Brazilian experimental duo DEAFKIDS have shared details of their forthcoming album, Cicatrizes do Futuro (Scars of the Future), a 10-track work that fuses hard electronics, global percussion, and guitar noise.
Band Background
Formed in 2010 in Volta Redonda, a small industrial city in the state of Rio de Janeiro, DEAFKIDS consists of multi-instrumentalists Douglas Leal (vocals, guitar, electronics, samplers, percussion, artwork) and Mariano Sarine (drums, percussion, electronics, bass). Their sound draws on dub-noise, metal, punk, and complex global rhythms, filtered through electronic experimentation.
Leal, who grew up in Volta Redonda, started the project as a solo endeavour at age 17, recording all instruments and releasing a demo on Myspace in 2010. Sarine, originally from São José do Rio Preto in the interior of São Paulo, joined soon after through early online connections.
Recording Process
The album was recorded in 2025. Electronic elements were captured and composed at home, while instruments and vocals were tracked at Jukebox Studio in Volta Redonda, a long-time partner of the group. It marks the duo’s first recording as a two-piece, following the departure of a former member.
Composition began in early 2023 but was paused due to touring. The pair resumed work in 2024, testing early versions of several songs during a European tour with fellow Brazilian avant-metal band Test. Leal described the creative approach as distinct from previous releases.
“The entire creative process for this album was very different from our others, firstly because it was heavily based on electronics, which allowed us to arrive at the studio with the foundations of the songs and various elements (beats, synths) already in place,” he said. “Secondly, because it was our first recording as a duo.”
Unlike earlier albums such as Metaprogramação and the joint release Sem Esperanças with Test, which used studio and post-production tools as part of the composition, Cicatrizes do Futuro was conceived as 10 independent tracks without relying on post-editing or interludes to weave them together.
Title and Themes
The album’s title translates to “Scars of the Future.” Leal explained its meaning: “It means that the future is already cursed by the very forces that pretend to build it.”
Lyrics, often obscured in the dense sound, address war, genocide, and control. Leal stated that the reality is even worse than what the songs convey, but the music functions as an active, personal, and spiritual reaction against those forces.
“I think it might sound pessimistic, but it’s my way of trying to deal with the harsh reality of things and, in some way, shed light on these dark topics,” he said. “I always try to write in a way that speaks both to external issues, historical, social, geopolitical, and to inter…”
