Eminence - Humanology
Timeless Productions - TIP6 - 2004
By Philip Whitehouse
This album by Brazilian metal crew Eminence, fuelled mainly by ex-Sepultura founder guitarist Alan Wallace and ex-Overdose drummer Andre Marcio, is a thrashy, aggression fuelled platter of metallic muscularity. With the requisite tribally-influenced drumming, interesting and frankly frighteningly savage guitarwork, monstrously crunchy breakdowns and gravelly growled vocals, Eminence aren't likely to be turning up on Top Of The Pops any time soon, and are much the better for it.
A scratchy noise intro soon gives way to an aural barrage of full-throttle riffage and vein-bulging aggro-thrash dynamics in the form of 'Evolution', and the pace and intensity is rarely let up throughout. Dynamics are prevalent in the music though, as Marcio's intriguingly different drumming style mixes up the rhythms, and the pace often slows to include bone-jarring breakdown riffs. However, Neil Kernon's production occasionally lets the band down a little - the guitars are so loud in the mix that the drums are in some places almost totally drowned out, and the bass is pretty much inaudible except on occasions where the guitars are silenced.
However, given that the guitars are the main focal point of Eminence's sound, and that Wallace's riffage is on occasion quite inspired in it's relentless heaviosity, this becomes quite a minor niggle. If you're a fan of Brazilian thrash in general and early Sepultura in particular, and you're looking for the soundtrack to the most infuriating day of your life, then Humanology could well be just what you're looking for.
7/10
Eminence Official Website
Timeless Productions - TIP6 - 2004
By Philip Whitehouse
This album by Brazilian metal crew Eminence, fuelled mainly by ex-Sepultura founder guitarist Alan Wallace and ex-Overdose drummer Andre Marcio, is a thrashy, aggression fuelled platter of metallic muscularity. With the requisite tribally-influenced drumming, interesting and frankly frighteningly savage guitarwork, monstrously crunchy breakdowns and gravelly growled vocals, Eminence aren't likely to be turning up on Top Of The Pops any time soon, and are much the better for it.
A scratchy noise intro soon gives way to an aural barrage of full-throttle riffage and vein-bulging aggro-thrash dynamics in the form of 'Evolution', and the pace and intensity is rarely let up throughout. Dynamics are prevalent in the music though, as Marcio's intriguingly different drumming style mixes up the rhythms, and the pace often slows to include bone-jarring breakdown riffs. However, Neil Kernon's production occasionally lets the band down a little - the guitars are so loud in the mix that the drums are in some places almost totally drowned out, and the bass is pretty much inaudible except on occasions where the guitars are silenced.
However, given that the guitars are the main focal point of Eminence's sound, and that Wallace's riffage is on occasion quite inspired in it's relentless heaviosity, this becomes quite a minor niggle. If you're a fan of Brazilian thrash in general and early Sepultura in particular, and you're looking for the soundtrack to the most infuriating day of your life, then Humanology could well be just what you're looking for.
7/10
Eminence Official Website
