Artist: Podridão / Convulsive
Country: Brazil
Label: Iron Fortress Records / Iron, Blood And Death Corporation
Formats: Split Tape / Split CD
Year: 2024
‘Convulsively Rotteness’ brings together two of Brazil’s finest Death Metal bands that operate in the more Old School territories of the genre, Podridão and Convulsive. Both bands have an interesting back catalogue, though Podridão has a significantly bigger output as they are around a bit longer, and seem to be a perfect match for this split tape (also available on CD).
Podridão kicks off the split CD with their five tracks, totaling just under 24 minutes, which clearly continues the musical “development” that the band has shown over the course of their full discography. “Development”, because in the musical essence not too much has changed. Still, for the careful listener, there certainly is something going on. The Old School character of the music is still 100% intact, but it is increasingly widening their scope in terms of feel and atmosphere. Their mix of old styled grinding Autopsy, Incubus, Imprecation and for instance Cancer is still the band’s firm basis, but while there was always a bit of an occult feeling to the music, that aspect has been enlarged with each new release. I wouldn’t put them in the same line as bands like Grave Miasma or Dead Congregation, but they certainly have bits and pieces that tend to let them lean in that certain direction. Well, take some parts of all these bands together, blend them in and pour it in a mold of a rather heavy production (heavy does not mean clean or modern, mind you) and you pretty much have Podridão anno 2024.
With only a difference of 4 seconds, Convulsive is offering the same amount of songs in the same amount of time – talking about perfect, synchronic synergy. The band already convinced me through their ‘The Grotesquery Ruins Of Death’-album from 2022, which had a nice and crunchy sound and good doomy atmosphere – pretty close to what Podridão is able to put to the table. A few months later, in autumn 2022, the band returned with a digital demo with a few songs that were supposed to appear on this split with Podridão. And, yes, they did. But re-worked and re-recorded, as that digital demo sounded super raw and crude, something with a certain charm, but hearing the tracks now in their final form it is needless to say they sound way better in their crushing true Convulsive formula. It is still dense and dark, brutal and oppressive, but compared to their debut album, the tracks and overall sound have definitely showed that the band has progressed impressively. I recommended the album, and I definitely recommend this split CD, for both bands who fit together stunningly.
