Critic's evaluation
After the successful union that culminated in the single Todo Mundo Foi Embora?, the São Paulo groups A Banda Que Nunca Existiu and Do Culto Ao Coma have teamed up again, but now for the creation of an EP. Entitled Quem É A Doença? Quem É A Cura?, the material began in 2022 and features compositions by ABQNE and interpretations by DCAC.
It's curious and strangely infectious. Its initial sound brings an interesting mix of comicality and immaturity. It's as if a youthful, prepubescent and naive aroma is wafting through the room and intoxicating the listener with its carefree but hilarious touch. Vislumbre is a prelude that manages to function as a kind of theatrical soundtrack, a non-standard opener, but one whose sound structure manages to capture the listener's attention. However, Vislumbre is also experimentation. Experimentation with sounds, textures and harmonies that makes it an enigmatic instrumental product, to say the least. With such tests, the song manages to be comic, childish, sweet, theatrical and slightly epic. Vislumbre is a true guide that comes to accompany the listener on adventures through the confines of Quem É A Doença? Quem É A Cura?.
From the top of a snow-capped mountain, a simple wooden house catches the eye. As the breeze gradually becomes more present, the first rays of sunlight are reflected by the polished shards of glass that fill the sound of the winds strategically placed on the balcony. In the midst of the dawn twilight, the incandescent glow that exudes from these pieces of glass gives the atmosphere not only a mystical connotation, but also a slightly psychedelic and esoteric one. Then a wavering, seventies sonar from the keyboard embraces the physical-imagetic context and leads the listener towards a pleasant melody that exudes new wave. Soft in its synthetic core, the melody ends up, for a few moments, creating a slight similarity to the one created by MGMT in their respective single Kids. In the meantime, amidst Leandro TG Mendes' howling guitar, Thiago Holzmann emerges with his deep, sweet tone under a lyrical interpretation that borders on Celtic and anguish. With the right to howls of agonizing supplication, Todo Mundo Foi Embora is like a social self-analysis in which A Banda Que Nunca Existiu thinks about pure and sincere love, dueling with superficial love motivated merely by libido. It's here that we think about how desire can distort the individual from his nature, blind his alter ego and make him a puppet of absolute pleasure. Todo Mundo Foi Embora is the profane, the depraved. The moment in which society consciously chooses to forget the sense of collectivity and establish itself in individualism, selfishness and personalism.
An acidic, undulating sonar is gaining more space next to the dry cymbal, already setting the rhythmic pace for something still obscure. In a fade-in effect, the instruments gradually appear and make their individual contributions to the sound context. As soon as the guitar enters, for example, suspense takes over and the listener is put on alert as the melodic verses pass by. There is fear and a principle of dissonance that causes discomfort capable of chilling the spine and making the body produce a cold sweat, which then drips in droplets from the forehead to the sinuses. Exploding into a ghostly scenario with a synchronous vocal setting in guttural vocal verses, the song emphasizes its melodic base which, with a firm, low, strident and slightly boomy bass line brought in by Guilherme Costa, amplifies the notion of fear and insecurity. With its short and punctual riff, highlighting the final blows of Leonardo Nascimento's drums in the final phrases of each sound section, the bass is also the element that manages to blend the essences of doom metal and stoner rock in the song's rhythmic-melodic recipe. Precise and dark in a way reminiscent of the aesthetics of Rita Lee's single O Gosto Do Azedo, Ecos Do Destino, despite having a storyline that teaches the listener in various ways both to understand and to place trust in fate, under the interpretation of Do Culto Ao Coma it has been given a dense and dark bias, as if unpredictability were something lethal. Even so, it is undeniable that one of the main lyrical contributions of Ecos Do Destino is to make the viewer less rigid and trusting in chance.
