Reviewed by Greg Sammons

After the surprise inclusion in last year's Destruction Fest line up of this gifted Brazilian band, there was no surprise this year that they came back to headline. There's no denying Antidemon's talent nor their stage presence. However outside of their gigs; which have been all over South and Central America and a lot of Europe, the only place their CD is on sale is their native Brazil. Which is why we've only just got hold of their 1999 release. Antidemon have been going for well over 10 years and spearhead the alternative church Zadoque in Sao Paulo, which regularly has over 600 people loudly worshipping on its Sunday service! Musically they could be described as death metal but the death element of that label is most certainly focused on Satan, just their name alone makes that obvious enough. Their music is wonderfully chunky and chugging in its veracity and spares nothing vocally either, imagine a man gargling gravel! For us English-speaking listeners it is a rare experience of hearing a band sing in a different language. It amazes me how many foreign bands sing in English, as thoughtful as it may be to us Anglo-linguistic fodder, how does their local fan react when trying to work out the lyrics? But don't worry people; they put the lyrics in both Portuguese and English in the sleeve notes. So if you're a lover of straightforward hard hitting, no messing with the music or message death metal, then this is a must.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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