UMUR
"Antítese" is the self-titled debut full-length studio album by Brazilian (Osasco, São Paulo) thrash metal act Antítese. The album was released through Pulsar Rock Discos in 1989. Antítese formed in 1986 and released a live demo in 1988 before releasing this debut album.
The music on the album is old school thrash metal with an occasional death metal edge. The latter mentioned influence is mostly heard in the semi-growling raspy vocal delivery, because the instrumental part of the music is old school thrash metal to the bone. Early Metallica is a reference, but also the early output by fellow countrymen like Sepultura, Sarcófago, Vulcano, and Korzus.
While there is no doubt the intention is pure and there certainly is a raw and authentic vibe surrounding "Antítese", there are unfortunately several things that drag this album down. The material are pretty one-dimensional, and the tracks aren´t easy to tell apart (other then the instrumentals on the album), the musicianship are sloppy and especially drummer Rogério displays untight playing and unimaginative drumming, and to top it off the sound production is rather horrible. It´s lo-fi, powerless, and thin sounding.
I awknowledge that the studio fascilities in Brazil at the time weren´t at the same level as the contemporary studio fascilities in the US or Europe, but other Brazilian acts from those days have gotten much more out of their cheap sound productions than what Antítese got out of theirs. The combination of the poor sound production, the sloppy musicianship, and the one-dimensional and far from unique material, are all contributing factors to my 2.5 star (50%) rating.