Nephasth
Conceived By Inhuman Blood

August 2004
Released: 2004, Mighty Music
Rating: 4.2/5
Reviewer: Lord of the Wasteland

With CONCEIVED OF INHUMAN BLOOD, Brazil’s Nephasth join fellow countrymen Krisiun and Rebaelliun among the South American death metal elite. Their second CD is just as brutal, nasty and evil as the other bands, with lyrics of destruction and Satan, as well as criminally fast drums and complex guitar riffing. In other words, all the ingredients to make a damn fine death metal record in the vein of Morbid Angel, Vader and Krisiun. The thing is, Nephasth change their pacing and while there are no clean vocals or ballads here, they don’t just go for 45 minutes of unrelenting brutality. The drums are a major standout on this CD and are pummeling. As much as I love Krisiun, they can get a bit tiring after a while due to the hammer to the head blastbeats. Nephasth does have blastbeats but they also reel them in occasion. The double guitar assault comes courtesy of Marcos Moura and Rafael Barros, whose solos seem to create all new sounds. Similar to the busy bee Slayer solos, Moura and Barros drop riffs that frantically try to keep pace with everything else.



“Damned Knowledge” sets the pace for this CD with an immediately crushing delivery of growling vocals and machine gun drumming. Without being overshadowed, the low, guttural growl of Fabio Lentino echoes throughout the CD hitting throaty roars and even the odd scream. “I Reign” breaks down with an insanely fast drum outro from Mauricio Weimar. If the drums aren’t triggered, this guy must have an extra leg or something to hit the bass pedal! “Ignis Victory” is a cool instrumental which focuses on Weimar’s drumming and ends with a squealing guitar riff that would make Kerry King soil himself. Likewise, “Domination Is My Name” sets forth a frantically paced fretboard and couples it with more machine gun battery courtesy of Weimar.



Nephasth was actually recommended to me during an interview I did with Krisiun drummer Max Kolesne back in November 2003 (http://www.metal-rules.com/interviews/krisiun-dec2003.htm). He named them as “a band to watch out for,” so when their new CD hit my desk, I was pretty fired up to hear it. Max, you didn’t let me down and all I can say is, watch your back, man! Nephasth is right behind you…



KILLER KUTS: “Damned Knowledge,” “I Reign,” “Ignis Victory,” “Domination Is My Name”