Dynahead - Antigen (2008)

Artista: Dynahead

Álbum: Antigen
Año: 2008
Género: Thrash metal progresivo
Duración: 48:57
Nacionalidad: Brasil

Lista de Temas:
1. Clockwork I
2. Layers Of Days
3. Virtual Twin
4. Tactile Haven
5. Join And Surrender
6. Bloodish Eyes
7. Depart Now
8. Do You Feel Cleansed?
9. Vorsicht!
10. The Starry Messenger

Alineación:
- Caio Duarte / voz, batería
- Rafael Dantas / batería
- Diogo Mafra / guitarra
- Pablo Vilela / guitarra
- Diego Teixeira / bajo

Lindo disco para empezar la semana. Para quien le gustó el "Youniverse" que presentamos el viernes, acá está el primer álbum de la banda, y que les digo que me gustó mucho más que el segundo disco, y ya que según la propia banda, son la pesadilla de las etiquetas o rótulos. Bueno, la verdad es que no es para tanto, pero lo que sí el disco tiene muy buenas melodías, cambios de ritmos, sonido bien claro. Pasan por el metal clásico, el progresivo y en menor escala el extremo y oscuro.

How can I not say that this album isn’t very interesting? While the Dimebag Darrell style guitars and hybridized Pantera/Sepultura feel of the actual music are somewhat interesting, the vocalist would be better suited for a Dream Theater style band. This creates an audio environment that fails to keep my attention. The album starts off strong, deceiving you that you might actually be listening to something worth your while, but it very quickly begins to disappoint, spiraling down into a rabbit hole so deep that I don’t even think Alice would be able to find her way out.
I personally found this album almost painful to listen to in spots, creating a feeling of dread as each song ended and a new one began. Okay, it’s really not that bad… the band itself is worth the listen if you can get past the vocalist’s indecision of whether to do clean or growling vocals. But it’s very hard to block out the vocal track when it’s beefed up so much more than all the accompanying instruments.
I could sit here and bore you with the 101 reasons not to buy this album, but I think in the end, that would be a waste of both your time and mine. Instead, I am going to try and explain my feeling of why these guys should either switch genres or find a new vocalist that would be better paired with the music. I don’t want to come off as being totally harsh and unforgiving with these guys - far from it - I just honestly don’t think that Caio Duarte’s singing style meshes well with the music. While they sound good individually, they don’t sound good together.
The exception to all my complaints about this album falls on the track “Bloodish Eyes” where somehow, the band seems to have melded itself together to make the vocals and the music work well together. But this one track is not enough to float the entire album, which makes the offering fall short of its true potential. And let’s face it, one song does not an album make. Metal is less forgiving for a bad album than rock or pop is because the fans expect more from a metal album than fans of other genres of music. But also seeing that this is the first album from Dynahead, perhaps their next album will be more cohesive and more like “Bloodish Eyes” and less like Sepultura with James LaBrie from Dream Theater on vocals trying to sing growl vocals.
Or maybe I just don’t get their style. Either way, I didn’t really like this particular album very much.

Kesh Butler

Dynahead's latest release, Antigen is a curious release. At times the band focuses their intensity into pure progressive thrash - nothing terrible but quite similar to things we've heard before, almost as though Meshuggah and Dream Theater formed some unspeakable genetic hybrid with a touch of dissonant death metal soloing for good measure. But there are always individual moments within these songs that show tremendous promise, making Dynahead a band to keep tabs on in the near future. Of particular note is vocalist Caio Duarte; while at times he opts for the traditional, full-throated and harmonized clean vocalizations any thrash metal fan will be familiar with, there are moments of true dynamics within his performances. Duarte is a capable growler and singer, but his best moments are when he toes the line, his vocals starting from powerful melody and destabilizing into death growls within single lines. The album mix doesn't always favor the bass but bassist Diego Teixeira is fully capable of driving rhythm as well as more complex and serpentine lines that occasionally show through. The twin guitar assault of Pablo Vilela and Diogo Mafra is impressively technical, sometimes to the point of being alienating - but occasionally you'll hear some unique guitar effects and textures that help to propel the songs. Drumer Rafael Dantas is a blast to listen to, whether pulsing along at high speed or throwing in a few more eclectic fills to liven up the approach.
Let there be no mistake -this is an accomplished and polished record, filled with memorable performances that defy some of the loud/soft conventions of avant-garde metal established and emulated to death by bands like Opeth. But the avant-garde elements are fairly understated in most cases, causing one at first listen to mistake this for a more conventional prog-thrash combination that favors melodic and dissonant approaches in alternation - you've got your uptempo thrash as well as some tasteful keyboards, clean and acoustic guitar parts and vocal layering that spice up Dynahead's sonic formula. But the album's longer tracks allow the band to stretch out in a way that is quite intriguing. Clockwork I features one of Duarte's most fluid vocal performances, while Depart Now features the band in a rare slow moment, conveying forboding and beauty with equal skill. Tactile Haven is bookended by some beautiful moments of sustained guitar harmonics and feedback before flowing into an unconventional chord progression, thrashing away for a few minutes before a jazzy instrumental section sweeps in, taking guitars, drums and keyboards in a tentative exploration of the tune's harmonic progression. Hopefully the band will have a chance in the future to explore this side of their music, as with Antigen they've proven their capability to tweak the conventions of thrash and prog to their sonic focus in a way that is quite enjoyable, if often familiar.

