Vulcano – Eye in Hell

Vulcano

Eye in Hell

by Gary Hernandez at 20 February 2020, 2:54 PM

VULCANO heralds from Santos, São Paulo, Brazil. They’ve been churning out molten Thrash metal since 1981 with ten full-length studio albums, two live albums, plus sundry splits, demos, and EPs. On March 13, 2020 they unleash their eleventh album, “Eye of Hell.” It is a veritable caldera of snarling riffs, snorting bass, bone cracking drums, and bestial vocals.

It has been close to four years since we’ve had an album from these boys. Since 2016 there was a live album and a fist full of singles, but “Eye of Hell” finally delivers the goods we’ve been waiting for. From the opening track, “Bride of Satan,” to the closing title track, “Eye of Hell,” this album does not let up. There are no acoustic ballads, atmospheric layering, or folk choirs — this is 12 tracks and over forty minutes sheer nuclear incineration.
Standout tracks? I’ll work backwards and go with “Cybernetic Beast,” Inferno,” “Dealer of My Curse,” “Sirens of Destruction,” “Sinister Road,” “Evil Empire,” and “Cursed Babylon.” Best aspect of the album, I mean besides the locomotive charged riffs, is the Carlos Diaz’s performance on the bass and Bruno Conrado’s drum work. Maybe it’s down to the production work, but I love the clear separation on so many of these tracks. So much of high db metal comes at you like a wall of indecipherable sound, but as brutal as this album is, you can still pick out the bone splinters from the mass of carnage. Just listen to the first 1:20 of “Dealer of My Curse” and you’ll see what I mean. Btw, you’ll want to crank this bad boy to 11. Your neighbors across the street will love you.

Thematically. Hmm. Fists, spit, and hellfire. Lyrics? Almost every song title references the diabolic, so I’m guessing Luiz Carlos Louzada isn’t serenading us about flying unicorns, summer walks on the beach, and the danger of ozone depletion. Well, maybe that last one, but as the album doesn’t come packaged with a vanity novella, I’ll leave it to you to deconstruct the verbiage on your own.

Final verdict: This is a solid 10/10. Go buy this album now and thank me later. VULCANO are consummate, professional Thrash Metal artists. They aren’t second guessing anything. “Eye of Hell” flat out rocks.

Songwriting: 10
Musicianship: 10
Memorability: 10
Production: 10