Metalcore, djent, and deathcore certainly are not some of the most common subgenres within the Brazilian metal scene, which is generally hailed for its power metal and thrash exports. Yet Skin Culture, a band from Mogi das Cruzes, São Paulo, Brazil, are able to encapsulate all of those subgenres in one release, and do it quite well. Those who foloow the Brazilian underground scene have for sure heard of Skin Culture, as they have shared the stage with legendary Brazilian acts such as Korzus and Sepultura and also have opened for some quite big international names, notably Korn and Fear Factory. Skin Culture’s trajectory could also be considered far from conventional, though their newer releases such as 2015’s Murdernation and 2014’s The Flame Still Burns Strong bring a refined and modern ‘core sound to the table while keeping some traditionally Brazilian elements.
Disregarding the intro track of the same name, Lazarus Eclipse starts off with “Fall on Knees”, a powerful modern metalcore track which expertly mixes singing and screaming, relentless guitar and synths, and tops it all off with quite agressive drums. “Fall on Knees” is quite a great opener to the album, as it shows basically everything the listener can come to expect for the rest of the duration of this record; a melting pot of different modern metal styles. This stylistic mix within the songs is something which persists for the entire duration of the album, making the listening experience not tiring at all.
Lazarus Eclipse has quite a good variety of tracks, styllistically speaking, with tracks such as “Knockout”, which is basically nonstop agression, “Breathing Sulfur”, which mixes in more melancholic and sung sections, “Mayhem Meltdown” which features Léo Martini of Lekhaina and brings rapping into the mix and “Just Through Pain”, which is slower and starts off with staggeringly clean guitars. Skin Culture’s sound is one that really stands out considering Brazil’s current metal scene and even Latin America’s scene in general, which haven’t adopted more modern styles of metal into the “mainstream” of metal.
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The band has also assembled quite a good roster when it comes to features, having brought on Léo Martini of Lekhaina for “Mayhem Meltdown”, Danny Couto of Ill Niño and Fred Carratu of Against All Anger for “Wrong Way” and León Emiliano of NVLO and Michel Oliveira for “Bullying Ritual”. This quite eclectic selection of features creates a really different mix of potential styles and ideas being brought onto the table, which help the album in its variety, as no song is excessively similar to another.
It is undeniable that in an underground metal scene so rich as Brazil’s, Skin Culture does a great deal in standing out, bringing a modern sound that is quite lacking in the Brazilian metal sphere at the moment. Lazarus Eclipse expands quite well on their recents works, bringing in a more diverse, universal sound while not losing Skin Culture’s essence.
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Lazarus Eclipse is out now
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