Antisistema

Holy mother of cockfights this is NOT what I expected... And no I didn't expect anything as HC/Crossover'y as the band name and crude design gives hint of (been told it's not since before) but in no way was I prepared for this... Filth! We're going deep into the dark annals of the outback, d.i.y, Private Pressing underworld here, and hereabouts is were I also think "Exploring In The Space" will find the major part of its hypothetical fanbase, as the majority of even the most obscurist fringe of the 80's Metal mafia won't have a whiff of this without wrinkling their noses.

...but I'm gonna play Good Cop for the major part of this review, simply because I've got a weak spot for these kind of freaky products. It's really not a total piece of crap record, nothing like Exterminator or those infamous Morcegos-lunatics, and it definitely has enough of a Hard Rock-slash-Heavy Metal-sound to it to earn a place at The Corroseum AND it comes armed with one special superweapon: An absolutely Insane, ultradistorted guitar sound! Ok, not Parabellum-levels of insane, but maybe almost sorta at least half-way there..? However this doesn't strike you until the opening bars of the second song, seeing as the opener "Quarto Escuro" is probably the weakest tune of the album. It tries way too hard to be the Catchy New Song but instead encompasses all the sour, clumsy, amateur flaws of the band in one track. However, those krrrrraaayyzee buzzsaw guitars at the beginning of "Mundo Mudado" truly saves the day! It may be total Mom's Garage, 3rd Rehearsal-level material, but there's a skeleton of a really good NWOBHM-style song present here and it elegantly manages to sweep the shitty solos and occational vocal doo-doos under the rug. "Homens De Batalha" holds their tattered banner high by being the Heaviest Metal track of the album and while a fairly pedestrian basement-metal number its almost doomy Mercy/WF General-crunch makes it at least interesting. The two 1-minute instrumentals "Solution" and "Retorno Ao Oriente" closing the A-side is a waste of space but composition-wise I guess they at least enhance the d.i.y./do-what-thou-wilt-vibe of the album.

Opening side B is "Tired" and it's another very likeable tune, at least for us who loves crude, ancient Euro-Metal demos with Misfits-"Legacy Of Brutality"-type production values. The peculiarly christened "There's No Living And Matter" continues in the same charming style and ignoring the pointless guitar-solo intrumental "Cósmico" entirely, the last 'real' tune "White Light" serves as a great semi-ending with some killer, low-key, power/punkoid riffing and harmonies. The shorthand review: Ideal fodder for the good ol' God Bad Music blog.

An interesting fact about Antisistema is that (as far as I can tell) they're the only Brazilian 80's album-releasing band obscure enough to have eluded the comprehensive and otherwise flawless Metaleros website. Consequently, this album has reached almost mythical status and is among the most expensive items to pursue in this scene, including numerous more extreme & collectable Braz-BlackThrash underground classics. Bad Cop thinks that this might have something to do with the fact that few have ever heard it, but why would you ever consider a corrupt policeman as an authority on Heavy Metal anyway?