Against Tolerance - Undefined

Shortly after getting a Twitter I was followed by a band called Against Tolerance who told me to check to their album. I did and I’m glad I made that choice. Hailing from Brazil, Against Tolerance crafted the album Undefined and released it back in mid-2011. It’s a thrashy progressive piece which takes influences from all over the place and dares you to call it anything but metal.

The album starts out with a downbeat jazzy sound that is quickly interrupted by a flood of guitars and drums. (The first track is also the same name as the band.) It’s an interesting track, and the idea it sets up is continued throughout the album. There are multiple times where the song starts out softer and more sullen, but it’s broken up by pure metal.

One thing that’s pretty notable about this band is the vocals. I’ve never really heard someone had screams with such a gargle to them. They remind me a little bit of Trevor Phipps of Unearth, but with a more raw tone. It’s a cool style, with which he mixes in a few lower growls. I wish he’d used the lower growls a tad more, but it’s still good. There are some clean vocals on here, which I at first wasn’t a huge fan of, but they definitely grew on me. Now whenever I think of these guys ‘Welcome To The Desert Of The Real’ comes to mind first.

The album also establishes pretty good atmosphere with the numerous more experimental parts, like the acoustic guitars and the haunting strings in the beginning of ‘Zaratoustra’ and the piano only song ‘Interlude’. They are solid touches, that really round out the album for me.

The guitars range from solid metalcore inspired riffing to really nice prog styled riffs. It’s a good mix, with some nice solo’s thrown in here and there. Brining up ‘Zaratoustra’ again, this song really shows off the progression these guys can go through. It’s definitely one of my favorite tracks on the album. These guys aren’t afraid to go straight up death metal though, such as on the very next track ‘Dias Irae’, which is one of the faster more riff focused tracks.

This leads me to the drums. ‘Dias Irae’ is one of the best examples of the drummers capabilities in my opinion. This track starts out blazing, has this pseudo breakdown for a moment, then feels as though it erupts into something faster than before and doesn’t let up until the song finishes.

Following that song we get the piano only ‘Interlude’ which is a really cool piece overall, and reminds me a bit of the tone of Fleshgod Apocalypse’s song ‘Agony’. It’s really cool, and again does a lot to round out the album especially being placed right after one of the fastest songs on the album.

Overall Against Tolerance is a really solid band, with a great debut album. These guys bring a lot to the table and I’m really looking forward to whatever they do in the future.