I.N.R.I.

Sarcofago's debut album I.N.R.I. is as responsible for influencing the look of modern Black Metal as any Bathory or Venom. It's no secret that Sarcofago made quite an impression on a young Norwegian named Oystein Aarseth, better known as Euronymous, the founder of Norway's seminal Black Metal band Mayhem. Some believe (notwithstanding Kiss and King Diamond) that Sarcofago were the first to don the macabre corpse paint, now de rigeur among today's aspiring Satanic musicians. This Brazilian horde were also pioneers in the fine art of sheer and unfettered blasphemy. To this day, Sarcofago's disdain for organized religion is unparalleled. Boundaries were pushed musically as well. Sarcofago took the aggression of classic German Thrash acts like Sodom and Kreator and cranked the tempos. Sometimes Sarcofago seemed to playing faster than they were really able to, the result is sloppy, barbaric, and most effective. It's hard to imagine how different the landscape of extreme metal might look had this album never come to be.

Sarcofago started in 1985 when Wagner Antichrist was booted from Sepultura. Sure, he could have sat at home and felt sorry for himself but instead he called on his Christ-hating homies, Incubus, Butcher, and Leprous. Sarcofago were born and soon submitted two tracks to the Cogumelo Records Compilation Warfare Noise. 1987 saw Sarcofago releasing what would be their classic, and the subject of today's post. They went on to make four more albums before calling it quits in 2000, but none of these had the ferocity of I.N.R.I..

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