Sarcófago - I.N.R.I. (1987)

Oh nostalgia. When I listen to bands like Beherit, Mayhem and Brazil's own death thrashers, Sarcófago, I'm instantly taken back to those late teen years when I was discovering this previously unknown form of sonic extremity most commonly known as black metal. Emerging out of Belo Horizonte, Sarcófago took metal brutality to unforeseen new levels with 'I.N.R.I.,' combining from their small list of influences, which most likely included the likes of Hellhammer, Venom, Celtic Frost, Sodom and Death, these Brazilian's came up with something immense here.

In just twenty eight minutes the listener is completely lambasted by the bands sick, cruel, raw and just plain ugly sounding tunes. Wagner Antichrist's vocals are demonic raspy barks and utterly low growls and with even a few high pitched falsettos, though by no means sounding wimpy or corny at all! Butcher's guitars set the standard for black metal at this point, both in playing style and tone as they are a total assault of tremolo picked riffs with a raw grinding pulse that would be more popularized by Norwegians five years down the road. There's also a few quick Slayer-ish solos that just make the music more intense. D.D. Crazy's drum work is likewise just a whirlwind of relentless pummeling drum skin unlike anyone before him, though somewhat unfortunately Incubus' bass guitar is almost completely absent, in less of course you really open your ears for it.

I've always found the entire album to be of first rate material, though the opening song 'Satanic Lust' really sets things into place from the get go, while 'Nightmare' or 'Deathrash' are honestly catchy in that total old school way and of course the title track is amongst one of the most brutal songs in the 80's and with one of the most memorable and awesome lyrically conclusions ever, "Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you Jesuschrist!" Generally though I find zero failure in the bands efforts, though of course if you require things to be neat and clean and technical sounding than maybe you wont get it, but for those that love that 80's proto black/death/thrsh sound than this basically the cream of the crop.

Over the years I have, for whatever reason, never really explored the band past this album, largely because I always heard things changed a lot, dropping the Satanic image and going for lesser extreme sound, instead of building upon the might they created and as such I never wanted to ruin my thoughts of their unrivaled greatness. Perhaps another reason being that their albums were never really readily available, but labels like Greyhaze Records has changed that recently so it may be time to explore onwards.

Years later 'I.N.R.I.' remains a pillar of excellence within the black/death/thrash scene, inspiring tons for over two decades now, and as such its easily one of the best out there and absolutely required of you to listen to it.