Warclouds: A Disturbing Presence (2011)

...Of Programmed Drumming

Guest review by Metallattorney. He is the law.

South America has some of the best, and most underrated, metal scenes in the world. Some of the black and death metal that has been coming out of that continent proves that there are still some great, original bands out there. It has actually always been that way with the mighty Sarcofago, Sepultura, and Vulcano all rising out of Brazil in the 1980's.

Unfortunately, there are also a lot of fairly mundane acts from the continent. Bands that do not really bring anything new to the table, but simply rehash many of the same ideas that other bands have.


Warclouds fits in with the latter. There is nothing technically wrong here, other than the programmed drums which can get a little obnoxious at times. There just is not really anything to love either. This is basic death metal without a whole lot to really distinguish it from any of the other thousands of death metal bands out there. The riffs are quite fast which can get be entertaining at times, but it is kind of ruined by the mechanical precision of the drums. A real drummer might have been able to add some interesting fills at times to keep things from being too boring. It is kind of a shame because some of the riffs are actually very interesting, in particular the opening riff to "Flawless". They just get ruined.

Beyond the riffs and the drums, the vocals are also fairly straightforward death metal fare. Delivered in a deep guttural roar, they are not really distinguishable from many other bands. They also do not really branch out much over the course of the album. They typically stay at about the same volume and inflection.

There are some interesting ideas here, but unfortunately they are often overshadowed. A real drummer would do this band a lot of good. This is the band's first recording so there is room to grow.

The Verdict: 2 out of 5 stars



Warclouds on Facebook