Sunday, January 27, 2008

A Primer in Brazilian Black Thrash Metal

Perhaps when you think of Brazil you think of sun-drenched beaches, painful pube waxing, or really hot transexuals, but I think of raw, untamed hellish metal!!! In the late '80s and early '90s Brazil was fertile ground for crazy thrashing blackened death noise. At the forefront of this scene was Cogumelo Records. The label still exists to this day. Over the years Cogumelo has released albums from such Brazilian legends as Sepultura, Impurity, Vulcano, Sextrash and many more, but the 1986 compilation, "Warfare Noise" is Cogumelo's early mission statement. Four of the label's earliest, and best, signings are presented. All four bands presented are from Belo Horizonte Brazil and all seem to push the tempos beyond anything any other metal bands were doing at the time. Chakal kick things off with two rabid cuts of sloppy, barbaric thrash. Mutilator are a bit tighter than Chakal but still as fast. Next is Sarcofago, the godfathers of Brazilian satanic terror. Sarcofago is a band you should know, their influence on modern black metal is huge. If you don't know their album "I.N.R.I." then you'd do wise to seek it out. The war-obssessed Holocausto finish things off with their clumsy, primitive tracks. Although Sarcofago is my favorite band on here, it is Holocausto's contribution to "Warfare Noise" that I find most compelling. As great a comp as "Warfare Noise" is, it doesn't even begin to scratch the surface of how immense and weird the Brazilian scene was, but it's as good a place to start as any. Agora acreditar su alma a Brasileira metal!!!

Here

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Vulcano's Bloody Vengeance has always been my favorite album from this era but there is some great stuff on here. I'll have to dig up some more stuff from Chakal

Ambassador MAGMA said...

Holy Brazilian Hot Wax!

Anything Sarcofago so much as spit on is pure gold.

I haven't even downloaded this but I have a feeling this is my favorite thing you have put on here.

You know, everyone points to Venom as having this huge influence on BM, but somebody was hiding Sarcofago records under their matress. It was all there. I'm no authority, but they are the first BM band in my eyes.

A thousand thank yous, Aesop!!! Aces High tonight!

Bobovdeath said...

man,what is it about old south american thrash thats so rumbling and chaotic and fuckin rad muddy? shits dope.

Anonymous said...

thanks for the sarcofago and Holocausto. shit rules. the warfare noise comp only comes through with 2 tracks when I've finished DLing, the rest come out as like simple text or something. maybe I'm retarded?