With nearly three decades of existence, Claustrofobia is one of the most important names in Brazilian metal, thanks to its powerful lyrics and brutal sound that only the hustle of being Brazilian could inspire, characteristics that become even more visceral on the album Unleeched .
Released on March 11th by Metal Assault Records and featuring songs entirely in English, the band's seventh studio album continues to represent the power of extreme Brazilian music. In an interview with Wikimetal , vocalist and guitarist Marcus D'Angelo reflected on the album's reception and the honor of carrying the flag of our metal every time they take the stage.
Shortly before the pandemic, all the band members moved to the United States, where they were confined to record the album in Los Angeles. The limitations of the pandemic made living with the newcomer Rafael Yamada , Claustro's new bassist, completely intense: they were already coming from the frenetic pace of a tour with international dates and a performance at Rock In Rio in 2019, and the intensive training only continued on the other continent.
“We worked as a band, really. It had been a few years since it was one hundred percent like that,” Marcus says about this period of adaptation. “It was good for him to delve into the inner workings of the band, because it wasn't just about making music together without knowing each other, without spending time together. It's a natural thing; otherwise, you bring in a very external element that doesn't fit.”
Despite leading the band's songwriting alongside his brother, drummer Caio D'Angelo , with impactful lyrics like those of "Psychosapiens"—a "poem denouncing the human species and all the greed it shouldn't have"—Marcus doesn't consider himself a "good lyricist." The results on Unleeched , however, are impactful and "definitely the album's high point" due to this raw power that doesn't lose the group's DNA, even in a foreign language.
The accumulated experience, both personal and professional, brought a new maturity to the compositions, fruits of such an uncertain period worldwide, but crafted with the care not to expel energies from the lyrics that were not representative of the long-term project, as has happened before.
“We were all filled with that feeling of uncertainty, fear, anger, even resignation, perhaps. So we tried to be very careful about what we were going to say, so as not to bring unnecessary energy, we've done that a lot too. We've made a lot of mistakes, you know?” Marcus admits. “We've said a lot of unnecessary things in the past and that comes back to haunt you, you know? You know? Words and feelings have power, and the energy you put out there has power.”
The most intense and negative feelings are still an inspiration for the compositions, but there is a new perspective on exorcising them in the lyrics, something especially challenging when considering that "most artists" find their greatest inspiration precisely in pain. "[The best] comes out when you're full of problems, in the shit, I don't know why. You get furious inside, full of hatred, and you put that out somehow, not necessarily literally pouring out hatred there."
In an album completely rooted in Claustrofobia's identity, incorporating unusual elements without losing its essence, there was even room for unexpected experimentation in the Brazilian version of the album, which is distributed in the country by the Wikimetal Records Pantera 's "Strength Beyond Strength" .
The original idea was for an English cover, but foreign friends of the band members – who weren't even that big metal fans, although they liked the band being honored – suggested doing a Portuguese version of the track. “I got the lyrics, started looking at them and said, 'Dude, these lyrics can't be translated, it's impossible.' We started translating, and it ended up sounding like our own song,” he explains. The result will be released next Sunday, the 22nd.
This request from people abroad for a song in Portuguese shows a lot about Claustrofobia's experience on international stages. “The audience reception here is good; they see us as something very much like legitimate Brazilian metal, you know? These are the comments: it's the classic, 'Brazil in our veins,' which they don't see so much in Brazilian bands anymore these days,” he recounts. “When we say we're from Brazil here, nobody makes a face. Unfortunately, Brazilians themselves don't recognize [this value].”
The cultural differences in the United States, which has some advantages in terms of equipment and greater admiration for musicians who dedicate their lives to it compared to Brazil, do not change the band's conviction about their place and the firepower of having Brazilian DNA in their playing style.
“I think heavy metal is a very cultural thing. There’s a unity, that thing where everyone is kind of similar, but at the same time this cultural aspect is very strong. I think that’s what we have that they perceive,” observes Marcus. “All this passion, all this suffering, this sweat of Brazilian bravery also brings something unique.”
The physical version of the Unleeched and official Claustrofobia merchandise are on sale in Brazil through Wikimetal Store , access it here .