Set it to C for “Chumbo”!

CHUMBO, hailing from São Paulo in Brazil, have been going strong since 2016, and have a demo entitled “Heavy Rock” and a self-titled debut album, released in 2021. Through my research and knowledge, what we’re looking at today is a remastering of that debut record.

Line-Up
Rodolfo Paes- Vocals
Gustavo Lord Ripper- Guitars
Igor Mephisto Lourenço- Bass
Breno Thunder Bastos- Drums

REVIEW

I was not familiar with Brazil’s CHUMBO before this landed in my inbox, so this’ll be a first time listen for me! Also, all lyrics are in Portuguese (Brazilian), which I do not speak, so bear with me.

I really dig the roughness of the band logo, you can feel that this record will be a hard and heavy in-your-face type of metal. And I also like the shiny/cleaned up version! While the cover art is clearly DIY, likely done by one of the band members themselves or a friend, it has a certain charm to it that I can’t help but love. Though I do have a soft spot for hand drawn covers, they make metal still feel underground like it was in the early 80s.

We kick things off with “Forja de Hefesto” (Forge of Hephaestus), a minute long intro consisting of good ole Satanic style chanting, accompanied by the crash of hammer to anvil.

“Você Contra o Mundo“ (You Against the World) is our first proper track, kicking things off with some seriously slick drumming. There’s also a very clear hardcore punk influence in the vocal stylings, which isn’t my typical preference, but there is also a very notable NWOBHM inspiration there as well. Just the more heavier side of the movement, think more VENOM and less IRON MAIDEN. Real facemelter of a solo too!

“Lixo Humano” (Human Trash) followed, and begin with a real groovy bass intro before dropping headfirst into unrelenting punky thrash. The vocals really started to click with me here. Paes has a raw and roughness in his delivery, but it’s accompanied triumphantly by some real angst and anguish.

“Lutar” (Fight) came next with a seriously killer guitar riff that I need injected into my veins, also kudos to Paes for his battle cry in the beginning. More vocalists should do that. Outstanding solo at about the 2:35 mark, and I really like this meshing of punk and NWOBHM styles.

Thundercracks usher in the arrival of “Rock de Alta Voltagem” (High Voltage Rock), and as always ambient sounds of thunder automatically mean that a song is a 10 out of 10. This was an absolute thrasher of a track that didn’t seem nearly as long as its 5:30 length would suggest. The brief section at 2:15 during the solo gave me chills!!! Banger riff at 3:40 during the bridge portion.

“Trabalhador” (Worker), a real steamroller of a track that blistered on without stop. Still, CHUMBO found time to throw in some more melodic guitarwork, that I think really puts their music on another level.

Next we had “Chumbo” (Lead), which means that we get a rare instance of a hat trick (i.e. when a band has an eponymous song on a self titled album. Think “Black Sabbath” by BLACK SABBATH off of their album Black Sabbath). It begins with a proper war cry, and some solid speed metal riffage and chugging, and that continued throughout the song (with some added sweeps and such thrown in for good measure).

Our penultimate foray was “Honra e Glória” (Honor and Glory), a track which reminded me heavily of MOTORHEAD. It has the ruggedness of MOTORHEAD, while also throwing in the occasional melodic guitarwork of PRIEST. The metal encyclopaedia lists CHUMBO as “heavy metal/speed metal/punk” and it’s clear to see why, they could very easily slip into any of the three genres.

Finally, we come to “Você Não é Ninguém” (You’re a Nobody). This one didn’t click with me all that much unfortunately, but as I said at the top of the review, this particularly style of metal isn’t my usual forte. But I can’t deny that this one did have a steady chug to it!

CONCLUSION

And thus concludes the remastered CHUMBO, a solid little speedy/punky release from Brazil. As always I love to explore metal from all around the world, and Brazil has long been a stalwart of our scene. While the vocals are an acquired taste, and not everyone can enjoy music sung outside of their native tongue, with this release/remaster, CHUMBO prove themselves to be worthwhile additions to greater metaldom.

TheNWOTHM Score: 7/10

CHUMBO
Bandcamp: https://chumboheavyrock.bandcamp.com/album/chumbo
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chumbometalpesado