"Haunting, cavernous, mysterious, heavy and dark... Purveyors of a huge sound with a loaded message" ~ Big Takeover Magazine
"Ambitious... a pounding reality-based offering" ~ The Spill Magazine
"Quest for spiritual healing and dealing with the highs and lows of life and toxic people. It touches upon how hard is to cope with grief and loss and how rewarding it is to bounce back from rock bottom" ~ Prog Magazine
"Pentral take the listener into the Amazon, its beauty, punctuated with atmospheric sounds of nature pulled directly from the rainforest, through all the harsher elements, unveiled through the heavier deliverance of 12 pulsating tracks" ~ American Songwriter
"Fine specimen of dark and haunting metal rock, the power of which is amplified through atmospheric background vocal contributions throughout" ~ Amplify Music Magazine
"An orchestral/progressive style that is hard to attain. Beyond the progressive sound, however, is that original set of three personalities only found in the best power trios" ~ Jammerzine
Like an unstoppable train, Brazilian progressive rock / metal trio Pentral power ahead with their new single 'The Shell I'm Living In' from their debut long-player 'What Lies Ahead of Us'. This 10-track LP saw legendary producer Tim Palmer (Robert Plant, Ozzy Osbourne, David Bowie's Tin Machine, The Mission, HIM, U2, Pearl Jam) co-producing with Pentral, Sergio Fouad and Cesar Bottinha. Palmer also mixed the LP, which was mastered by Justin Shturtz (HIM, The Psychedelic Furs, Nancy Wilson, Slipnot, Tin Machine).
Hailing from Belém in northern Brazil, Pentral is Victor Lima (vocals, guitars, songwriter, lyrics), Vagner Lima (drummer) and Joe Ferri (bass guitar). This album exposes the tragic reality of many Amazon dwellers, whose habitat, lifestyle and livelihood are brutally taken from them, not to mention the destruction of the forest itself. Through their videos and lyrics, Pentral tells the story about this violence and pilfering of the Amazon's natural habitat.
"One of the chapters of our debut album 'What Lies Ahead Of Us', the child and her mother in mourning after the death of her husband, roam around the city. It is meditative and emotional, but also fierce and energetic. An inspirational rock song to make you think and get some extra strength, thinking about the huge challenges many people face around the world," says Victor Lima.
"Poverty and hunger have no specific place or country. All around the world you see people who are socially deprived due to a lack of food, health, freedom, education and many other needs. In Brazil is no different and we’ve never been worse than we are now. In our “story” describing the daily reality – the mother and her child after running away from the forest that is being burned down and try to survive inthe city, facing hunger and all sorts of harassment, with a spiritual presence always around them."
Earlier, Pentral released high-energy singles 'No Real Colour In Souls', 'Aiming For The Sun', 'All My Wounds' and 'Silent Trees' - the sonic launching pad into a concept album reflecting on today's society, presenting the saga of a lowly couple fighting for their lives and sanity. The accompanying video sequence was filmed in their native Amazon – a dedicated saga unfolds, track by track. Directed and edited by Roger Elarrat and produced by Luana Klautau, this also involves Lucas Escócio as director of photography, this video features actors Anne Costa, Guto Galvão, Eduarda Cursino, Boris Knez and Aldo Lima.
The lyrics speak about loss. The kid and her mother are wandering around the forest as they know they have to get out and try to go on with their lives somewhere away from that place. Racism is clearly portrayed on the song as well. This is an odious plague that still chases up the human beings and that have to be confronted. It’s a quite introspective song! It resonates with the name of the band – Pentral, which means Soul. At the end of the day, this is what we really are – a Soul, before, during, and after our material existence.
Their unique take on alternative rock can be described as progressive, heavy, groovy and melodic, while the band also deliver a strong political message about what is going on in Brazil and all over the world.
Pentral stands for 'spirit' in Latin, indicative of the message this band is trying to inspire via their sound - the need to transcend this material world through the power of music, without losing connection with reality and human frailties.
Deeply influenced by their Amazon roots, Pentral's music is influenced by many global influences while also striving to honor Brazil's groove and unique harmonies, progressive rock, metal music, atmosphere and melody. This debut album sums up years of experimentation and the search for human awareness of the environment, peace and equality.
"The album 'What Lies Ahead of Us' is like a "declaration" and it was conceived way before COVID-19 came out...But it kind of fits the current reality we´re going through. This pandemic is the outcome of the unfriendly way we've been treating our environment and ourselves as well, and it served to expose our insensitivity, our lack of empathy,"says Pentral frontman Victor Lima.
"It's a story about a man and a woman who lives in the woods. The forest is invaded by a group of mercenaries (pretty common in Brazil) in order to burn the woods down and make money with that, the man is killed, the woman manages to survive and she is pregnant, then she gives birth to a girl, and They try to survive in the city, experiencing racism, violence, hunger, selfishness, indifference. The only thing they have - they love each other. So, the elements of the story - environment being destroyed, people suffering discrimination by the color of their skin, by the place where they came from, being selfish and violent for the sake of their own interests and prejudices, politics and religion abuse and extremism and the only way I believe things could be solved - the power of love."
'What Lies Ahead of Us' album is out now everywhere digitally, including Apple Music and Spotify. It can be ordered via https://pentral.lnk.to/ WhatLiesAheadOfUs or via Amazon.
CREDITS
All songs written by Victor Lima
Produced by Pentral and Tim Palmer
Co-produced and engineered by Sergio Fouad and Cesar Botinha
Justin Shturtz - mastering
Tim Palmer - mixing, additional guitars, percussion and keyboards
Victor Lima - vocals and guitars
Vagner Lima - drums
Joe Ferri - bass guitar
Cover artwork by Heidi Teillefer
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