Brazilian death metal merchants MENTAL HORROR have produced one of the fastest, most extreme death metal albums I've ever heard. The band has been together for over a decade and by all accounts has built a good following in the Brazilian death metal scene. "Abyss of Hypocrisy" is the three-piece’s second full-length (their first, “Proclaiming Vengeance” was released in late 2001). On a curious note, the band use fretless guitars and basses, quite an unusual choice for a death metal band.

This album is one long drum blast, and a guitar riff that is so fast and repetitive that for me it loses track of what it is trying to accomplish. For the most part, the muddy production and bombardment of noise created by the riffing and drum blasts blankets the vocals and turns them into little more than a moaning, growling bestial shriek. There are a couple of acoustic interludes which do break up the monotony a tad, but overall MH has tried just a little too hard to be fast and extreme. For me, being totally extreme and being brutal and heavy are two completely different things. There are many bands out there that are less extreme than MENTAL HORROR but which I would rate much higher in the brutality department. I feel that recordings like this have sacrificed heaviness in the name of creating the fastest, most extreme noise. "Abyss of Hypocrisy" contains 11 songs and the last track is somewhat of an epic, clocking in at a little over 7 minutes. A short break later and surprise, a hidden track a-la 1990s when hidden tracks were all the rage. The vocals on the hidden track are awesome! They seem to rise above the noise in a violent rasp not unlike Mille from very early KREATOR. If every track had vocals like the hidden track, I would have rated the album much higher. "Abyss of Hypocrisy" is a decent pickup for those that seek blinding speed over heaviness and depth.

- Saltry

OFFICIAL SITE: myspace.com/mentalhorror

MP3 SOUND SCRAP: Messenger

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