### Hostile Inc.: Qiyamat

#### 05/05/08 || Euthanatos

Yes, I’m well aware you’ve never heard of Hostile Inc. before in your life. Yes, I know you’re terrified of the word/title “Qiyamat”. Yes, it’s Arabic. Settle down, I’ll enlighten you all. Hostile Inc. hail from Brazil, not the rich and bountiful South, but the desperately poor yet beach and tourist paradise North, where the weather is warm, the bitches are plenty and the poor are numerous. From all that we get an interesting blend of death, thrash, doom and heavy metal. Yes, all that.

It’s not seldom we see bands where its members hail from all sorts of different backgrounds and differ greatly on their influences, but it’s quite rare to actually get a group who produce music that clearly shows all of those different influences in its sound. Hostile Inc. is one of those rare bands. If you had to, absolutely had to put a nail in the coffin and label this fucker, the closest you’d get is the ridiculous “melodic death metal” title. Still, if you manage to not frown frantically as you read it, that’s where the band would fit. There’s a lot going on here, even a little jazzy moment occasionally.

Think “Slaughter of the Soul”. Think a little oldish Borknagar here and a lot of Dark Tranquility as well. Get the picture? Good, good. You clever little demon, you.

Considering this is an independent release, the production is really good. Something that could have really fucked things up is that it apparently took a long-ass time for Hostile Inc. to record this, so multiple line-up changes occurred and most members, past and present, contributed to the song writing and recording. Naturally, one would expect a goat fuck, with everything sounding completely incoherent. Luckily, whether the production did a great job or if the band’s core kept things in order, the fact is that “Qiyamat” is very cohesive.

The drumming and bass lines are my favorite things by far on this band and on this album (“The Universe Outside” is a good example of this), and it’s really hard not to highlight these two performances as one listens to these tunes. Nevertheless, guitars show interesting melodies (but I would have liked more inspired solos) and the vocals are very good, even if they are just a tad too straight-forward. Keyboards have an interesting presence here as well, not so much as going for atmospheric stuff, but more the Cradle of Filth kind. If you want a specific sample just to get a taste, I’d recommend “Mechanical Man” and/or “Sheep and Wolves”. Two killer tracks which show the band’s strengths and captivating song writing.

Oh, “Qiyamat” would be the Islamic equivalent of the apocalypse book from your default christian bible. Creepy.

The cover: Pretty meh. It’s a skull, which is as random as you can get, and a flower in its mouth, which is gay. The portal behind it seems cool, but I can’t really get a good look, because guess what? There’s a fucking skull in the way.

7.5 banana boat drivers out of 10.

- Information
- Released: 2008
- Label: Independent release
- Website: www.hostileinc.net
- Band
- Mac Coelho: vocals
- Franzé Ramos: guitars
- Yuri Leite: guitars
- Adriano Abreu: bass
- Saulo Oliveira: drums
- Nathiel Souza: keyboards

- Tracklist
- 01. The Universe Outside
- 02. Mechanical Man
- 03. Fast Motion
- 04. In Vitro
- 05. Alea Jacta Est
- 06. Superfluous Existence
- 07. Final Judgement
- 08. Sheeps And Wolves