Rotting

Quake with fear, mortal fools. Wagner and Co. are back with a vengeance.

Rotting was released in 1989, so this is getting to just about the pinnacle of death/black metal. By this time genres such as thrash were well established and death metal, grindcore, and black metal were on the rise. Sarcofago had made a name for themselves two years before with INRI, perhaps the most influential album in the extreme realm of music at the time (Napalm Death's Scum and Bathory's Under the Sign of the Black Mark are just as extreme for 1987, I'd say). What was considered extreme by Possessed, Sepultura, Slayer, Death, Dark Angel, and Bathory's standards paled compared to INRI. In my opinion, Sarcofago get a gold medal here for pushing the extreme boundaries of metal music for the era. What came next, I believe, is the pinnacle of their career.

This album seems to be Sarcofago's most underrated release from the early days since Wagner only referred to it as an EP and was chronologically released between their most legendary occult/Satanic era (INRI) and more tech death metal era (Laws of Scourge), but staying true to their image and the music, it holds up extremely well against INRI. I mean, come on. Listening back to INRI, if you look at just that album and its message. How could you top that? Well, Wagner does it right here on this spawn of an album. This album musically, ideologically, and even visually is more mature than INRI with its over the top speed, production, blasphemous LP art, and overall messages in the music. The shock value is just as apparent if not exacerbated on this release. The outrageous sexual and anti-Christianity/agnostic themes are still in full force, but still retain some of the Satanic vibe as seen with the inclusion of Nightmare from INRI. Be warned, this album is not at all for the feint of heart.

The overall feel of the music is extremely sinister and is perhaps one of the most intense experiences I have ever felt listening to an album. Compared to death metal and black metal music I had heard prior to this, it just did not compare. There is something inherently evil about Rotting that makes it so goddamn heavy. The atmosphere is completely hellish and morbidly captured in every song. It is a combination of the ghastly sonics, intense rhythms, choice of chords, and tortured screams of Wagner that really make this album come together. Some of the screams on Tracy at 2:39, 4:49, and 5:17 and Alcoholic Coma at 3:23 literally sent frightening shivers down my spine after the first time hearing them. The middle and ending of Alcoholic Coma that simulates a comatose patient are eerie, too. The album just reeks of blasphemy, decay, and a heavily polemic stance toward mainstream beliefs/religions.

Production-wise, the guitar sound is similar to Morbid's December Moon demo or Kreator's Terrible Certainty album, however it sounds more organic and definitely more heavy. A very crunchy tone. Who knew Wagner was such an accomplished guitarist? The riffing is crisp and fucking fast. The beginning of Alcoholic Coma and some of the ending Tracy riffs are played so incredibly fast you have to listen to them to hear what I mean. Solos by Wagner are less technical that what is laid down on Laws of Scourge, but get the point across and suit the music well. The bass is nice and clear as well, perfectly layering the horrific distortion and relentless drumming from Joker. Session drummer Joker really shines here, playing more technically sound than D.D. Crazy. His blast beats in every song are some of the fastest and intense blast beats I've heard in extreme metal. During the fast parts in Tracy and Rotting it's hard to believe a human being is hitting those drums that hard and not faltering under the duress of the tempo. Absolutely fucking insane. The production on the drums is top notch by Gaugin; they are piercing and just sound huge in the mix. There's good reverb (as opposed to bad reverb) on all the instruments and is occasionally added to Wagner's voice for more dramatic effect. Wouldn't have it any other way.

The compositions on Rotting can be best described as epic, transcending most extreme metal in its day. The damning, haunting feeling of many of the songs hold up extremely well against other efforts in 1989. If Altars of Madness didn't exist, I'd call this the most important death metal album of 1989. The lyrics are foreboding, often frightening or flat out hedonistic and complement the heaviness and intensity.

We start with the intro, The Lust. Simply put, it's an orgy of moaning females and a few monstrous demon voices thrown in. The track is just over the top Satanic sexuality at its best. The track segues well into the grisly intro riff to Alcoholic Coma.

