Review by Felix on January 1, 2023.

I'm not particularly well versed in punk, but when I stumbled across Acidez, my enthusiasm for them told me to order two albums straight away. So now “Welcome to the 3D Era” is spinning on my turntable and it’s pure joy, musically and visually (red-blue vinyl). But at first, let’s take a look whether these punks are really authentic. They hate the police (“El día que la policía muera”), at least until they are threatened by a horde of homicidal fascists, they are mega-sceptical in terms of technology whose only purpose is obviously to kill mankind (songs 2 – 5 and “Amenaza nuclear”) and of course they do not accept authorities (“Rompiendo cadenas”, “Outlaw warrior”). So far, so good, so necessary. But why do they see a “Futuro decadente”? Is this the luxury edition of “No hay futuro”? However, details aside, I see no lack of authenticity.

“Welcome to the 3D Era” stands with both feet on the filthy, urban ground of punk and the more I listen to the album, the more I like it. There are plenty of positive attributes the musical content deserves. It is energetic, straight, fast, furious, dynamic, homogeneous and (punk, dudes!) naturally reduced to the essentials. Even guitar solos are rather a sign of undesirable adiposis than a stylistic ingrediant they want to use. Okay, “Maquínas de guerra” houses a solo and it shines with a fantastic, almost overly opulent section (from 2:40 to 2:49!). But in general, the dominant components are the constant pace of the drums, the sharp riffs (one per song is more or less enough) and the raw voice of Tupa. He has this snotty charisma that a punk singer needs and given this, it does not matter that he delivers a one-tone-performance. We are not in the opera here! And when I want to hear varied singing, I let my sweet girlfriend drag me into the Christmas cantatas of J. S. Bach (once a year…).

But let’s stick to “Welcome to the 3D Era”. As mentioned above, I enjoy the homogenous album. A very homogeneous one. I would not be surprised if they cross the verse of song A with the verse of song B on stage and probably nobody would recognize this. Yes, the single songs do not boast with an overdose of individuality, but the compositional formula simply works. From this follows, that there is no need to change it and everybody who knows the value of a song like “Don’t Pay the Poll Tax” will enjoy this album. Acidez revitalize Exploited’s refreshing beat in a superb manner. This approach results in a lot of thrilling pieces like “Amaneza nuclear”, "Futuro decadente" or the aforementioned “Maquínas de guerra”. Only minor details could have been done better. For example, the background vocals do not really enrich the songs. But I guess I’ll just get a big “f**k off” from the Mexicans – it is surely not punk-like to moan about bagatelles. Moreover, beer drinkers survivors don’t ask for permission. Thus, let’s see the big picture: “Welcome to the 3D Era” is a properly produced album that does not lack attitude and musical class. Even an ordinary metalhead like me is able to realize this.

Rating: 7.9 out of 10

Review by Michael on January 24, 2022.

The Funeral Pyre was one of the biggest surprises in the melodic black / death metal scene in 2020 because of its fierce but nevertheless quite harmonic melodies so I was very much excited when I got the news that Swedish one-man project Kvaen (with Jacob Björnfot (ex-The Duskfall) behind it) is going to release another album called The Great Below. Jacob Björnfot created this album together with session drummer Tommi Tuhkala and just like he had on The Funeral Pyre he has a lot of guest appearances on this album of course. This time around he's got an illustrious guest list incuding Mathias “Vreth” Lillmåns (Finntroll), Angus Norder (Witchery), Sebastian Ramstedt (Necrophobic), Mike Wead (King Diamond) or Jeff Loomis (Arch Enemy, ex-Nevermore). That sounds quite promising in my humble opinion.

But now enough of the namedropping, let's check the physical album for real: northern lights and a somewhat demonic person staring at a vast northern landscape on the cover invite the listener to the musical journey and I have a feeling its going to be a real wild one. The album starts with 'Cauldron Of Plagues' which is a very fast and aggressive beast. The guitar leads are in the style of the good old 90s Swedish black metal and the drums are fast as hell. Jacobs vocals sound very aggressive and pissed-off. The atmospheric keyboards create a very unique atmosphere though and this won't let you down listening to the album. Though I don't want to go on track by track, I have to mention the second piece which is also the title track. If you know the guitar work of Jeff Loomis, you can clearly recognize his participation on this song from the very first second. I guess his guitar solos really fit perfectly into the track which is also very fast paced and catchy. From its general structures it reminds me quite a lot of 'Revenge By Fire' from Kvaen's debut. There are some more of these fast tracks in the Dissection style on the album which are really impressive. 'Your Mighty Has Fallen' convinces with nice breaks and tempo changes and 'The Fire Within Him Burns' appears with a nice piano intro / outro and a very casual guitar solo that may be inspired by some classical compositions.

But Kvaen also shows a second face on The Great Below. Sometimes they make a halt and focus more on a dark atmosphere like in 'In Silence' or 'Ensamvarg' (“The Lone Wolf”). Both songs come along very oppressive and threatening and make the album even more varied. The guitar leads, the tremolo picking and the acoustic part in 'In Silence' sound pretty brilliant and feature the backbone of these tracks. 'Ensamvarg' is even more outstanding because of the very epic keyboard sound that emphasizes this special atmosphere.

The lyrics are also really worth mentioning. They became very dark on this album (which of course matches perfect with the music) and they have lots of personal meaning. So if you are interested in discovering more about words on this album, it is not only about the dark and evilness but it also has a quite metaphysical level that one may find here, too.

I dare to say that there are no fillers but only killers on this album. When listening to it I always wonder how is it that the album is already through after such a perceived short time (total running time is 39 minutes) and so I have to admit that the music is very diverting. I think that all the compositions are really thoughtfully arranged and that the band did a top album in that musical style in 2022. I would say that this is an essential album for all black /death metal fans out there!

Rating: 9.5 out of 10 lone wolves