Alcohol, Satan, hating Christ, Sluts. It's safe to say that on the first two releases by Brazil's Sarcofago (I.N.R.I, and Rotting respectively), those four topics are written about EXCLUSIVELY. Now, as much as I get emotionally and spiritually from songs like "Ready To Fuck", and "Sex, Drinks, & Metal", the first two records just simply do not compare to their 3rd release, "The Laws of Scourge". While debut "I.N.R.I" gets most/all of the glory (and rightly so) as a very important early black metal release, this largely overlooked 3rd album is completely worthy of just as high praise to me. Viewed (and sometimes even marketed) as Sepultura's uglier, filthier, younger fuck up brothers (everyone knows vocalist/guitarist Wagner Antichrist was Sep's first singer), this record eschews the crudity of earlier releases for a excellently crafted album of hybrid death/black/thrash mastery. An anomaly in the Sarcofago canon, this record was and is proof positive that what they lost to Sepultura in record sales and popularity, they were just as capable (if not more so) in crafting tightly arranged, metal mini epics. Owing as much to Bay Area thrash and Tampa death as it does their own blackened roots, these crazed Satanic bastards for one brief moment came as close to being a class act as you'd want (or wouldn't want) them to be. Oh, and by the way, Wagner Antichrist is now a college professor, just thought I'd throw that in there. But I digress..
Immediately the first thing you'll notice about this record is the production quality. While the first two records are especially cloudy affairs, this record is as clear as a bell. You can hear everything, always, which would be a shame if it had been produced like earlier records as this release features some positively explosive riffs. Antichrist and Fabio Jhasko pull out all the stops here. From thrashier stutter picking (at 1:00 of "Piercings") to just pure militant speed picking (at 1:18 of "The Laws of Scourge"), there are riffs on here guaranteed to make the hair on your arms stand up, then fall over dead. I may be biased but the axework on this album is the high point for me as both rhythm and lead playing on this album is top notch. The drumming from Lucio Olliver is also extremely ripping and features blasting at a b.p.m. that was (pre Brutal Truth) probably the among the fastest of the era. I've heard rumors that all Sarcofago's drumming was programmed, and while their albums after "Scourge" feature admitted drum programming, I dont know if I believe that they were on this album. They're definitely triggered and/or electronic, but fuck it, it fits and they rule. The unsung hero on this album is the bassist Gerald Minelli. Why you ask? Listen to the part starting at 4:37 of "Midnight Queen", it's the little things that mean the most. Moving on, Antichrists' vocals are, as always, positively destructive. Once again, much of the grammar is lost in translation (not as bad as in the past though) but the main difference is the content. Forsaking the traditional Sarcofago "big 4" (though "The Black Vomit" from I.N.R.I does get a facelift here to nicely tie the two eras of the band together) for more personal and dare I say "emotional" lyrical stylings, unless you're a possessed, alcoholic rapist, you'll probably relate more to these lyrics than past Antichrist prose.
Now everything I just covered was enough to sell me on this record alone when I first heard it roughly 5 years ago, but the thing that really hammers home this album, and what I feel makes it so special, is the arrangements. A sense of drama is present throughout the album, and the occasional bursts of melody really makes the everpresent, hellish grinding and thrashing seem even more intense. Dropping in moments of extremely tasteful clean guitar and keyboards really shows a fearlessness to utilize the light to enhance the darkness that a majority of bands wouldn't have dared attempted in that era. An almost classic heavy metal sensibility for epic melody permeates a number of tracks like "Midnight Queen", "Screeches From The Silence", and "Crush, Kill, Destroy" that I just had not seen coming from this band, they did and do still knock me on my ass. It's elements like these that show these guys were clearly trying to play their way out of Sepultura's shadow, and in my opinion, they did, easily. Now, don't let mentions of clean guitar and keyboards scare you off. If you're looking for pretty music, keep looking as this album is a perfect example of tempering nuance, chaos, and confidence with absolute reckless abandon. Simply put, much like the majority of the Brazilian scene, this album is a brutal byproduct of political unrest, oppressive heat, and excessive alcohol consumption.
I can't reccomend this album highly enough, and much like the other records I've reviewed for Mr. Lorenzo, this definitely holds a special place in this thrashers' heart. This album has inspired me in writing music for my own band Seplophile (find the Sarcofago semi-rip on our album "Mesonoxian" and you're sure to be high fived), and will likely continue to as it has just enough layers to do so. If you at all like, or love death, or thrash metal I suppose could say something shitty and cliche like "buy or die", but I won't. Nevermind, I totally will. Buy or die, because no one escapes the laws of the scourge!!!
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