Alcoholic Coma begins and, boy, once that riff comes in, it is a quantum leap from INRI. The band explodes into a blasting frenzy right off the bat with Wagner leading the charge with a supremely razor sharp tone and technical riffs played at breakneck speeds. It does not take a genius to realize just a few seconds in that this just flat out kicks ass. After a few riffs there is a middle section where Wagner simulates a patient in a hospital bed breathing his final breaths before he meets his nightmarish fate from alcohol consumption. A slow, doomy section follows and returns to its high velocity beginnings. The song like many on this album is a pure avalanche of riffing and blasting madness. What a way to start off the album. Wagner's voice is also incredibly harsh and the sheer intensity never lets up.

Up next we have Tracy. Tracy tells the sick, frightening story of a young woman fallen victim to an untimely fate by her sadistic, necrophile lover. The lyrics of the song are sufficiently evil and are bound to strike bouts of anxiety upon listens. Wagner's screams sound absolutely horrific and powerful. Simulating his power and sadism over his now dead female victim, it creates a ghastly image in the listener's mind over the heinous sexual pleasures that are about to transpire. The screams in the middle of the song, "Tracy......I love you........" are some of the most evil vocals I have ever heard in a metal song. Musically the track builds and builds upon the galloping verse riff until it reaches a more sinister feel in the middle section, where the band alternates in between harmonic dissonant punches and unrelenting blasts. All of the riffs in the song are EXTREMELY heavy and are so epic. Time changes, horrific lyrics, tons of blast beats, layered riff after riff, and demonic screams make this a sheer epic on the EP. Definitely a favorite of mine.

Rotting is the pure diatribe of the album. Lyrically it is a return to the polemic stance Sarcofago is known for. The structure of the song is very similar to Tracy, although it is way more doomy riff-wise. The first half of the song is slow then erupts into a blast beat manifesto. As usual the riffing is so goddamn heavy and fits the overall feel of the album. The whole song, especially the choruses are dreadfully morbid and dripping with hate. Great complement to the album cover too.

Sex, Drinks, & Metal is a nice a 3 minute scorcher, shouting praise of well.......SEX, DRINKS, AND FUCKING METAL! I guess you could call this the most "normal" song on Rotting. It has, per usual fast dissonant riffs, hyper blasts, and cool odes to the lifestyle all metalheads should adhere to. Just a good fun song from the album. Not so epic song-wise, but the message is fuckin what it's all about!

Lastly, we have a return to the INRI days with a revamped Rotting version of Nightmare. The improved production and tightness of the band really makes this song burst with energy. The synth work from Eugenio "Dead Zone" is also really great on this one. The riffage is more clear but the overall feel is definitely different this time around. Gone are the primitive Neanderthal hammer blasts of DD Crazy, but Joker's blasts are just as crushing and show a more mature approach to the epic song. As usual, the song has got a more hideous feel to it and is the perfect way to round out this extraordinary release from Sarcofago.

I cannot stress how much this album is the best in Sarcofago's discography. For the time this was released, it was one of the heaviest albums in its day and is definitely one of the fastest. I think the band's penchant for going over the top is further highlighted by the epic nature of the song structures in addition to their image and message presented on the release. The downright insane riffage, blasts, and screams on Rotting show Sarcofago at their angriest and is a manifesto against all that is holy. Wagner's precision in the guitar work is of note too. It amazes me how he does not lose time or miss any notes while playing the jagged riffs in the songs. A benchmark for all death metal in its day and a good middle ground in-between INRI and Laws of Scourge.

Get your hands on Rotting if you love the utmost extreme death metal in the old school era. This album definitely pushes the boundaries of the aspects of extreme metal and is a very unique album with a very unique sound. Once again, this is not at all for casual death metal listeners or trendy pussies. Only for those who are licensed to......SEX, DRINKS, AND METAL!!!!!!!!