Harsh, sour, melancholic. Metallic, gloomy and guttural, the soundscape is like a rocky landscape sheltered by a sky at the height of night. Mixing elements of doom metal with metal and hints of hard rock, what stands out from the initial melodic recipe is the gloomy character. It's interesting to note here how the keyboard, with its sweetly synthetic and tremulous notes, contributes to the development of ghostly silhouettes, but to a lesser extent the atmosphere proposed in the previous track. Between melismas and falsetto well executed by Holzmann, Ultimato Ou Morro is steeped in a kind of urban drama, while its lyrical plot recalls, in addition to 19th century ultra-romanticism, 18th century German romanticism. Filled with sentimental exaggerations, Ultimato Ou Morro is a description of an individual lost in his excessive lack of self-esteem, who sees affection as a way of feeling desired and beautiful in society. It's a work in which inner emptiness affects the emotional balance of others, even taking away their sense of freedom and trust.
Just as Ecos Do Destino used the fade in effect to flesh out its introduction, the new song uses this artifice in an even more visible and balanced way. Offering a pleasant, fresh and sweet melody, Destino Dos Ecos is yet another instrumental that makes the EP a versatile product that comes to a sudden end, like the last breath, the last conscious glimpse. The last sound uttered in earthly life.
As a collaborative EP, it should be noted that A Banda Que Nunca Existiu and Do Culto Ao Coma have indeed found the ideal intersection. Lyrics and melody. Composition and interpretation. Two types of creative freedom combined in an uncertain environment that led to a sure-fire track. After all, in Quem É A Doença? Quem É A Cura? sensitivity embraced drama and purposeful sentimental exaggeration was amplified with dense, dark melodies.
This is exactly where the brilliance of the EP lies. It's in the combination of lyrical and melodic interpretation. After all, when you take lyrics written by others, the interpretation won't always be the same as that of the person who composed it. Whether it is or not, the truth is that Do Culto Ao Coma have transformed bland scenarios into perfect emotional rollercoasters. Lyricism that could have been given softer garb, but ended up being graced by the serious and the gloomy. It's no wonder that, at various times, the stabbing aspect became something deeply tactile for the listener.
Talking mainly about love and heartache, Quem É A Doença? Quem É A Cura? walks brilliantly through sensory-educational terrain whose intention is simply to show that it is destiny that will act and shape the tomorrow of the global community. There's no stopping it. Like it or not, who will decide each individual's respective path and unpredictability.
Todo Mundo Foi Embora is perhaps the most representative track on the EP. It's true that it doesn't talk about love or destiny. But it does talk about society. You and me. It speaks unashamedly of collectivity, without fear of showing that people are consciously forgetting the concept of unity. It's as if she's asking the listener who they thought of today and who thought of you. These are questions with obvious answers, because nowadays everything is a one-way street. A path that always stops at itself.
To give vent to these questions, despite being short, the EP has complex lyrical strands. And Filipe Coelho was the one who captured the soul of the melody. The agony, the despair, the torpor, the gloom that overflows from the corners of the sound. From the professional, the stories written by A Banda Que Nunca Existiu were given soundtracks which, designed by Do Culto Ao Coma, were given an extra shine that allowed the listener to identify sounds such as doom metal, stoner rock and new wave.
In addition, Coelho has made all the instruments crystal clear, which contributes to a better taste of all the extrasensory apparatus that exudes and overflows from Quem É A Doença? Quem É A Cura? With it, in particular, the EP has gained an equalized and mature sound, a quality that surpasses most national sound productions.
Closing the melodic scope is the cover art. Signed by Mendes, it features a kind of crystal ball lost in a dense blackened layer. With highlighted stretches of light that give the impression of movement, the work evokes feelings of both mourning and rebirth. As Ecos Do Destino itself proposed, the artwork is a visual demonstration of faith in the unpredictable, the uncertain and the mystical character that transpires from chance.
Released on 02/20/2024 in an independent way, Quem É A Doença? Quem É A Cura? is the mysticism surrounding love, destiny and society. It's a work that, as well as marking the harmony between two bands from the Brazilian indie scene, shows that creative freedom transcends the limits of one's own sensitivity to the point of becoming something so profound that it's even tactile, palpable.
