There are two Brutal Fears. One is a death/thrash band from Greece. The other is a death/thrash band from Singapore. Today we're gonna be covering the one from Singapore. They released a demo, a full-length, and a split before breaking up near the turn of the new millennium. Due to their obscurity, I was only able to find their demo.
Let's get the biggest problem out of the way: the production is way too loud. I guess they wanted to make it feel like a brutal assault, but pumping up the volume is not the way to do it. The only thing you're going to get out of that is this unnatural distortion called clipping, and boy is there a lot of clipping on this demo. This clipping might make sense if you're making noisy black metal in the vein of Black Beasts, but I don't think that was what these guys were going for.
The production maybe bad, but the music is still great. They're sort of like Terminal Death in that the production is terrible but the music is amazing. Brutal Fear plays hard-hitting death/thrash that is really infectious. The drums are stripped down and minimalistic, playing simple rhythms and blast beats with a few fills on occasion. With straightforward music like this, that's all you need. The vocals consist of a groaning rasp that reminds one of the death/thrash days of the mid to late 80s. Like the drums, the guitars are pretty simple, playing catchy, groovy riffs that are straight to the point. They essentially combine the aggressive nature of death metal with the speed and sound of thrash.
Aside from the horrible, clipped production, there's some pretty awesome death/thrash on here. I especially love the simple and catchy guitar work. If you love obscure death/thrash from faraway lands, then this demo is for you. Just be sure to turn your volume down before listening to it.
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