The ambiguity that existed between death, black and thrash metal in the 80s pretty much goes without saying for anyone casually familiar with the Teutonic Trio, let alone all of the other formative bands that were pushing the boundaries. However, very few of them presented a sound so closely interconnecting the three that one couldn't separate out a dominant influence by which they could be summarily labled, and chief among these was Sacrofago, Brazil's lesser known contribution to extreme metal. Riding forth like a raging beast with an arsenal of influences comparable to contemporaries such as Bathory, Sodom, Possessed, Slayer, and their death/thrashing compatriots Sepultura, they offered up some of the most truly twisted and groundbreaking material of the 80s thrash era, while providing a framework along with the rest in pioneering what are now booming death and black metal scenes.

Of their respective releases, "Rotting" stands as something of a transitional aberration, consisting of long, epic, yet primative songs that embody the respective characteristics of both its predecessor "I.N.R.I." and its eventual follow-up "The Laws Of Scourge", being slightly longer than both yet strangely designated as a EP in contrast to the other two. It takes on a heavily varied approach not all that different from the complex epics heard on "Hell Awaits", but it's presented in a manner that has a bit more in common with "Show No Mercy" in terms of overall sound character. It's replete with hyper-speed thrash beats and has a frequency of blasting that is only really rivaled by Morbid Angel's "Altars Of Madness", all the while listening like a meeting point between "Under The Sign Of The Black Mark" and "Seven Churches" and exaggerated beyond what either of them ended up becoming.

To say that an album like this was a bit ahead of its time would definitely be a massive understatement, but it's also an album that comes with a few minor flaws. For all the wild variation in tempo going on and the radically differing characteristics of each section within a given song (take for instance "Tracey", which is loaded with Bay Area stop/start sections, frenzied blast beats, mid-tempo thrashing grooves and includes a near doom-like slow section), this album has a fair amount of repetition to it that is actually quite characteristic of the earliest black/thrash offerings of 1984-86, just compounded so as to construct longer songs by smashing 2 or 3 in an older style. It makes for an album that has a massive impact factor going for it, but also is a bit disorganized at times. Having said that, the level of musicianship going on here is at least as advanced as anything that thrash metal was dabbling with collectively at this point outside of maybe a few progressively tinged acts, coming with a healthy dose of complex riffing and wild shred fests.

If "Rotting" could be summed up in a single statement, it would be a 1987 sounding death/black/thrash album formatted as if it were trying to be a technical early 90s effort. In this respect, it does have a level of appropriateness for its time in metal history, though it still stands as a trail-blazing effort upon which a number of subsequent band would draw influence from, though with maybe the exception of the recent Fenris-endorsed Norwegian thrash act Deathhammer, nobody comes to mind as trying to all but exclusively appropriate the same approach. It's about as insane of a thrash-oriented album as can be found in the late 80s, and even upstages Sepultura's early offerings in terms of overall intensity, though it falls a little bit behind in terms of cohesiveness. If early Messiah, Possessed and Bathory are on the radar, Sarcofago definitely can be found at their border.

There was a transition in Brazil by '89 for extreme metal. Those well known bands that added their rough and tumble outputs prior were shedding their sinister overtones and moving away from the tainted and untamed song writing. Namely: Mutilator, Holocausto, Dorsal Atlantica, Sepultura, Vulcano, Psychic Possessor and Attomica. Though Dorsal Atlantica, Sepultura and soon enough Attomica came out with worthy follow ups, but generally those other bands didn't work out as well when they went into less harsh or different directions—leaving the Brazilian hey-day of being over-the-top behind and coming across more as under-the-weather. Along with some lesser known bands, Sarcofago kept it up with their second release and maintained the bridge in Brazil to groups in the '90s with the likes of Mystifier, Headhunter D.C., Expulser, Impurity, Lou Cyfer and others who would pick up again where their metal forefathers lessened off.

