Laberinto
Freakeao

Keyword: rhythm.

Sick and manic structures, hypnotic, with an unstable balance, yet perfect, between cold tension and warm Latin passion. A metaphor for the modern human soul. Percussions, distortions, and more percussions… Spanglish (anti-grammar mash-up of Spanish and English).

Nothing simple, nothing seems easily memorable, yet it makes you move, tap your feet; your fingers madly drum on an imaginary drum without even asking your permission… Everything becomes useful, the table, your knees, just follow that rhythm which you will never really remember.

What is it? Crossover, Rap, Nu-Metal, Tribal, Funky, Hardcore?… I wouldn't say so! Everything and nothing. Vocal hysteria for lyrical simplicity (?!?), concepts so simple, expressed so variedly and crazily that they often end up suffocating on their own hypnotic chord. Laberinto has 2 exits, or rather, 2 paths, but you must run both to understand something.

The first has the warm, almost brazen colors of the crazy Venezuelan rhythms. Amid bongos and drums, you must be careful not to get lost in the rhythm and not make the mistake, easy but fatal, of focusing only on it and not giving the due attention to the music in its overall panorama. Losing sight of the rest, in fact, would be an unforgivable oversight.

The second path, on the other hand, will not be so simple: cold, heavy, and sharp guitars contrast with their detached assertiveness against the primitive and uncontrollable flow of the rhythmic bases, outlining experiments that at times recall the most innovative early Korn and at times the post-Thrash contaminations of the latest Sepultura marked by Cavalera (Max naturally).

And this results, in the flow, as a crucial point: many indeed might understand Laberinto as a copy, or an attempt at emulation, of the aforementioned Sepultura or the primitive Soulfly. But don't be fooled, it would be unfair to judge them this way, for one simple but fundamental difference: In the "children of Cavalera," the percussions play a fundamental role but almost always submit to the guitar spins and accelerations that serve as the pivot of all songs (as if the times were dictated by the guitars), resulting "complementary" in the general economy of the pieces; in Laberinto, however, the percussions are the absolute protagonists of every moment, they dictate the times, impose upon everything, and subjugate any other instrument to their will.

It becomes almost impossible to manage a track-by-track review, suffice it to say that, even within the individual tracks, there's a smooth transition from phrases bordering on the heaviest Hardcore to melodic parentheses, which, in extreme moments, even touch on mambo and samba… But there's much more… Furious percussion-versus-heavy-guitar battles, Industrial introductions, decidedly Metal moments, and breaks with marked Crossover and Rap references with the singer going wild in hysterical laughter ("Freakaeo") that marry well with his hallucinated vocal setting that owes much to the alternative and punk. In short, a nice medley where all the ingredients are well appreciated and distinct to enhance the final flavor, which will linger in your mouth but will make many turn up their noses.

Here, perhaps, is the only "weak" point of Laberinto: their preference for variety and the total non-linearity of the music proposed is difficult to assimilate and loses any characteristic of "accessibility," which, yes, often rhymes with commercialism, but which, maybe, in this case, would have helped to capture the listener's attention more quickly (don't even think of humming the melodies of this album in the shower)…

However, beware… This is not "serious" or "engaged" music (like some progressive or fusion works to get an idea), but "cheerful" music and most times ironic… It simply requires the listener's full attention to be received and fully understood (stopping at appearances would be, I repeat, a grave mistake).

For those who live music giving it full attention and for those searching for something different in the saturated world of "hard" music, this work could be a delightful discovery… For those, instead, who consider music as "background," and do not give it deserved concentration, well… stay away from this group and, perhaps, it's also time to question what you are doing on this site.