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..

Here

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