8

Heavy Slab Of Promise From Portugal

It's not every day you get sent an Extreme Tech-Metal album from Portugal - and The Voynich Code are hard pressed to push their way into a scene already crowded with very similar bands. But on the evidence of their first EP Ignotum there is a serious amount of potential here. The band have only been together for about a year, but already they've been able to piece together six tracks of very well calculated heavy music. A lot of the time with first time EP's there is a roughness and raw element to it, but this is very well produced. The fact that it is so well produced allows them to already create this huge sound.

The influences here are obvious, we're looking at the likes of Meshuggah and Gojira - and whilst of course they're not of that calibre, again with the fact this is a first time effort the promise is definitely there.

Opening track Antithesis immediately sets you off with a crushing beat down style riff ripping right through its core which has some excellent guitar work laid on top. It is a statement of intent which unfortunately does begin to drop off a bit as the EP progresses. The variation is lacking - excluding the interlude, each track is roundabout the same thing. Just because there is promise there, it doesn't mean that they've quite hit it yet.

It is likely the band will have to use this EP as a platform for more exciting things in the future and they'll need to unleash a whole new level of experimentation if they're to make a real impression.