From Puerto Rico comes a new (to me) five piece power/thrash metal band
called Pacto de Sangre (Blood Covenant). While the band is currently an indie act, they are being pushed by Silent Planet
Promotions (Jacob's Dream, Rivera/Bomma, etc.) who does a better job than most small labels at getting product out there for
people to hear.
Pacto de Sangre has been around since 1996 and this is their first full length, following an
earlier EP. The band is already planning on recording their second full length later this year. While many here
in the states haven't heard of the band, they have gotten around already opening in concert for bands like Bride, Rob Rock,
and Rivera/Bomma.
The band, as I stated earlier, plays a power/thrash metal mix. The only thing is that
they tend to separate the two styles more than they mix them. They may have one song that is heavily power metal influenced,
while another song may have a more decidedly thrash influence. The musicianship level of the band is actually pretty
decent. And vocally, Hector Garcia does a solid job with the clean Geoff Tate styled vocals, while bass player,
Mizael Robles gives us some thrash/growled vocals similar in style to the vocals used by the Brazilian thrash band, Deliver.
The sound of the band of a whole can be compared to a Queensryche/Deliver/Jacob's Dream style with some Seventh Angel and
Vengeance Rising influences as well. While they are not at the level of Queensryche or Jacob's Dream, they are no slouches
and show some good talent. It's just a matter of channeling and refining that talent more as the years follow and
albums come out. I personally think that this band has a bright future if they can get their sound to be a little more
consistent.
One thing I forgot to mention is that all but 2 of the songs are sung in Spanish. I'm
not a big fan of Spanish sung clean vocals, but Garcia does a good job for the most part. The band also makes use of
some good quality background and gang/yelled vocals. As as far as best songs, I'd have to go with "Warning" (the
English version of "Alerta"), "La Ley de Dios", and "Cae, Cae."
The production on this disc is actually pretty good. When compared to most of the other
bands south of the U.S. border that live in places like Brazil or Mexico, etc., I would say that this is above average.
And while only two songs are in English, their English lyrics are easily understandable and very bold for Christ.
