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Rodrigo D: No Futuro

Metal audiences and listeners, aficionados of a genre that is well known for it’s enthusiasm towards the macabre will always have the generalization of being attached to the horror genre. A very recent review of Cannibal Holocaust on here is testament to the leanings that many metallers and Hessians would have towards gore, science fiction and the supernatural, occult side of cinema. Seeing as Cannibal Holocaust did ‘realism’ to a certain extent,  reviewing Rodrigo D: No Futuro intends to further this. This drama film, about an aspiring drummer is a brilliant narrative about survival amidst the harshest and roughest of environments captures a realism not present in most forms of dramatic cinema, but also possesses the same punk nihilism that would easily appeal to anybody who enjoyed Alex Cox’s brilliant ‘Repo Man’ and Tim Hunter’s ‘Rivers Edge’, stripped towards a far more coherent realism that is totally at odds with commercial  ‘glossy’ film-making.

The fact that the film was shot in the same neighborhood where many of the main actors lived, within a city known to have the world’s highest murder rate at the time, only gives light to the fact as to how these young people would have gone about their daily lives, for which reason the writer feels rather little need to offer intricate details towards the plot of the film. It’s backdrop revolves around a day to day existence under the constant plethora of violence, crime, strife and nothingness for it’s young protagonists, amidst a musical backdrop that is a myriad of punk hardcore, thrash and early death/black metal, an indicator that if Europe were home to romanticism and North America a hotbed for nihilism, then surely in it’s earlier days the South American metal scene was the land where a brutal realism, born from poverty and societal decay, made itself clear.

Musically the soundtrack is one of the most compatible, suitable and cohesive to be heard in any underground flick. The fact that the bands featured on here are so distinctly similar to one another yet retaining their own character is perhaps indicative of a thriving yet incestuous underground scene in Medellin at the time, the savage and raw tonal quality having much in common, but perhaps a much more chaotic, ambient, stripped down take on what the Brazilian underground acts (Sepultura, Sarcofago, Mutilator, Vulcano, Sextrash) had done in a similar era. The remaining soundtrack is permeated with punk rock and hardcore that although not on the same level of corrosive aggression still oozes the same depravity and oblivion that makes the film all the more worthwhile and excellent.

An additional bonus to this is the presence of members of seminal Columbian act Parabellum in the film, the scene in which they are featured being poignant and insightful enough to merit that parts of the film were as good as being documentary footage. The scene featuring another local act, Blasfemia is excellent and iconic, with the band playing a rooftop gig/rehearsal, in the backdrop of idyllic mountains in the distance of decrepit, violent shanties.This is a highly recommended film for anyone fond of exploring realism within cinema, and also for those who want insight into South American underground music of the 80′s, getting hold of the soundtrack would be highly recommended. A gripping film, and both watcher or listener is entitled to take that opinion in either direction.

Death Metal Album of the Week: Hellwitch – Syzygial Miscreancy

Do you want the perpendicular magic of obscure Floridian scientific death metal to take you into an extinguished state of bliss? Do you desire opaque fusion rhythms to altercate with your heartbeat causing it to skip steps? Do you dare forsake brutal mosh party antics in order to proceed to a mentally intricate level of personal and musical analysis? An affected bit of text there, I know, but it is impossible to avoid when commencing another run of Pat Ranieri‘s merely 26 minutes long meisterwerk, after half a minute of classical guitar intro cutting the crap and going for the throat with the initial solo in “Nosferatu”, a technical thrash abomination conceived in 1984. With such timeless expression, age hardly matters, but it’s worth mentioning because these guys were both thematically and musically far ahead Cynic‘s and Death‘s new age postures and theoretically just might have predated Atheist as well, who anyway beat them by a year in debut album release. Hellwitch‘s banquet table of speed metal, thrash and death metal can justifiedly be called non-organized, but that is exactly because the band shows no mercy in letting loose a sensual storm of associative significance, a swarm of noises including ridiculously angular solos and voices manipulated into cyborgian declarations. Despite the abstaining running time, a notable richness of taste and fullness of effort permeates this album, from the Renaissance touches in “Mordirivial Dissemination” to the speedcore foreshadowing of Deicide’s “Legion” which characterizes “Pyrophoric Seizure”. Thrash influence dominates in the use of short riffs and sparse punk influenced tremolos underneath elaborate and abstracted solos as in the tightly minimalistic spouting of syllables in lyrics that can hardly be called trivial even while there is an unjustified use of thesaurus; a frightening urgency of seeing a world falling into an apocalypse with the promise of demonic saviours permeates the text, gripping the heart of those not lured into false optimism by the pact society has instated upon an instinctively barbaric man. “Syzygial Miscreancy” manages to be metal from the mind of a zen priest and the mind of a panicking computer all at once – it hardly surprises that Antti Boman of Demilich has paid them tribute by guesting on their 2009 comeback album, which probably should be gotten under scrutiny somewhere in the future, before we all get blown by one catastrophe or another into this primordial plasma described (especially through Stravinskyian guitar work) by Hellwitch.

