MetaL MetaL sounds like the day when punk music fell in love with Afro-Brazilian religious music. But Metá Metá’s (singer Juçara Marçal, guitarist Kiko Dinucci, and saxophonist Thiago França) album is much more than a love affair, testing the limits between the traditional and the groundbreaking, the established and the experimental. After the opening track welcomes listeners with a homage to Exu (the deity that, under the sacred liturgy of the candomblé religion, traditionally opens the rituals), the album immediately invites us into the feverish sax-and-guitar conversation of “Oya,” the second track. Particularly emblematic of the album’s soul is “Man Feriman,” an ecstatic punk-rock-like ode to the sea goddess Iemanjá that closes with an unpredictably minimalist and slow-paced arrangement. “Logun” is also a highlight, testing the boundaries of cavaquinho (conventionally a choro instrument) in ways that we will hardly hear anywhere else. For its smoother, Caribbean-like features, “Cobra Rasteira” is somewhat of an interesting detour from the drums-and-guitar intensity that prevails over most of the album. “São Jorge,” the album’s hit, has swing and beautiful lyrics in honor of Ogun, the warrior god.