'Rotting' is still stepping on toes, though not crushing and pancaking them as they did on 'INRI' with their fearless-enough-to-bludgeon-the-sabertooth-on-the-head, barbaric attitude. The first difference is this has less tracks and more song length to work with within those tracks. Essentially there is a little more attention paid to evolve and expand a song than nearly blazing right through, though drummer D.D. Crazy went back to his band Sextrash at this point, but with Sarcofago's song writing slightly expanding, I'm not sure his strictly primitive style would have worked out here where it did Neanderthalic wonders for 'INRI.' This still has fast parts that peak to blasts, as well as mid-thrashy moments and some slower sections that are going for a darker and more absorbable atmosphere. Newest member M. Joker's various rolls, hits, jabs and stabs are going to shine more during the slowed down moments, since when it gets fast he truly goads the horse in the rear and can sound like an onrush of stampeding strikes.

Main vocalist Wagner took over guitar duties since Butcher left. His strings literally sound rusted and the projected outcome comes across as something like old and worn machinery in an echo-laden abandoned factory, with noises being thrown back and forth, giving it this layer of murk, slime and imperfection. I don't think the band has anything to hide, except for the sacrificed virgin under the flower bed in their backyard, but the production, along with their playing, makes it sound nightmarish and surreal. Justifiably fitting when he'll scream his lungs out of his mouth and onto the floor for everybody to reel back from and clutch the safest thing closest to them which incidentally might be another band member shoving you right back towards the main vocalist. Picture something like a deadly game of extreme metal "pickle" with your life in the balance. The deep and snarling growls on 'INRI' aren't present, though he uses more of a shifty rasp with yells and attached screams done by him and the other members, who literally sound like they're pleading in voice-losing agony for help to escape the writhing hell they've found themselves now head deep in.

The music on 'Rotting' sounds more inherently thrash, of course with touches of ambiguous '80's black and death, where their first album was closer to what we would eventually hear in the '90s with chaotic black metal in the likes of Blasphemy, Beherit, Impaled Nazarene and others who mixed a heavy-handed sacrilegious outlook with what's been established musically at that point in death and grind. Though it's like Sarcofago were so ahead of their time on the debut that they put out 'Rotting' afterwards to get more of a breather but still maintained a tone that is dingy and devious sounding through other musical outlets. By Sarcofago standards the guitars here are technical in a way. They take advantage of the lower strings and use more rapidly played open and closed riffs that would be recognized and related to thrash techniques: palm mute crunching, power chord lunching, hammer-on munching, single string scrunching. They can be simultaneously aggressive and catchy, being mean and blunt and then hooking you back in to become friends again. The song 'Nightmare' was re-recorded here with some mystical sounding keyboards playing a few rung-out higher stringed notes during the slower sections. This was at a time when it was experimental to incorporate keys, not just as an intro or outro, but while metal music was playing. Knowing Sarcofago's nefarious track record up to this point someone might initially repulse away just at the thought of them doing it, but then again it is played sort of tame compared to what a now-a-day's listener might be used to with bombastic sounds or with them being full-on additions. 'Tracy' also has a few subtle notes played in the beginning to help build up the song. In both examples they most importantly made it blend and fit, even for a song that was originally surrounded by 8 other unforgiving demons on the last recording.

Sarcofago are at a slightly different musical leaning here due to line up changes, though each band member in their respective area are still ready to envelope the listener with a demoralized mind-set. They perform little incantations inside your ears while leaving your mouth with a taste of sweet-disgust then penetrating your nose as sharp as sulfur. They prick and prod the back of your spine like three intoxicated audio-surgeons performing a ghastly musical spinal tap; other bands might do the procedure more carefully and deliver in a way that is calculated and concise. The difference here is they'll write a concentrated part and then have their "break out" moments mixed in between; just when you get your head wrapped around a section they'll pull your mind away with a little insanity on another. 'Rotting' isn't a seamless recording—a riff might not have been worked in snugly, some blasts might go on—essentially a certain part might not have been worked through with the brilliance of other groups where they attempt to use certain Hitchcock-like pacing and perfectly culminated climaxes compared to a returnable flawed cult flick with an occasional kink of harsh lighting, sound or editing. Even though this isn't a down pour of golden musical rain drops to make everybody with their palms outstretched satisfied, it took a risk where other contemporary groups weren't willing to go and it still mostly worked out for Sarcofago. As there would be other extreme metal demo projects that you never hear of, because they attempted the same bold music that only someone like Sarcofago and some others were able to pull off with the right or clickable mechanics and of course with some sprinkles of luck. That's one reason why you still hear about them today, not only because they came out at the right timing, but because they put out material that was against mainstream standards, even pushed the envelope within extreme metal, and were able to develop it into mostly workable ideas. Unfortunately I'll chew on some of those words since the exact same sentiments can't be said about their next album.

