Style: Technical Thrash/Death Metal (mixed vocals)
Review by: Evan
Country: Brazil
Release date: November 13, 2020
I never know what to expect from bands labeled as thrash in 2020. Certainly, there have recently been great thrash bands, such as Vektor, but the genre has been around so long that it has arguably stagnated in many ways; moreover, a large portion of albums released as thrash are either pure copycats or would be apt to drop the first ‘h’ in ‘thrash’ when describing their sound. Thankfully, while Apokrisis’ Misanthropy is not extraordinarily innovative, it does not fall into either of those groups.
One of the ways bands such as Vektor have managed to stay relevant is the addition of more extreme death/black elements, such as harsh vocals. Apokrisis follows in that mold but sticks to more classic thrash riffs. Also worth mentioning genre-wise is that Apokrisis is much better described as “tech” than as “prog,” since they focus more on technical playing to amp up the tempo and aggression than mixing together various moods, ideas, or genres.
Moving on from genre categorization, a useful but often overrated endeavor, the instrumental performances on this release are not lacking in any way. Solid drum fills, energetic riffs and solos, and interesting bass-lines fill the record. The harsh vocals only add to the momentum. Ultimately, Apokrisis produces a sound that is a unique enough blend of death and thrash with plenty of energy and aggression to headbang to.
I wish I could have ended my review there, but unfortunately, Apokrisis gets too much wrong for the album to be considered excellent modern thrash; instead, it is merely an okay to solid release. The main issue with the album is that it is mediocre in two crucial areas: songwriting and repetition. Most of the songs follow a roughly similar verse-chorus structure with a long bridge. While traditional song structures are not inherently bad, they can prove problematic when many of the songs are six or more minutes yet structured in the same way. As for the issue of repetition, there are really only a few ideas total throughout the 51 minute album, and it is easy to wonder when each song became the next because they all sound so similar.
There are also a few nitpicks which further taint the release. Firstly, the clean vocals need quite a bit of work. Secondly, the lyrics seem to be littered with grammatical errors (typically verb-subject or pronoun agreement). Thankfully, the lyrics are typically too hard to understand for these issues to be noticeable. Lastly, the drums are mixed above the guitar in many places so that when the vocals come in, it is no longer possible to hear the guitar part, which is very very bad for thrash.
Despite its flaws Misanthropy, or at least some of its tracks, are still worth a listen if one wants thrash with old-timey energy mixed with modern aggression. Apokrisis seems to have what it takes, but needs some serious refinement to become great.
Recommended tracks: Absinthe From the Gods, The Psalm of Mankind Decadence
Recommended for fans of: Vektor, Death, Testament
Final verdict: 5.5/10
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Instagram | Metal-Archives page
Label: Independent
<band in question> is:
– Rodrigo Sanner (vocals)
– Evandro Bezerra (guitars)
– Alexandre Tamarossi (drums)
– Emerson Soares (bass)
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