Band:	Vulcano
Album:	Stone Orange
Style:	Death metal, Thrash metal
Release date:	April 29, 2022
A review by:	RaduP

01. Metal Seeds
02. Putrid Angels Ritual
03. Tear Gas
04. Keep Mind
05. A Night In A Metal Gig
06. 7 Seconds In Hell
07. Stone Orange
08. Trigger Of Violence
09. Night Terror With Satan
10. Rebels From 80s
11. Ship If Dead
12. The Altar Of Defiance
13. Witches Don't Lie
14. Lives Moves Toward Death
15. 418
16. Vulcano Will Live Forever [Cadaverise cover]

Four decades later, this Vulcano still erupts.

This was about the third time I had added this particular album to my queue. Not because Stone Orange would be an amazing album that everybody needs to hear, but because I wanted to review a Vulcano (not to be mistaken for Volcano) album after not having the time to do their previous one, 2020's Eye In Hell. But then every time the release day came, I couldn't find it available anywhere, and when I checked the release was postponed again. Imagine my surprise when the third time I actually found the album streaming! So merely because of that, Stone Orange was my most anticipated album for a while. Did I need to review this particular record? Not really. As far as I'm concerned, you could listen to any Vulcano record, and especially 1986's Bloody Vengeance, but Stone Orange is still far from a bad first Vulcano album to check out.

The reason I really wanted to do a Vulcano album was purely due to Bloody Vengeance's merits. As Sepultura and Sarcófago dominate the discussion on early extreme metal and thrash metal in the Brazilian scene, it's easy to miss bands with some classic status like Mutilator, Holocausto, Chakal, Korzus, and yes, Vulcano. Sure, it's a bit weird to talk about Bloody Vengeance's legacy on a review of Stone Orange, considering that it's only the bassist of that record, Zhema Rodero, that's still a Vulcano member, and he's not even a bassist anymore (he's been doing guitars on most albums since). Vulcano never really had much of a steady lineup, but had a longtime vocalist and drummer previously, so the oldest album to have any other current member on it is 2009's Five Skulls And One Chalice.

Anyway, Stone Orange is pretty removed in lineup from most other Vulcano, but not really in sound. This is still thrash metal with a death metal and a first wave of black metal touch, albeit with a bit more of a modern production. There's still quite some rawness to the sound that harkens back to the 80s, as the band brings quite a lot of speed in the performance, and one look at the tracklist should reveal that there's at least some tongue-in-cheek sense of humor about the whole thing. I'm pretty sure Stone Orange didn't need to be this long, as this is a sound that always works better in albums at least ten minutes shorter, but I've heard plenty of thrash albums even more adamant to cram filler. As far as Stone Orange is concerned, it finds a pretty cool balance between proto-extreme metal and heavy speed in its sound.

And closing the album with a cover of a track that another band has written in tribute to them is the perfect tribute loop. Maybe Vulcano will live forever.