I.N.R.I. is the sound of madness! Love it. It took a few listens (actually, one listen in the right mood....IE, really drunk and with volume very loud) and then I was hooked. There's something wrong with that drum sound, but even then, it's addictive. I much prefer "Nightmare" on this album, too....Rotting version lacks energy as far as I'm concerned. Actually, I prefer Laws of Scourge to Rotting. THe former is an interesting development of their sound and there's a huge amount of variety on the record, including some surprisingly mellow numbers that make me think of what Tiamat were doing on [i]The Astral Sleep/i], of all things.

Excellent point sir.

I only own I.N.R.I., but haven't listened to it in quite awhile. Probably have to spin it today to remedy that. I remember the drum sound bothering me at first, but I got used to it after a few listens. I should check out more of their material, was thinking of checking out Rotting next.

Okay then, bye. Come back when you stop being a retard.

I emphatically agree! But after "Hate" (which is underrated IMO), they went downhill on the appropriately named "The Worst" album.

i love inri, rotting and laws but never listened to the latter stuff but have been meaning to check it out.

I'm Brazilian and grew up with Sarcófago, Sepultura, Sextrash etc all around me, in the early 90s.

We always thought INRI was crappy and didn't pay much attention to it 'till having a horrible production and trve kvlt image became a hipster must. It's very strange how the image of things change with time.

Anyone read the Decibel hall of fame feature on INRI that came out this month?

I don't like a drum sound, or the samples/interludes.

The demo versions are great though.

Well, I always thought of that Skeleton as being Death. I read somewhere that prostitutes wore white robes in the olden days, so I assume that it's a picture of Death giving some dude an STD. Either way, it's sexy .

To be quite honest, I haven't really listened to much Sarcofago, maybe 2 songs at most. What would be the best album to start with?

I started with I.N.R.I. but The Laws Of Scourge is more accessible and has better production. Both excellent albums but TLOS seems more like something one could get into the band with. It's more in the speed / death metal department than the percussive hardcore-y proto-black metal on I.N.R.I.. These two are essentials however, so don't miss them.

The Worst is a very bad album, as the title says.

INRI is a classical, but a bit overestimated album. At first I wondered if a drum machine (or electronic drumkit) has been used. The drum tone is not very natural. Besides, the lyrics are pretty laughable, thanks to the countless language mistakes.

"If you are a false dont entry"

"she suck the hammer of satan
and reach the first orgasm
he breack laws of god
and prophane the mother of gods"

Ok, there are some good riffs, but most riffs are not so memorable. But I agree INRI was surely groundbreaking when it was released in 1987. It was fast and brutal, yet devoid of any real dark atmosphere.

Anyway, brutality is not really interesting from a musical point of view, and it's doomed to become outdated. Then you have no other choice than becoming an economics teacher, instead of dying in "sex drinks and metal".

Such are Satanas's unholy ways.

excellent post, made me laugh

Sorry, I edited while you posted.

I may add that the guitars and vocals are pretty average mid-80's thrash. The major innovation resides in the full-speed blastbeats. What annoys me is the type of 'blast and break' technique (instead of continuous blast with fills), as in "Nightmare" or "Satanas" (you mean that riff ripped off from Sodom's "Conqueror"?).

Back to the drums, the bass drum is hardly audible, which prevents the listener from judging the drummer's precision.

And the vocals feature a profusion of stretching/octave down effects, which is very reminescent of the typical thrash metal old school (see Kreator "Pleasure to Kill" for example).

By the way, I understand now where the slow doomy parts in Beherit come from.

In the end, an explanation about the conclusive toilet sample is still expected. It's very ambiguous.

I guess it's advanced for its time (?) but I don't get how someone can listen to it in this day and age and actually enjoy it.

The production on INRI is fucked for sure - but I usually listen to it through some sort of DSP to try to enhance the sound. The lyrics never bothered me, it's not meant to be a literary masterpiece, just a blasphemous maelstrom of raw energy.

i love everything about how INRI sounds. I would not change it in anyway. Its raw pure metal energy. It has the spirit and the attitude and the fucking riffs.

Also civil its revered because it has heavily influenced the 2nd wave of black metal. I would argue that many 2nd wave bands are not much other than Bathory + Sarcofago with a few years of aging.

Old school metal still separates the men from the boys, I guess. Ha!

The Laws is my fave of all, INRI is classic and the drum machine of Crust rapes the ears of those who are unworthy.

This is never a perspective I understood at all in any sense. So the people who enjoyed the album at the time it was made did so for what reason, in your estimation? Just because it was "brutal shit"? And I suppose you'd say that because the quantity of "brutal shit" in newer bands can nowadays be higher (arguable in itself), there's no need for the 1987 version of "brutal shit"?

In no way am I a longtime fan of I.N.R.I; in fact I probably only really began listening to it on a semi-regular basis in the last few years. But I listen to it because I love the sound it propagates and because it sounds very pleasing to me. Yeah, Anal Vomit have a much, much tighter drummer, and sharper guitar sounds, but they still lack something that Sarcofago had on that album.

