Psychotic Mind

Executer appeared quite late on the scene, when the old school was packing up to leave the spotlight driven away by the newly emerged groove/aggro/post-trashy forces. Not that these Brazilian “psychos” ever cared about those new trends as they unleashed their “authoritative” debut in 1991, and by doing that they did manage to catch the last train of retro metal, its last dying breath, since this was the year when some of the greatest albums ever appeared. Few paid attention to this really cool effort which saw the youngsters looking at Kreator for inspiration mixing the aggression of the Germans’ early exploits with their more intricate arrangements from “Coma of Souls”.

Brazilian thrash was still kicking in the early-90’s so the band were not alone in their fight with The Mist, Acid Storm, Holocausto, Chakal, Vodu, Sarcofago and others still around giving confidence to the upstarts. Well, Executer disappeared earlier than anyone, even before giving a chance to the metal world to find out about them, and for a while they occupied the one-album-wonder niche where other gifted Brazilian outfits like Morfeus, Butcher, Nephastus and Strangulation also ended up. Some 12 years later they resurfaced with the album reviewed here. This time their determination was bigger as they were ready to last longer which shouldn’t have been a problem with the old school resurrection campaign in full swing in the early-00’s. The delivery hasn’t changed much from the already strong debut excluding the more technical edge of the guitars the latter instantly obvious from “Los Angels”, a ripping shredder with an urgent main motif the guys moshing with passion the husky shouty vocals trying to control their over-the-top delivery by avoiding the hysterical “traps”. This is old school semi-technical thrash with covert shades of death metal the shadow of Kreator outgrown for most of the time.

“Suffering and Pain” attempts a few more moderate stomps at the beginning before the band embark on another headbanging fest never losing concentration in this hyper-active speedy rifforama which also knows its galloping side. “No More Racism” is a diverse affair with fast and slow riffs taking turns, but expect no mercy on “Message to the Weak Ones” which moshes out in an explosive fashion with the several slower passages having a twisted technical feel to them. “Involuntary Suicide” carries on in the same intense direction, a marvellous speed/thrashing fury with flashy more technical arrangements recalling Invocator’s “Excursion Demise”, Assorted Heap’s “The Experience of Horror”, and Agretator’s “Delusions”. “Chaos Memories” is a logical continuation to its predecessor preserving both the aggression and the technicality the latter presented in a jumpier, nervier manner with twisted screamy leads adding more to the picturesque cavalcade. The title-track has a delectable inauguration with twisted leads trying to make their way through, but more officiant stomps overwrite those attempts before the guys switch onto their staple highly energetic approach with lashing technical riffs flying from all sides, reaching nearly death metal-ish dramatism in the second half. All the way to “Black September” which makes no changes to the vigorous delivery thrashing far’n wide, leaving some room for a more formal mid-paced epitaph.

This time the environment was much more propitious as quite a few veterans from the 80’s had returned to restore classic metal to its former glories. Brazil also tended to this trend, and Executer saw themselves in the company of Vulcano, Chakal, Korzus, not to mention talented newcomers like Juggernaut, Rhestus, Agressor, Bywar, Jailor, Distraught… healthy competition by all means which didn’t scare them away, but only encouraged them to do better, and three years later they brought their third instalment “Welcome to Your Hell” forward. A resounding success in every department, this opus saw the guys moving up the technicality scale now looking at later-period Death for inspiration, but retaining the retro thrash perspective. Then an inexplicable long break followed suit the band vanishing from the scene again, a hiatus that was broken eight years later with “Helliday”. With all the previous accumulated inertia lost, the guys were intent on thrashing with all the passion they could muster, and this last so far offering is a full-on thrash attack without any technical embellishments. Although this is the weakest album of the Executers so far, there’s no denying the fact that the good old “psychos” still have it in them, and they can deliver both sides of the thrash metal coin going wherever their mood swings them.