Thornafire, Vorex Deconstrucción

I’m going to come right on out and say it. There is no place for overused keyboards in death metal — especially bare bones death delivered with blasting fury from the likes of Chile’s Thornafire. Sure the keyboards add some atmospheric touches here and there, but for the most part they can be eliminated for the betterment of the album.

That said, Vorex Deconstrucción is a pretty decent album teetering on Morbid Angel worship, yet has a few inspired moments with the incorporation of malevolent melodies and hooks. For the most part, the album delivers what we’ve come to expect from South American death metal — furious blasts, violent vocals and an unrestrained, frenzied delivery.

Hacia La Ruina Del Agartha
And here we have it. Introduced by and peppered with lighter moments of keyboards, “Hacia La Ruina Del Agartha” would be so much more devastating had the band just stuck with the introductory sound clip. Driving riffs and death metal growls come in around the 20 second mark as the band settles into a solid groove punctuated with manic blasts. The guitar work around 2:30 is pretty slick and dripping with vileness.

Sucubacion
After a brief sound clip of a speech of some sort, Thornafire get down to business with some slick riffing and driving drums. The vocals are raw and delivered with a fury. Again, the addition of the keyboards really don’t add that much more to the song. This is one of the more solid tracks on the album.

Deconstruccion
I love the opening to “Deconstruccion,” It’s violent, aggressive and full on in your face with blasting drums and evil riffs. Throw in the vocal delivery and you’ve got yourself a slab of straightforward death metal. The layered growls and screams just after the one minute mark are a nice touch. Man, this is a great song with plenty of sick grooves. If only they would get rid of the keyboards that show up shortly after the two minute mark.

Otredad
Acoustic guitar opens up this next song, covering the first 30 seconds before it’s swapped a couple of time with dark riffs until it’s finally swallowed by crushing guitars and thundering drums. This track has some better usage of keyboards throughout along with a more varied structure. Overall the effect seems to give the song a slightly blackened feel.

Confesion
“Confesion” starts out with vile riffing and evil vocals as the drums push along the band into a slick groove. The guitar work in the first 40-50 seconds is quite varied and creative. I’m digging the overall structure to this one as it’s peppered with plenty of tempo shifts and swings from traditional death to a more modern flare. The brief lead around 2:40 has plenty of sorrow to it. The riffing around the four minute mark is catchy and fits the thundering groove nicely.

En El Eon De Las Falacias
This next one follows up “Confesion” with driving riffs and beefy drum work. And, damn it, there are those damned keyboards again. Luckily though, they are pounded into submission with some manic drum blasts that are quickly accompanied by the guttural vocals. There are a few tempo shifts during the remainder of the track that give it a slightly off-kilter feel.

…Por El Delirio
Big riffs and staggered drums get this next song underway with, yep you guessed it, keyboards. The layered, production tweaked vocals are an interesting touch this late in the album. The drums quickly shift into pile driver mode as the band really gets into the bludgeoning. I love the rapid tempo shift and slick riffing just before the two minute mark.

Conflagracion Del Monoteismo
“Conflagracion Del Monoteismo” builds up slowly from a brief sound clip and steady drum work into a chugging groove as the vocals come in after the 30 second mark. I might add that the vocals are delivered with a renewed aggression and fury — I’d hate to piss this dude off. The guitars around 1:50 have an interesting feel to them when combined with the rest of the riffs found on the album. The repeated sound clip that comes in during the latter half of the song is fucking annoying.

De La Destruccion Al Trono
Ending out Vorex Deconstrucción, “De La Destruccion Al Trono” starts off with a sound clip for the first fifteen seconds before the band comes in the powerful riffing and blasting drums. The groove carries the vehemently delivered vocals well as blast after blast erupt behind the thick riffs. There’s a great explosion of machine gun drumming around 3:30 that’s sure to wake you up from the more mid-tempo delivery thus far in the song. A big scream brings in silence for the next minute and half before light guitars and tribal drumming fade in slowly. I’m not sure if this is a “hidden” track or if it’s part of the final song. Either way it’s an interesting change of pace from the band.

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Favorite Tracks:
All of them

Additional Notes:
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