Granada – Amarre EP

Granada – Amarre EP
Self-Released
02/01/2020
Running Time: 20:59
Review by Victor Augusto
9.5/10

If someone asks why maybe South American bands have a kind of unique aggressiveness in their way of playing or in how they express themselves in their music, I would say that it is the consequence of all the crap we have to live with in a continent full of cultural richness, but that, at the same time, is also full of misfortunes. All South American countries are “cursed” by poverty, corruption and violence despite all other good things. Obviously, all this suffering reflects in society and, consequently, in the music that emerges from there.

The Argentine band Granada came up with another release and have brought a concept, based on all these problems that we live with in our countries. “Amarre” is composed of five tracks that reports a view of who witnesses and experiences how hard it is to live in a dysfunctional family. It goes further. All the tracks have videos on the band’s YouTube Channel, illustrating what the band says, along with the laws that criminalize the particular abuse that is the subject of each song, as well as the phone numbers to report that crime in Argentina. It is an excellent way to bring consciousness and awareness to people of these problems, through the music, something that even politicians cannot do well.

An interesting thing about the EP title “Amarre” is that it could mean ties, like people tied in a specific hell or abuse that is related to the songs. However, Amarre also means spiritual ties that some local spiritual religions do in two evil kinds of desires. One, is the desire of having a person tied in your life, like in slavery. The other way could be just like bringing disgrace to someone, like a voodoo. The songs talk about suicide, family abuse, violence against woman, etc. You can hear things in the Spanish lyrics like “Shut up, I am your father/mother” which relates to family abuse of power and “Until Death do us apart” related to a woman waiting to die after suffering so much abuse in her marriage but is powerless to act.

Musically, ‘Autoridad’ shows a fast and aggressive Thrash/Hardcore style and ‘Golpes’ shows dizzy riffs, blast beats and breaking rhythms with a lot of heaviness, similar to Agnostic Front. The Hardcore and Punk vein appears more strongly in ‘Sometido’ and it fits well with short moments of double kicks in the drums and a guitar solo in an Andreas Kisser (Sepultura) style. ‘Castracion’ has the Death Metal inspiration diluted in the band’s sound, with strong riffs that reminded me of Trey Azagthoth (Morbid Angel). The ending song brings a feeling of a person being dragged by the music due to all the broken rhythms. This feeling of agony and suffering has a reason and it helps to summarize what the title track ‘Amarre’ is.

Guille Estevez does a good interpretation of the lyrics, along with his precise guitar work. The drums of Marcos Edwards give a lesson of versatility, going from Punk through Thrash and Death Metal in a blink of an eye. He is the main force of all aggressiveness and excitement that you are going to hear on this release. There is no bass recorded on “Amarre”, but Damian Mayster’s second guitar keeps a good sonority and gives the proper sound that the band needs. To create a more aggressive atmosphere, the recording was made in a live format, at El Attic studio, in an analog way, without editing or adjustments. Everything recorded in one take! The rawness increases the dark atmosphere of the theme, extracting an excellent sound, musically speaking.

What I can assure about the twenty minutes of this listening is that “Amarre” shows perfectly what Granada is capable of doing when they decide to turn all the anger from their lives into music. I felt touched by the concept and by the power of their sonority. For sure, we have one of the best releases of this insane year!

TRACKLISTING:
01. Autoridad
02. Golpes
03. Sometido
04. Castración
05. Amarre

LINE-UP:
Guille Estévez – Vocals and Guitars
Marcos Edwards – Drums
Damian Mayster – Guitars

LINKS:
www.granadametal.com/
www.facebook.com/granadametal/
www.instagram.com/granadametal/
www.twitter.com/granadametal
www.granadametal.bandcamp.com/
www.open.spotify.com/album/7HunWHeaJRJ1ThycQD5Ea5
www.deezer.com/br/album/125136772

Disclaimer: This review is solely the property of Victor Augusto and Ever Metal. It is strictly forbidden to copy any part of this review, unless you have the strict permission of both parties. Failure to adhere to this will be treated as plagiarism and will be reported to the relevant authorities.

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