This!.

Sarcófago is a "love them or hate them" type of stuff. If you don't get it at first, try later with the right mood and full atention. Took me some time to really apreciate INRI, but now is an all time classic for me.

And for the guy who think the riffs in INRI are "generic" and not so dark and evil... sorry, but we have a truly different concepts about whats is "Dark" in music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aI1ItXX3QV0 ---> Darkest riffs ever. period.

calling sarcofago riffs generic is like saying command and conquer 1 is a generic rts.

Yes, INRI is advanced for its time. Yes, it was pretty influential on the 2nd wave of black metal. But in 1987, there were already Deathcrush by Mayhem and Morbid Visions by Sepultura (1986), which were wilder and darker than Sarcofago, and as influential in terms of black metal history. Sarcofago was just thrash metal with blastbeats and Satanic lyrics, the music was based on a "sex drugs and rock 'n roll" attitude and had no other purpose than fun.

To sum it up, Sarcofago was not the darkest, fastest and most extreme metal band in 1987. And today INRI sounds more aged than Reign in Blood, for instance.

This is not an attack on Sarcofago fans, just my objective point of view. Or at least, trying to be objective.

I don't agree with that, and I feel that terms like "wilder" are quite relative and lack objective qualification in any case. All I can do is speak for myself and say that I would much rather listen to that Sarcofago debut than deathcrush, even though I still enjoy the latter, and while I love that Sepultura as well it doesn't feel like quite the separated/crazed entity that I.N.R.I does. It's true that they have that "sex, drinks and metal" attitude, but you can certainly argue that their type of hedonism is pretty evil and probably truer than Mayhem's gore-shock lyrics were at the time. Listening to that Sarcofago in particular I can hear very much where Beherit got a good portion of their sound, as you pointed out yourself. As for Slayer, that album was pretty much perfect for 1986, whereas I could imagine the Sarcofago emerging in the early 90s and still making quite a splash...

Not sure I really feel its' worthwhile to argue about how ahead of their time they were though, or how aged their music sounds. I'll merely close by saying that very few modern albums strike me as being wild and unhinged as I.N.R.I. seems to be.

To be fair, though, Reign in Blood is less considerably less "dated" than 99% of 1980s extreme metal. Just from a production standpoint it's got a very dry sound whereas most extreme music from that time tends to be draped in swarthy reverb and it's obvious that the production is an very professional job where a lot of time/money has gone into it.

Oh yes, managing the reverb in order to get a professional result requires a lot of work.

INRI has just great songs while reign in blood could be an earthshattering ep

Does anyone here recommend their Decade of Decay compilation? Is it worth the purchase? I'm thinking about buying it.

The Laws of Scourge is a fantastic death/thrash album. Don't really have that much of an interest in any of their other stuff. INRI is just TOO messy and noisy, and the later stuff just sounds horrible with the drum machine.

Hate is by far my favorite Sarcofago album; it's simultaneously catchy and incredibly intense. I love the blazing fast drum machine in it.

Reverend Bizarre has two EPs longer than 70 minutes, but uncountable grindcore and crossover bands have LPs shorter than 20, it's all a matter of naming.

As far as "best of" type comps go it's good. Nice reissue too.

Still i think you'd be better buying classic Cogumelo reissues if you haven't got them already. Debut's from Attomica, Dorsal Atlântica, Mutilator, Volcano, Holocausto, Impurity, Sextrash etc are all pretty essential i think.

Sweet. I went ahead and bought it already. Seems like I won't be disappointed. I will definitely look into the Cogumelo reissues as well. Thanks.

Sarcofago were amazing. I love them and you should too!

I've only ever checked out I.N.R.I. Any tips on what I should check out next by Sarcofago?

Awesome and very appropriate description. I love INRI 'cause it is what it is: a bunch of angry young dudes not caring about playing "tight" or anything like that, just going for it with zero pretense. The riffs are simple and often derivative and admittedly, they sometimes don't really work, however it's when they do that INRI truly turns deadly. You can change just one little detail, note, fuck-up or what have you on any of the songs and the whole thing will suddenly stop making sense... I guess there was a bit of magic in the air when they put it to tape/wrote it. I guess this set of lyrics by the Mountain Goats pretty much nails it: http://www.lyricsmania.com/sarcofago_live_lyrics_mountain_goats,_the.html



I'm sorry for being a dick but you do realize that "objective" and "point of view" together in a sentence make absolutely no sense?

I love Sarcofago. I.N.R.I rules and Rotting is pretty good also but I haven't heard their other stuff.

By the way, does anyone know what I.N.R.I stands for?

I have never known all these years.

Some Jesus reference from what i recall when i looked it up once.

It means Jesus of Nazarteh Jewish King as far as I know.

The Laws of Scourge is a great album I've listened to often recently. Unique take on thrash metal.