CLAUSTROFOBIA – I See Red

Back in 1989 when the amazing and ultra greatest album of Sepultura, Beneath The Remains, was discharged to the Metal world, something forceful yet filled with enjoyment was unleashed onto Metal. Sepultura, while being deeply influenced by the Thrash US gods Slayer, unpacked an album that is a certifiable classic of Death/Thrash Metal displayed by the morbid line of attack of the Brazilian scene. Unfortunately, ever since that album hit the streets, the road of Sepultura got mangled by a pack load of trends that merely killed its glory. Moreover, most of you probably know that two of the most important founders of the band, the Cavalera brothers, are no longer in.

Sepultura weren’t the only extreme Thrash Metal band in Brazil. Bands such as Krisiun, which are still active nowadays, keep on performing while achieving a high status in the Black/Death/Thrash Metal environment for over fifteen plus years. However, up until the local Claustrofobia showed up in 1996, no one really knew if any band might take the reins while trying to bring about the same rage and class of the Beneath The Remains days. As Thrash Metal music was, and is, something that is quite common in Brazil, there were only a few bands that might have gotten in the way, in stature, on resembling the classic years of Sepultura. Claustrofobia, with their new album, I See Red, made a huge footprint on appearing as the “what would have been” Sepultura in 2009 bearing utmost brutality of a well made Brazilian Death/Thrash release.

The band itself, emerged from Leme (a town near São Paulo), has, over the years, accomplished on breaking hard into the local extreme Metal scene and even appearing on local TV as one of the heaviest bands shown on live coverage. Since their formation, Claustrofobia released four albums, including the new reviewed shebang, which came out through the respected Candlelight Records.

On their course to achieving magnitude in their field, the band seemed to be influenced by their local gods Sepultura and Torture Squad whereas touched by the wretched hand of the Polish Death/Thrash Metal group, Vader. Claustrofobia’s ferocity and violent nature on their music, unlike tons of bands in their same caliber, made them one of the best examples of not just a band packed with high induction of brutality, yet also with a gift on issuing some great compositions of highly fast-paced music without leaving a single shred of the living or dying. Their music is a mixture of both Old School and New School Death/Thrash Metal as it merged complex brutal riffs similar to Cannibal Corpse and Vader with both old school and the new modernity and at the same time keeping their music filled with mayhemic solos of “down below” personalities. Moreover, as their legendary fathers, like Sepultura, did in past years and are still doing in the present, the themes are all the same whether it’s about corroded politics, unbearable social life and decay. If you are looking for anger, there you have it.

Following the strain of tracks, Claustrofobia has some great kickers for the founding and crazy members of the Death/Thrash Metal club. In order to get in some fanatical ass mosh pit, you might use explicit tracks as “Discharge”, “War Stomp”, “Alarm” and “I See Red”. If you have the yearning for something a bit close to Sepultura, you have the chance to experience the horrors of “Don’t Kill The Future”, “Our Blood”, “Subconscious In Flames” and then of course the beautiful homage for the gods with a great special, high speeding cover for “Beneath The Remains”. With the additions of some songs and a cover in Portuguese, Claustrofobia has only one itsy bitsy problem and that is their tempos are to be expected, too much expected, even if their usage of complex riffs is astounding. It’s only a matter of time when all their tracks will have a somewhat weird resemblance, something to think about for the next release.

With the need for future thinking, still, Claustrofobia are the closest thing for the Metal world to what Sepultura could have been if Beneath The Remains were kept under advisement for the long run.