When I say slam, people usually think of the Russian scene, often citing ultra-heavyweights Abominable Putridity. Well, it turns out Portugal is also amazing at mid-tempo grooving. Their first release, Dehumanization by Supremacy, was an exceptional debut from any point of view. The production was spot-on, the songs had great flow, and the slams were goddamn heavy. The vocals were arguably the least impressive, mainly because there was so little variety – which is something given that we’re talking about brutal death metal here. On Atrocities from Beyond, the man behind the mic is replaced by the lead guitarist, Diogo Santana, and this man’s range is far superior – there are some nice mid-ranged growls mixed and that really give the gutturals punch by contrast. They’ve hired backup on a couple of songs, including the legendary Larry Wang from Coprocephalic, who’s always a welcome addition to any album. It’s great to hear how the songwriting grew between the two records. The first