To get a closer idea of Sarcofago's mind-set here, their lyrics bring excess and vice to the table: alcohol and sex, and their music further unravels the rest of their abuses in particular motions and actions. For instance, the intro track sounds like a brief sexual portal was opening. Like stepping into that '90's show Sliders or the movie/show Stargate and ending up in an exaggerated land like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, except with every sexual perversion and innuendo imaginable at your finger tips: Oompa-Loompas dressed in S & M attire, Charlie himself in nothing but top hat and cane, and who can forget everlasting...uh, let's let them do the carrying away. With the production, the band sounds rough around the edges, like they knocked back a few drinks before the outset. The lyrics, while admittedly atrocious, capture their perverted tastes with blunt syntax and only snippets of forethought. The music delivers the unbalance that the everyday person doesn't need: too much of this or that might kill you. In some of the delivery, they treat the moment like it might be their last breath by screaming in a tortured way or pound the drums as if comets are going to come crashing down and take out the populace, never to be there again, or like with the whole aura of 'Rotting' he wanted to simply take his chops to some indulging levels. So if I were to relate 'Rotting' to "evil," it is essentially evil along the lines of cruelty, barbarity, sadism, selfish excess, and of course vices, where would this release be without those temptations that they give into at every chance and are just dripping with them? I don't know exactly but I can't imagine a better experience without them, and in turn it does give this recording a certain feel and atmosphere, and while it might not be as pivotal or fresh as withered daises as 'INRI' was, it is still a worthy follow up for its own individual reasons.

Rotting is the forgotten Sarcofago album, brought down by the goodness of its predecessor and the even more thrash oriented sound of The Laws Of Scourge that marked new solutions. Anyway this album is again a quite killer one, less than I.N.R.I. but always enjoyable. The production is far cleaner and the technique is more polished and everything sounds less primordial.

Another thing to notice is the songs length: is longer that before showing a mature sense of songwriting with always brutal parts. The drum sound is less “bin sound” and less high in the volumes. The guitars are not tuned down like in the early past but they sound equally brutal and very fast. I believe that here they were more influenced by thrash metal in general and mostly by Slayer. The riffage, like in “Alcoholic Coma” remained always a bit black oriented but, with the cleaner sounds it’s less “ancient”.

The vocals are always on the borderline between thrash/death & black, so suffered. Anyway the more melodic intro and the long mid paced parts in “Tracy” shows a new form, a new way by Sarcofago. Very good the almost doom tempos with a good lead riffage. The most brutal things here, that reminds me the group’s past, are the hyper violent blast beats where the band really destroys everything.

It’s very hard for a death/thrash/black group to create always good and entertaining songs when the length is on 8 or 7 minutes but, a part from some, a bit filler riffs, everything is ok without being stunning like in I.N.R.I. There is always a great alternance of tempos so you really cannot rest…or better Rest In Peace…If the title track is basically divided in two: doom beginning and finish with blast beats in the middle, “Sex, Drink And Metal” is total old style and seems to come back to the debut.

The ritualistic “Nightmare” is the seal on this Rotting, an album that marks a better songwriting by these Brazilian pals that, without forgetting how to brutalize our ears, shows a more mature approach. A thing that will be disproved by the inhuman Hate album.