Death Metal Album of the Week: Dismember – Like an Everflowing Stream

Intricate, violent and permeated by northern lights in the form of Classical and Romantic pre-Gothenburg melodic influences, the debut album of Dismember, arguably the master of Stockholm death metal scene, took the world by storm and was instantly imitated by many a musical wanderlusting soul breathing the ether of the early 90′s. As an eagle flying through a blizzard, consonant themes interact in a matrix of suggestion while the guttural vocals emphasize the active, garage born hardcore ethic in electrifying the music with moments of relentless harshness and distortion to offset the aching beauty of the severed spinal cord strings of David Blomqvist’s and Robert Sennebäck’s threatening and archaic phrasing. The powerful alienated wails brought by the “whammy wizard” Nicke of Entombed bear mention as a non-trivial element in this journey of gloomy souls from the Candlemass-meets-Slayer traditionalism of “Dismembered” to the outrageous moshpit destroying hysteria of “Skin Her Alive”, which matches every proto death metal moment of “Reign in Blood” or “Master” in directness. What makes Dismember‘s debut one of the most elusive, underestimated and permanent death metal albums from the Nordic kingdoms is their uncanny ability to match the beauty of solemn dirges with the intoxicated riots of Stockholm’s torn-jeans-and-baseball-caps Tunnelbana punks, mostly realized in troubling and uncomfortable juxtapositions, such that often make for more meaningful art than perfectly resolved and consistent style and aesthetics.

Vomitor – Bleeding The Priest

On first listen some would easily assume that this release were a mere product of nostalgia of underground metal of the 1980′s, at least indicated so by the production and indication that are present here. However this is death/speed/black metal firmly rooted in the underground crossover tradition of the 80′s and retains a firmly Australian sound to it. A good description of Vomitor‘s output would be the the epic thrashing of national pioneers Slaughter Lord and the crusty, retrograde execution and production that was witnessed on Spear Of Longinus‘ brilliant ‘Domni Satnasi’ album. Seeing as Vomitor have two members of SOL in their line-up this overlap is of no surprise, and gives ‘Bleeding The Priest’ a similar quality of riffcraft and execution, which is atavistic but is well versed in older styles of metal. The attitude of this release evokes German speed metal, doing the early works of Sodom and Kreator strong justice, and the manner in which catchy guitar sequences are utilised sometimes evokes Razor, had they been influenced by Possessed rather than Motorhead. A thoroughly consistent work, ‘Bleeding The Priest’ stands strongly as a milestone of Australian metal, a like a few other traditionalist acts within this genre serves as proof of ability to make new waves from trodden water, rather than being a ‘re-hash’. Very good. 

Death Metal Album of the Week: Lou Cyfer / Cirrhosis – What is Your Pleasure? / Alcohol Rules

No, we are not being extorted by the Brazilian mafia. Nor are these the most compelling album titles, I’ll give you that, so imagine my surprise when these brothers of Sarcófago from Belo Horizonte ended up delivering a torrent of cruel riffs, delirious melodies and the same chugging, rough death metal approach one heard in the underrated “The Laws of Scourge“. We have two bands here, Lou Cyfer going on to record the capable but not as good “Worship Flesh” album while Cirrhosis, which initially boasted the involvement of Wagner himself (alongside a creepy “invisible man” on bass), recorded something forgettable much later with other members. In this involving, over-vomited split one can get an inkling of the amount of talent that used to lurk behind the spotlights of the few famous Brazilian death/thrash maniacos.

Ironically this crudely produced split sounds more clearly defined and soberly performed than most Cogumelo Records LP’s, especially the Cirrhosis side holding back tension by chaining gothic melodies and ponderous, thundering interludes to “INRI” throwbacks with musical, logical expertise, which by some Dionysian accident got itself conceptualized into songs such as “Addicted to Alcohol”. While mostly simple Brazilian death worship in genesis, the seductive smoothness of Cirrhosis’ intoxicated bastards in building rhythmic, evil expectation like conjuring shadows of the so far immaterial black metal movement, particularly the Greek style, make these small gems such as “The Last Temptation of Christ” small but significant reminders of beauty and organization in universe, like the sight of a shimmering brook amidst a gnarled, arduous sylvan path.

Death Metal Album of the Week: Sarcófago – The Laws of Scourge

We dive again into the industrial multiplexes of Belo Horizonte and adulate the sadistic roar of the appropriately named Wagner Antichrist and Gerald Incubus, whose musical inventions did not stop with the blasphemous “INRI”, which defined the next decades of black metal. While the sophomore offering “Rotting” approached pure alcohol delirium in chaos and unsound production, yet containing both satire and atmospheric black metal in the form of “Sex, Drinks & Metal” and “Nightmare” respectively, “The Laws of Scourge” remains the most musically intact, fully developed and self-confident Sarcófago full-length album. As if the Finnish hardcore LP’s had been traded for German speed and death metal, themes of paranoia and divided, schizoid personality afflict this art while the compositions are architected upon cold, rhythmic, needle-sharp riffs occasionally enhanced by hyperdramatic, even cheesy, keyboards and concluded by Wagner’s desperate screams. Much in the vein of “Terrible Certainty” era Kreator, the old school metal patterns ride on a stream of militaristic, aggressive drumming that spaces the tension between the passages of hysteric stagediving metal too concretely energized to fully fit into the confines of shadowy underground death worship at this point, but too aware of causes and effects to simply become another Headbanger’s Ball “thrash” marketing item. A version of the classic “The Black Vomit” is included almost as if on purpose to demonstrate the technical differences between various approaches and strains into metal art, a dimensional revolving swastika whose arms are hardcore, speed metal, death metal and black metal – it’s unnecessary to determine in what ways exactly this album was worse than “INRI”, because the beautiful and terrifying moods on offer make “The Laws of Scourge” unique and indispensable as well.

Death Metal Album of the Week: Slaughter – Strappado

Some early speed and death metal risked numbing its sense of continuity at times, and this could be put down to a number of factors. Much underground metal in the 80′s found a lack of conceptual focus in it’s topical and structural narrative, with thematic loopholes sometimes occurring in particular works. This was also a particular mishap apparent in some early heavy metal, where the musical restraints of blues and rock music had yet to be eschewed in favour of more direct, aggressive, and in many instances alienating forms of execution and structure. Along with classic and and seminal works from acts such as Possessed, Slayer, Bathory, Sepultura and Necrovore among others, the sole album by this Canadian act shows a simplification of previous themes and in the process crafts embryonic, yet furious death metal. Recorded early in 1986 and representing a quantum leap for the nihilism of death metal, Slaughter’s first album is a pioneering work that drones with hardcore simplicity, taking the rhythmical backdrop of Discharge and enhancing it’s pace and aggression in accordance to the standards of underground metal.

The guitars on the album are of very strong and distinct quality, with a buzz-saw cacophony that mostly churns out one-note strums with a emphasis on small melodic shifts at the end of each riff cycle, just as minimal as Hellhammer but with a more compact and streamlined execution. On first listen anyone familiar with Swedish acts such as Carnage, Entombed, Dismember, Unleashed should without doubt acknowledge this similarity. In addition it could be argued that this record has all the hallmarks of a classic Sunlight Studios production, as stylistically both Slaughter and the aforementioned Swedes took their musical foundations from hardcore. The differentiations occur in the use of musical language, with ‘Strappado’  being percussively stern and less subject to variation, and lacking the technical motifs that are a mainstay of foundational death metal. Thematically and musically this bears a strong influence on later Canadian acts such as Blasphemy and Conqueror, especially when hearing the latter’s cover of ‘The Curse’.

