There are very few doubts left that Conferência Inferno are the foremost specialists in the dark practices of electric rock in Portugal. And it is in that role that they once again lay bare their inventive methodology of sonic hermeneutics through their new album Pós-Esmeralda, a collection of songs that aims to expand the emotional possibilities of the Porto-based ensemble. For this effort, Conferência Inferno go beyond the role of mere emissaries and step into that of masters of ceremony, carving out an increasingly distinct sonic path. The essence of the electric over the organic in ill manners remains, but without strictly defining the tones with which they paint their new songs. There is an unveiling of gloomy joy from the very first seconds, with layers of major melodies in Raul Mendiratta’s synthesizers and José Silva’s keyboards, in confrontation with Francisco Lima’s vocal and lyrical despair.
Pós-Esmeralda is the conjured result of a macabre ritual from this pandemonium of Western new age, full of irony, sorrow, ecstasy, and grimaces. Dance to the end of the world, for we are all bodies, and listen to the Conferência. December 12th, at Plano B.