I always get a little excited when I see I have to review a, for me, new South American band. What kind of madness and raw aggressivity will attack me this time? How raw and in my face will the brutality be? All such thoughts flow through my mind, when looking upon a band name like SURSUM CORDA and an album title like “Metodos De Tortura”. A back catalogue with titles as “Violencia Infernal” and “Corpore Insepulto” did also trigger my infernal lust for diabolical Metal. After a quite promising intro, we go straight into a semi-technical and melodic Death Metal universe. Mid-paced and charging ahead. Decent growls that grow with the articulation and the Spanish language. Dragging guitar solos and off the mill riffing. Song structures that put us back to Swedish melodic Death Metal from the late nineties – understand, those bands that didn’t get past the demo stages. Every time you think the music will progress forward, you get a solo, a break or a melodic line, keeping the progression and intensity in hold. The production is also quite dull, a tad too polished in most places and it’s been a good while since I’ve laid ears upon such a nicely pre-set bass drum trigger-sound. There’s actually a quite nice variation in drum-paces, use of cymbals and so on, though the production doesn’t let that shine powerfully through, it muds behind the guitars and vocals, and well, the blasting snare drumming seems a bit forced at times. Though after listening to the album and what I could get hold of, of the back catalogue and adding it all together, it is like the band doesn’t really fulfil their potential. The music is quite dull, the production seems off, there is a heavy lack of intensity and power in the delivery. There’s so much music being released these days, which will let recordings like these drown in the mass. Though there might be some getting off on a band name, that translates into “Lift Up Your Hearts”, in a Christian sense, to God. www.facebook.com/sursumcordadeath, www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61563068500501