Living with the Pigs

Chakal, the band full of "jackals," are back with this little EP that marks the last material vocalist Korg would be on till a few releases and more than a decade later, with bassist Marcelo Laranja taking over vocal duties for the next release. The guitars are solo this time around as Pepeu left as well, leaving founding member Mark to thrash and shred by his lonesome self.

The production is semi-loud, though still with some roughness so not everything's all sharp and precise sounding. The general pacing is more at a mid-range, and even when speeding up snare hits it's still not as fast as some of the tempos on the debut or surrounding thrash bands; more at a gallop than in double time. The guitars hand out palm mutes galore, along with some shifting notes that can extend from low to high. The main riffs on "Never Die Young" are along the lines of Voivod's earlier albums, with some odd and grating, though characteristic higher placed chords that normally don't find themselves in a genre known for its crushing, weighted notes. The vocals are self-distorted but still manage to change themselves up. Likewise to Vulcano's "Who Are the True," Psychic Possessor's "Toxin Diffusion" and a few others that would proceed the year in Brazil, there are some gang shouts used on the song "S.A.T.P." in a short area that sounds like an auditorium of reverberation as they backup Korg maintaining his characteristic alternating snarls, gruffs and wails that he delivered similarly to the debut.

This does have sections that are deserving, though, overall, "Living With the Pigs" isn't a brilliant or challenging recording, and there is thrash in Brazil by this point, such as Dorsal Atlantica, Psychic Possessor and Explicit Hate, that stood out more consistently. Chakal gives us a few more transitions within a song here compared to the last where they had a tendency to fall into a few lulls from not always switching their tune. Though even with the change-ups, there's still issues that arise, such as the drummer, in an attempt to up the ante from the last, unglues some of the structure. One of the main riffs on "S.A.T.P." has this attempted off-beat pause, but actually comes out of time with the drums as they just miss each other during a few of the repeated measures. There is a middling section in "Never Die Young" that throws off the momentum when they actually had it going, as it hits a few basic and uncharacteristic notes on the guitar after the strange and varied Voivod type, in an attempt to build up the moment with little emotion put into it.

Part of this seems rushed, however haste didn't become their forte like other Brazilian recordings. And this is more like a "feel around" type of recording, where the band is searching for what they are capable of in the next phase. Instead of coming out with an improved version of "Abominable Anno Domini," this comes off like a band in their demo days instead. Essentially the band reopened the drawer on composition and their drive to move slightly forward caused them to instead move a step back to what they've already accomplished. This has some moments that stick out of the crowd of nobodies, but I'd go with it slapped at end of the reissue of the debut as it's nothing worth losing copious amounts of sweat or money to get ahold of as a stand alone release. Actually check out The Mist's "Phantasmagoria," which has Korg and surrounding music that amply backs him up.

Chakal are a forgotten piece of history in the Brazilian underground. Their thrash/death wasn’t so lucky as the one of their playmates Sepultura but surely they left us some very good albums and this good EP.
“Living With The Pigs” comes directly after their first full length and contains two tracks of pure death/thrash in pure ‘80s style! Great!

S.A.T.P. (Shoot at the Police) begins with a funny song for children that talks about The Four Pigs, as well demonstrated also in the cover art work. Very funny! But after few seconds we return to reality with a great riff, so raw and massive up tempo. The guitar sound reminds me the one in “Schizophrenia” album but more raw. The vocals are on the borderline between thrash and death. The good songwriting is well demonstrated in the mid paced riffs where the refrain has been collocated perfectly. The guitar parts doesn’t seem too easy and immature, but with a great groove and quite well structured. Check out the good, fast solo!

The second track is “Never Die Young” and is mostly an up tempo with a great, distorted and dissonant main riff. The guitar parts change quite often, contributing to create a good mix without being boring. The riff you can find at 2:00 is awesome, pure thrash with some influences from Mutilator band, always from Brazil. The chorus are so strange, followed by an obscure solo. Good song.

This is a very good EP that follows more or less the same style of their first album, but the music improvement yet can be hear. With the following album they would have become definitely thrash metal, with a better production but if you want raw sounds and good thrash/death, listen to this two songs.