Conceptual.
The new record from the Brazilian four piece is a concept album based around Anthony Burgess’ novel “A Clockwork Orange”; the album is split into four chapters in an attempt to mirror the stages of the book and allow the listener to follow the story, which is of course difficult when you can’t really understand the lyrics. The record runs at a bloated 60 minutes and 18 tracks, obviously its length has been dictated by sticking to the novel’s story but it does feel overly long at times and is better digested in chunks (perhaps chapter by chapter) rather than in one long sitting.
Musically the band use all aspects of their repertoire in order to convey a narrative without words; low, low guitars, (the hypnotic ‘We’ve Lost You!’ )solid riffs, and a blend of styles; even transposing Beethoven’s 9th Symphony in the track ‘Ludwig Van’, an obvious and direct reference to the film, which is interesting in parts but unfortunately the arrangement is a bit too obvious and it ends up as slightly patchy and not quite cohesive enough. The best parts of the album are the introductions, ‘A-Lex I’ through to ‘A-Lex IV’, they have the feel of the film and a great atmosphere.
For depth and thrash heaviness the album delivers very well; a lovely tone and clear production means every note is heard, however because it was written and recorded in only three months it retains a certain vitality and roughness. New drummer Jean Dolabella is an asset, precise and heavy. Overall though, as a concept album, it doesn’t really deliver the idea musically and the lyrics are mostly indecipherable, it is however an admirable attempt to try something new from such an old school band and is sometimes quite effective.