Band's List Deathcore ENGEL (PAN) Reina el Caos

[Originally posted October 15, 2010]

I’m still not sure how I found out about Engel. I think I typed in “deathcore” in Google images and the album cover of this album came up in the results. Engel is one out of two known deathcore bands from Panama. The other one being Murder the Frail. I have no idea if there is any relation between the two bands. I’ve searched the internet far and wide looking for some kind of biography on Engel, but so far I’ve found nothing. This band has been around for about two to three years and has gone on one full European tour as an opening act for French deathcore band Eths. I’ve found this album quite delectable so I decided I’d review it, hoping to spread the word on this band.

My favorite thing about this album is that everything is over distorted to the point to where it sounds really cool. The vocals are very distorted, which gives them a unique sound that I’ve never heard before in a metal recording. I’ve heard something similar to this in some songs by Queens of the Stone Age. I think the drumming is creative and I can tell that the drummer uses a lot of different auxiliary percussion items. The bassist I believe could use to be a bit more creative with his lines, because his parts are a little too simple for the band’s music. Another thing about the vocalist, I’m guessing that he does inhales (which is not something that I usually like), but the extra distortion on the mike really gives it a sweet sound. The logo is also very well made for a super underground band like Engel. Also I would like to add that I don’t know what the band’s lyrical themes are because they speak Spanish, not English.

The “song” that is very intriguing to me is the intro “song” (it’s not really a song; it’s the intro track that has just talking). I’m wondering who the guy on the phone is talking to. Then, it leads into Culpable with a sick drum intro. The breakdowns in the song are very tight and interesting. The title song has one of my all time favorite breakdowns at the end that has a really unique time signature. There is something very weird about this album that I noticed just a few days ago. That if you take out all of the songs and just play the intro and the outro, the two songs blend into each other! I think that this was intentional. I love it when bands add odd twists like that to their music. Overall, this is one of my favorite deathcore bands of all time and most likely will stay that way for quite a while. 19/20