‘Heartless Oppressor’ is the second album by this Portuguese quintet formed in Lisbon in 2012 comprising of Pica on vocals, Tiago and Miguel on rhythm and lead guitars respectively, Miranda on bass and Mike on drums.

The album opens with “Red Silence”, a heavy and choppy track that immediately puts Miguel’s leads on display combined with his backing vocals on the chorus as he joins Pica heavier vocals with slightly cleaner ones.

The video for “Halfborn” shows just how tight they are as a band with quick timing signature changes and wailing leads to go with the hardcore styled vocals on this short and punchy song.

Miranda’s rumbling bass intro is quickly picked up by the guitars and drums for “The Prodigal One” before the vocals punctuated by guitar sustains and bends come in.

“Truth and Consequence” reminds me a little of a Dimmu track as Mike blasts out a similar drum tattoo before the song simmers down to a steadier pace for its remainder before the much slower “Strike Back” commences, until it reaches the end of the intro at any rate and kicks soundly into gear.

The breakdowns on “Heart and Bones” make for interesting changes of pace as the song builds up during the verses to slow for the melodic choruses.

The aptly titled “Hypersonic Generation” is probably the fastest track on the album and full of near blast beats and plenty of fast triplets being played on both the guitars and drums, with “Above the Live” maintaining the up-tempo energy and raising it a notch with its airy guitar rhythm.

Final track “XXI Century Curse” starts off all funky and keeps the groove going once the heaviness kicks in and adds plenty of melody during the mellower choruses and nearly clean bridges.

A fun and energetic thrash album with plenty of hardcore sensibilities to give it the added groove it requires.

(7/10  Marco Gaminara)

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