands) of well written, dynamic works that can sate both their desire for brutality and songs. It's hard to be too hard on this sort of album, because clearly the intent was to punish punish punish in the name of godless extremity, and if that's all you seek, well Queiron has your number right here. Fully half of these songs went straight into one of my ears, juggled around in my neck until it was about to fracture, and then popped back out the other side.

In fact it wasn't until the 5th song "Weakening of Divine Essency" that I started to perk up and pay more attention. Because after a pretty interesting, ritual metal intro "Odium Denuntiatus", the next three blew right on by like a stagnant abysmal wind. "Weakening of Divine Essency" opens with some hammering double bass and thick chords that quickly build a charging momentum, then a break for some hyper thrashing rhythm ala Slayer on crack, and later some nice winding patterns develop, though something other than the constant blasting from the drummer might have better distinguished it. A few of the other, later tracks are also pretty decent if you enjoy nonstop death barrage, such as "Defying Ancients Sanguinary Gods" or the often Deicide-like grinding of "The March of Crucifiers", and the closer "Fire Ostentation" for its glorious, thick chords in between blasting fits. But even though these songs stand at the very peak of Queiron's writing, they are still hard to qualify as impressive beyond their tireless butchery.

On a technical level, Templars Beholding Failures is more impressive than its predecessor, and it sounds quite ruthless, grinding and pissed. But for all their speed and energy, the riffs simply do not dazzle. I would offer this as the starting point for checking out the band, because it is likely their best album. I enjoyed it more than their latest The Shepherd of Tophet, but Queiron still need to bridge the gap from just being good at creating an unceasing momentum of slaughter to the wide realm of possibility that better songwriting could give them.

Highlights: Weakening of Divine Essency, Fire Ostentation

Verdict: Indifference [6.5/10]

http://www.myspace.com/queiron

Queiron - Impious Domination (2002)

Impious Domination was the debut of Brazilian death cult Queiron, arriving in 2002 after about 7 years worth of demos and songwriting. It's a rather crude effort, though it's not lacking in the extremity department, and I would make comparisons to a band like their countrymen Krisiun, who also once played in a very sterile, fast forward manner which rarely ended up going anywhere. This, alas, is the real flaw found within Impious Domination. It's heavy as fuck, fast and the drums are constantly moving, but the songs really do nothing of importance...they simply feel like finger, hand and foot exercises with Marcelo Brutallik Grous deep growls scorching over the top like hellfire.

Granted, these riff exercises are formed into patterns, which roughly comprise songs, but even at their most evil they do not deliver a compelling death metal experience. It's as if they've got the basics of Deicide, Morbid Angel, Krisiun and death-Behemoth down but don't really do much else with them. One notable aspect of this record is how the bass is so loud and grooving alongside the dense guitar tone, it feels like the two are racing off in a speed zone, and fast they are, so thick and central that they often leave the drumming in the dust (though the drummer is equally adept, this is more a fault of the mix). Across this, the vocals, while placed in solid time slots through the songs, feel like nothing more than a peppering, a condiment of slaughter.

It's difficult to comb through this album to pick out favorites, since there aren't any songs that I truly enjoy. "Eternal Suffocation" is so frantic and brutal simultaneously that it almost sounds like a happy death metal song. The nearly six minute instrumental "Vemi et Vici" doesn't detract a whole lot from the vocal works, only that it's got a little more bewildering guitar shred. However, it does have a pretty nice Slayer-esque riff in there that may have sounded great with Grous' vocals atop it. "You'd Better Light a Candle..." has a good title, and some nice leads and patterns in the latter half. It's the same with "Blind Devouts", some good melodies and leads are scattered here or there.

Dogs of hell backing by all sides
The candles start to put out
The smell of burned candles in the air
Abominate all sentiments of guilt

The lyrics do seem to struggle a little with English, but this is never really a problem for me (in fact, I often enjoy it, even here). Like Deicide and their ilk, Queiron are really into abstractions in the realm of the occult, ritual, Satanism, anti-Christian ethos and all the associated imagery. It's old hat but the Brazilians are at least capable of conjuring some good, diabolic imagery. If only the music could support it a little better. The production here does not help much, as it just feels like a hellish highway race through each track and few moments stand out (aside from the leads).

As down as I may seem on the record, it's really not all that bad. It just never establishes a connection to the listener which begs for repeated listens. Of the three Queiron full-lengths, I would consider this the worst.

Highlights: the sound of crickets?!

Verdict: Indifference [5.5/10] (a blessing in front of illusions)

http://www.myspace.com/queiron

Queiron - The Shepherd of Tophet (2008)

Veterans with a decade under their belt in the Brazilian death metal scene, Queiron now unleashes their third full-length album. I was not a fan of Impious Domination but Templars Beholding Failures did show some promise a few years back. Unfortunately this latest offering comes across a little average, but with its heart in the right place.

Queiron are fast and brutal, their style will immediately bring to mind the last decade of Behemoth records, as well as Morbid Angel and a little of their countrymen Krisiun. There is a barbaric velocity to their sound, like a serial killer breaking his restraints and murdering everyone in the psychiatric ward. The musicianship is competent, the beats are blasting, the vocals of Brutallik carry the expectant gravity of the David Vincent style. None of this is a problem, it's just the songs fall ever so slight of being memorable. A few had some promise, like the pure death metal barrage "Impalement Ritual Assembly" with a little early Sepultura groove and some cool, snarling off-vocals. "Entangled in Carnal Compulsion" is another good tune with a great little bass spasm at the beginning and them some nice, evil break riffs.

The album has a pretty raw tone to it, but this wasn't a problem for me as I thought it really did well by their style. If you are enamored of every brutal death metal with a pulse to come along, then you can't go wrong here. But there are just so many better albums coming out in the death metal field, with catchier riffs that never sacrifice brutality, that I can't find much of a reason to return to this.

Verdict: Indifference [6/10]

http://www.myspace.com/queiron