Se Deus É 10 Satanás É 666

If I were to rate Gangrena Gasosa for their lyrics, visual and originality, I'd probably give them a full grade, but I'm also rating them as the metal band they are, so this review will cover both aspects. Let me talk a bit about their humour first.

Gangrena Gasosa was started in the peripheral zone of Rio de Janeiro, just as a joke to open for Ratos de Porão. As the band themselves have already said in interviews, the idea was to mock Afro-Brazilian religions to drag the attention off their music, since they were allegedly bad players. The original idea evolved into lyrics very involved with the theme, and also, culminating in this album, with themes such as peripheral issues, posers and satanic mocking.

When they described themselves as bad players, they were probably not considering the fact they're crossover thrash players, and crossover thrash is a style they were to play pretty well. Their previous albums had everything a good crossover band must have; good drumming, fast guitars, good bass lines, etc.

Well, the impression I have is that they were trying to sophisticate their music through the years. Se Deus é 10, Satanás é 666 shows the band's changing their original perspective of sound over time, trying to adapt to modern thrash metal, at the same time, sticking even more to their Afro-Brazilian motif. This new experimentation doesn't have a bad result, but it's very different from the sound they used to play at Welcome to Terreiro. In the end, their new approach surprised me a lot, and positively.

I really miss their lo-fi crossover. This album has a very bright production, which I personally think they should have stuck to their raw but well-produced crossover sound, that switched to this groovy thrash metal album. It's understandable why they brightened their production though, maybe this was on the same direction that made them use more complex riffs and fancier guitar effects, which wasn't bad after all. A new element in this album (maybe not new, but incomparably stronger now) is the use of the Afro-Brazilian elements present in their lyrics, interludes and themes in music, exemplified by groovy parts, very regular repeating 4/4 timing and a stronger presence of alternative percussion.

I'm impressed by how fine they fit thrash metal and Afro-Brazilian music altogether, since these styles are like water and oil. The metal element was surely more present, but we could still get a feel among their screamed (but recited) vocals. We could almost feel like in the middle of a mass. Their groove metal influences in this album are shown through their fast changes in tempo and fast picking in their muffled guitars.

But also, there are some songs that still have some reminiscence of their crossover times, like the short and fast song Fist Fuck Agrédi and the interesting change of rhythms in Se Deus É 10 Satanás É 666.

After all, this called more attention to their humour, and Gangrena still keeps their name as one of the most iconic Portuguese-language bands.