Adam Matlock

Impressive debut album by this Brazilian act. At least if adventurous and inventive progressive metal of the dark and at times brutal variety suits your tastes.
Chugging, grinding, hammering, swirling and circulating riff patterns can all be found aplenty on this disc, be it more or less subtly dissonant in character or intense and aggressive with hardcore inspired passion similar to vintage bands like Nuclear Assault. But amidst the riff cascades and frenzied thrash-inspired landscapes you'll also encounter gentle passages featuring clean wandering guitars, melodic jazz-inspired motifs and even a few nods in the direction of prog metal masters Dream Theater. And soaring above it all is the lead vocals of Caio Duarte, providing gentle melodic delivery with the same ease as intense aggressive growling.
It's an album filled with contrasts, with technically and compositionally challenging material and stylistic blends not that often encountered. Very well made and performed, but perhaps just a tad too complex and challenging for your average metal fan. Fans of bands like Celtic Frost and Cynic would probably top my list of potential followers of this act, and personally I really like what these guys are doing.

Olav Martin Bjørnsen

The Brazilian band DYNAHEAD was formed in the autumn of 2004, and one year later the three-track EP "Unknown" was released by the band. "Antigen" is their full-length debut effort, and was released in 2008. The band was later signed by Digitalmetalworld.
Brazil has established itself as a nation delivering a plethora of quality metal bands to the world in the past couple of decades, and Dynahead is yet another addition to that rooster. A rather interesting and innovative addition I might add, as we're dealing with a band that makes a wholehearted attempt at treading innovative musical ground in this case. Thrash metal is the core of their proceedings, and their chosen variety of it is a developed form of that one US act Anthrax made famous back in the ‘80s, where aggressive staccato riffs drawing inspirations from hardcore was a, or perhaps the, dominating part of the stylistic expression. Within this general framework the axemen serve up riff constructions aplenty, from brief recurring motifs and hammering, grinding cascades to quirkier arrhythmic constructions, subtly dissonant themes and frenzied, brutal axe attacks. But while riffs, ranging from progressive metal to almost death metal brutality, take charge throughout, they are contrasted by gentler passages. Mellow and melodic wandering motifs provide a gentle and effective contrast on select occasions, while elaborate and rather sophisticated jazz-inspired themes add another dimension to this production when utilized. Within a thrash metal framework Dynahead comes across as both varied and eclectic, and their approach falls well within the realm of progressive metal, albeit one that at times is rather brutal and challenging I might add. The lead vocals add quite a lot of emphasis to the challenging aspect of the proceedings, at least as regarded from a progressive rock point of view. Vocalist Duarte has a good and strong voice, with a well-controlled delivery. And while his normal voice will find favor among many within the progressive universe, in particular when harmonizing with a backup vocalist his skills when growling might not be given as high an esteem by all and sundry. He is good at this vocal skill as well thankfully, as there's quite a lot of it on this disc, and those familiar with this vocal style by other progressive metal bands should appreciate this aspect of the songs at hand here. At the end of the day, the best description I can give this effort is that it is varied and eclectic. Dynahead are good at exploring contrasts, from low to high intensity, from the hard-hitting and energetic to the brutal and aggressive and onwards to the gentle and melodic. Their style is probably more technical than I might give them credit for; it is most certainly challenging, and yet they don't seek out the very extremes one can find at any of the stylistic borders they close in at. While I suspect that fans of bands like Cynic and Celtic Frost might appreciate this production, both of these acts venture further into their respective styles as far as challenging features go. One might argue that Dynahead opts for sophistication over total extremity though, and that it focuses more on variety and less on exploring as far as it can within any specific subset of the styles it visits.
"Antigen" is a high quality production through and through, made by a band that comes across as much more accomplished than what you might expect on a debut album. Their blend of thrash and progressive metal is a sophisticated and eclectic one, offering a great deal of variety and quite a few challenging features compositionally, in terms of structure, stylistic expressions, arrangements and overall sound. I reckon that those who find pleasure in acts such as Cynic and Opeth might fancy this band as well and most likely those who have a soft spot for Celtic Frost, too. Personally I am impressed with this effort and recommend it heartily.

Progressor

Les comento que, sin ser amante del género, como ya lo he dicho más de una vez, este disco tiene muy buenos momentos y que está muy bien armado, no puedo dejar de recomendarles a todos que le peguen una escucha y a los amantes del metal decirles encarecidamente que se lleven este disco porque seguramente les partirá la cabeza!

www.dynahead.com.br
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