Equaleft - The Truth Vnravels

This young quintet from Oporto, Portugal plays a strong and varied brand of metal that is hard to nail down in a few pair of words. Throughout six tracks, Equaleft veer from a groove-laden death-metal not too far removed from someone like Gojira to a progressive weirdness that crosses into Naked City territory, without ever appearing forced or unnatural. And that is a great feat for a young act such as Equaleft, usually this kind of dynamism and song-writing depth are only attained with years of practise and touring.

"The Truth Vnravels" starts with “Cynical Plague”, an eclectic tune that straddles between a catchy, mid-tempo, and groovy death-metal and a Meshuggah’s dissonant rambling. Following song “Amnesia” skilfully combines technicality, brutality, groove and melody, and sees Equaleft throwing a little of that Meshuggah’s mechanical clangour into the mix, while a groovy riff in the end of the song sounds almost like it was nicked from “Roots”. The vocoder effect on the song offers a nice contrast to Miguel’s harsh and barely decipherable growling, who’s obviously not concerned with the health of his throat. “Suffer No More” follows a similar approach, while the saxophone parts on “Uncover the Masks” offers the most schizophrenic and weird moments of the whole EP.

Presently unsigned, the five-piece are making this EP available through their Bandcamp page, so do yourself a favour order it and give it a listen. (7.5/10)

David Alexandre

Band info: www.myspace.com/equaleft

For fans of: Meshuggah, Gojira, Periphery, Cynic