Record Label: Trustkill
Genre: Thrash
Buy on Amazon.com

Featuring members of Mushroomhead, Ventana play smart, crafted thrash with the right amount of aggression and hooks. The vocals aren’t too growly or evil, and actually remind me of a thrash version of Mike Patton.

For all of today’s digital noodling and effects, the music here is for the most part guitar/drum-driven, but they manage to be creative using a relatively stripped-down approach. Depth and mood are added through great use of keys, vocal style changes (no emo, screamo, or ridiculous thuggery), and various types of breakdowns, from brutal downtempo riffing to ethereal tranquility. Samples are used sparingly and appropriately.

Lengthy intros and multiple time changes tend to inflate song durations – you could probably skim 10 minutes off the album from intros alone, but they’re not terribly unfitting or needless. This is an album you can listen straight through and should appeal to most metal fans, except for those meatheads too brutal for melody.

Bottom Line: Faith No More meets Fear Factory with an old-school (pre-emo) hardcore feel.
Notable Tracks: The Dying Sound, The Sad History of the World, Swords
Overall Rating: