Sarcófago
Crust
[Cogumelo]


At a time when many of their contemporaries have transformed into pathetic shadows of their former self, plying sub standard music to fans who have forgotten the days of old, Sarcófago have managed to keep the ferocity that engulfed the scene back in the early 80’s well and truly alive. With this 4 track serving the boys from Brazil demonstrate that many years in the business has done nothing to dull their razor sharp edge. Crust serves as a reminder to how black metal should be played : No keyboards reeking of homosexuality, no feeble female vocals lamenting a love lost and of course no cheesy spoken word intervals : Crust is raw, brutal black served hard, fast and fucking cold.

The hyper-fast [courtesy of machine, not man] pulse a provides a machine gun–like backing for the onslaught and with titles like “ Fuck off the melodic black metal’ you know you aren’t in for a Cradle Of Filth wank fest. The guitars on Crust wail and scream perfectly throughout the 12 minutes as they provide the brutal riffs that will keep all the true and grim fans , sick of happy sounding melodies in black metal ,quite satisfied. Although rather simplistic, the song structures are varied enough to keep it interesting and fit snugly around the harsh, brutal sound of Sarcófago .

All through out great use of the double kick is utilized with the speed occasionally dropping slightly through out, only to be re-invigorated by a blast beat or frantic double kick action. Vocally, the Brazilians use a style more likely to be found on some fucked porno-death-grind album. Nothing but indecipherable low, deep growling and gurgling permeates the vocal landscape on this album and surprisingly it sounds perfect. Who knows if there are lyrics for this, it sounds as if the vocalist stepped up to the mic and set out to make as many random growling noises put through vocals effects as possible

As to date, this cd was the last thing released by the band , over two years ago, and hopefully the next release will be something as respectable as Crust. Mayhem and other such bands should take heed – long years in the scene does -not- give you the right to slack off and start producing utter- tripe. A cd that is a very welcome addition to any fans of raw, simplistic black metal. Something to fist-fuck nuns to..

9/10


© 2003 hassan