For some the vocals would be a minor letdown, having none of the distinctive rasp or bellow commonly expected. Dave Hewson’s vocals are almost similar to that of Mike Browning on Morbid Angel’s ‘Abominations Of Desolation’ given a context that share a common timbre with speed metal and thrash. Lyrically cohesive and minimal, themes of execution, torture, occultism and devastation permeate ‘Strappado’, and when combined with the musical onslaught, evoke mystical images of a post-apocalyptic future in which primitive tribalism reigns upon the decrepit ruins of industrial society. Brilliant.

Death Metal Album of the Week: Sepultura – Morbid Visions

The hot suburbs of Belo Horizonte shook with tremors as the satanic presence penetrated the walls of the Catedral da Boa Viagem. Dirty underground scoundrels gave bloody birth to Brazil’s death thrash phenomenon that was about span dozens of malicious LP’s of metal music released by Cogumelo Records consumed with thousands of liters of cheap alcohol that caused physical uproars of vomit, feces and mayhem. As with the majority of death metal classics, this music is a product of a group of young men having turned off their lobe of sanity, possibly by watching too much demonic possession horror movies and consuming every second of available music by bands such as Ratos de Porão, Hellhammer, Slayer and Terveet Kädet with a great deal of childish wide-eyed attention.

Neo-classical hardcore/thrash riff master Andreas Kisser is not yet in the band so his space is filled by the chaotic and fragmentary lo-fi signals of Max Cavalera’s unstable staccato rhythm guitar and the bursting leads of Jairo G., who later joined The Mist. Max’s vocals are the barks of a hostile Rottweiler or a species of South American wolf unknown to man, with a sharp rhythmic aggression no-one mastered with such bestiality as the hardcore punks and thrashers of this geographic region. The anarchist battery performed by his brother is a stupendous amalgamation of uncontrolled blastbeats still rare in this genre of music but hybridized by merging the messy Finnish hardcore/noise percussion heard in Kaaos and Kuolema with the more structured corpse puncturation of Dave Lombardo. Nearly none of the beautiful symmetry of “Beneath the Remains” exists here, as we are witnessing something like the primal life that arose in the jungles of the Mesozoic era, as plants, insects and reptiles grow, swarm, bite and rot in the ever-spinning cycles of evolution and death. I recommend this album for the brutals, as there is a reason it’s not called “Progressive Visions”.

Nuclear Assault – Game Over

Taking the NWOBHM informed song structures that defined speed metal and the muted, percussive power chord led riffs that were the pattern language of the speed metal underground, Nuclear Assault incorporated elements of crossover punk and thrash into their music. Guitars have a sharp, grating and garage like-tone amidst the clear sounding and well thought out bass guitar lines of Dan Lilker. John Connelly’s punk falsetto is excellent, a gravelly yet apocalyptic wail that amuses yet inspires.

Lyrically this takes the satire one could associate with crossover acts such as Adrenalin O.D. and Fearless Iranians From Hell, and rather than solely attempting to amuse us, makes for relevant social commentaries that reflected and mocked the issues that were heavy on the American subconscious, amongst mildly apocalyptic themes that still were embedded in the Cold War’s late phase, warning of post-nuclear desolation.

Short, humoured and abrupt songs such as ‘Hang The Pope’ and ‘My America’ resemble a more aggressive take on the thrashings of DRI and Millions Of Dead Cops, whilst ‘Sin’, ‘Stranded In Hell’ and ‘Brain Death’ are richly melodic and have a brilliant sense of irony, and almost reminds of Iron Maiden stripping themselves of romanticism in the wake of an uncertain, primitive future.

This is commonly also available with the follow-up EP ‘The Plague’ on CD format and compliments the excellence of their full-length. In addition, this is a timeless and influential metal album that summed up the hopes, dreams and fears of 1980’s America in less than an hours worth of material, and is absolutely essential.