This review was originally posted to Sputnikmusic on 17 June 2014.
Brazil is far better known for its extreme metal exports than for more commercial metal bands - the closest to this being the grooves and tribal experiments of Sepultura and Soulfly in the turn of the century - but if you look deep enough into the Brazilian jungle of underground music you can occasionally find the odd hidden treasure. Quinta Travessa, an energetic nu metal act from São Paulo, are one of these.
Their EP, Hora da Verdade, is 6 tracks (plus one intro) of non-stop grooves and stomps. Musically, the band definitely takes their cue from the heavier side of nu metal such as Korn and sons of Brazil Soulfly, but also contains some very competent Portuguese rapping which would definitely shame the better known nu metal rappers of yesteryear, such as one Fred Durst and Coby Dick in the more melodic venture that is middle track "Céu", where Ill Niño's influence is obvious and the definite highlight of the EP is found. The bass playing and position in the mix is almost certainly inspired by Fieldy's presence in the early (and some may say best) Korn albums, while the guitars are your basic effects driven nu metal riffs, just very well performed and the drumming shows some excellent grooves, particularly in "Treta" and "Sem Pensar", complementing the deep tones achieved by the guitars.
Being in the style it is, there is always going to be negative aspects. The simplistic riffing is unlikely to win over the critics of the genre and those that believe rapping has no place in metal will certainly not be won over by the vocals on display here. Nu metal has always been a much maligned genre for these reasons and you're likely to see people brandishing this band as nothing more than a more competent Brazilian equivalent to the dredge that came out in nu metal's peak years, such as the rather embarrassing (yet at time, guilty pleasure) Primer 55 - "Sem Pensar" is probably the most likely to draw in these comparisons in spite of its rather tight musicianship.
However, if the overall quality of the music isn't a problem for you, or nu metal is a genre that you still enjoy (I myself am a rather outspoken fan of the style), then this is an extremely fun EP to check out and mosh out to. With more of the mainstream metal bands adopting nu metal elements, there's every chance that acts like this will be given their chance to emerge in the near future but one will still need to be willing to search in the jungles of underground music to find these acts and give them the chances they deserve.