format: LP
year: 1988
country: Brazil
label: Equinox Discos
#: ATM-01
info: Insert w/ lyrics
style: Thrash Metal
Side A:
Side B:
Olde extreme Braz-Thrash is almost its own subgenre and it's a fascinating and rather colorful scene to dig into. It can however be a cumbersome experience as it's hardly the most welcoming on the ears. Imho there's two major problems: too many similar-sounding bands, and poor production values. This could be the beginning of an essay on the subject but I'm not gonna delve any deeper than that, so here's your full stop.
The point I want to make is that this album is neither well produced nor particularly original, but I still consider it to be in the Top 5 of the entire scene. Why? Because it's Better.
They sound positively i - n - s - a - n - e in the very best of ways. The vocalist probably wanted to be the new Mille P but instead sound straight-up 90's Black Metal. It's feckin' FAST - like, SADUS/NECRODEATH-fast, to make some non-Braz contemporary comparisons. So Sepultura might have been tighter (well, from "Schizophrenia" and onwards anyhow..) and Sarcófago evil'er but at least on this debut they absolutely shred through 90% of the 87/88 Thrash competition. Their riff-lego is great with all the riffs & bits & tempos in the right places (or tastefully "wrong" places), in turn giving their tunes some almost symphonic qualities - without overdoing it and flirting w/ boring 'techno'-territories mind you. It's hard to pick some particular fave tracks but the opener "Dying Smashed" displays all the mentioned strenghts into one tune perfectly, and the following "Marching Over Blood" starts off with some merciless, militant, stomping marching-order riffing that for some funny reason reminds me of that "Silvester Anfang"-intro on Mayhem's "Deathcrush". Demo-favourite "Children's Assassins" is another epic fave of riffalicious perfection and we couldn't ask for a better closer in the ultraspeedster "Samurai" - I love how that title sounds so trad-Metal and yet it's the fastest most brutal number of the album.
Unfortunately the following "Limits Of Insanity" LP from the year after is a major letdown. The changed to a vocalist more suited for American PowerThrash and the music followed in the same generic footsteps. Luckily they upped their game of the final "Disturbing The Noise" LP from '91, where the vox & the Metal were back in the fast'n'brutal lane. Still, if you're looking to complete the collection of early proto-DM and 80's Brutal Thash, this debut is their one Must-Have.