Critic's evaluation
The band is young, born in a São Paulo of 2021 in a recent post-pandemic period. Even so, it has already undergone line-up changes due to musical disagreements. Now, at the beginning of the third quarter of the year, A Sophie's Threat, now a quartet, has announced Phase One, its debut EP, as a way of introducing its new vocalist.
A deep voice with shy velvet traces sets a certain tone in the darkness. Its timbre echoes through the icy, uncomfortable void, while, as if speaking to itself, it exhorts its desire for humanitarian annihilation in a way that transcends its psychopathic coldness and insensitivity. From the muted winds of an inhospitable terrain, a shrill, piercing scream erupts, uttering the name of the first character responsible for the haunting proclamation. Coming from Malu Sales, this scream doesn't call for fire or an uncontrolled blaze. What is happening is that the rocky mountains are shaking, causing them to crumble, little by little, until it becomes an uncontrollably catastrophic event. The soundtrack of this scene is drenched in bass and a tempo that only drinks from the source of doom metal, without actually enjoying it. In this process, with the precise cadence of sequential drums designed by Tiago Carteano and Ricardo Oliveira's guitar, distorted to the maximum of its bass, the song mixes guttural and sour vestments from its interesting fusion between death metal and screamo with simple hints of thrash metal. With the presence of a melodic solo of a dramatic and apocalyptic nature coming right after a brief bridge structured by Paulo R. "Satan"'s, Suicidal God is a song that blames society for creating a kind of monster, an individual corroded by his traumas and trapped in his mental schizophrenia that constantly places him between the benevolent impulses of God and the ruthlessness of the Devil.
The galloping syncopation between the harsh, dirty bass guitar and the precise kick drum offers, without delay, a melody that mixes post-grunge and alternative rock in a gloomy recipe. Even so, the quiet anger she expresses shows that her base is made up of a more perceptible thrash metal than that present in Suicidal God. With a tone that still manages to communicate immersions in the field of alternative metal, Speaking Of The Devil is a chaotic, distressing narrative that presents a character dealing with a certain existential crisis. A conflict in which the individual finds himself having to detach himself from his own identity in order to come to the conclusion that all those internal and enigmatic discomforts are caused by hitherto repressed evil impulses. It's no wonder that Speaking Of The Devil is soundtracked by the melancholy, drama and resentment that ooze from every rhythmic corner.
Doom metal emerges as its main element in the melodic construction thanks to its intense bass and slow tempo. With accelerated and sequential drums drawing out the rhythmic cadence in the verses, while the guitar presents itself between sharp, punctuated highs and a low gallop in the sound base, Poison matures as an unreasonably hypnotic material, even with notes of torpor. Like Speaking Of The Devil, Poison is the first song on Phase One in which Sophie's Threat has a seemingly autobiographical storyline. Social and reflective, the plot makes you think of the mental reveries that consume an individual's sanity like a kind of self-destructive poison. And precisely because this malevolent elixir inhibits consciousness, the quartet arrives to encourage people to seek help so that they can fight harder for life, for themselves and for the possibility of living a new tomorrow.
As Sophie's Threat's first EP, Phase One is a piece of material that brings out all the intense, angry and anguished vivacity of the quartet from São Paulo. Among their melancholy and internal conflicts, the band turn their debut extended play into a product that invites us to reflect on self-worth, self-knowledge and resistance.
Always drenched in bass, dense, intense and harsh, each song manages to exude some kind of feeling, as if the melodies functioned as a kind of exorcism of negativity. It's not difficult, therefore, for the listener to feel distressed, anxious and even welcomed into their own anguish.
To do this, you need a good rhythmic combination to create the ideal density to convey these unspoken but heartfelt messages. Michel Villares was recruited for Phase One. As well as producing, he was also in charge of mixing. In charge of two important technical tasks, the professional not only synthesized the aesthetic influences present in the band's sound, but also created a raw, clean sound.
In this way, the listener can clearly see that, on the EP, there is a range of rock subgenres, from popular alternative rock and post-grunge to increasingly dark aesthetics, such as alternative metal, doom metal, death metal, thrash metal, post-grunge, alternative rock and screamo.
Rounding off the technical scope is the cover artwork. Signed by Carteano, it metaphorically depicts the four members of the band. Centered on a woman whose face gives her the connotation of a cyborg, while the other members surround this humanoid in their cave-like forms, the artwork has a mystical air due to the tone used in its background. This mysticism brings with it notions of social confrontation, the first phase of combat, something that is indirectly informed by the EP's storylines.
Released on 08/12/2023 in an independent way, Phase One, more than presenting a band that introduces melodic touches to the dark and sour density of death metal, brings a set of songs that think about self-respect and how we deal with psychic-mental conflicts. It's no wonder that the message is simply to seek help when the suffering is overwhelming.
