Inquisição Espiritual

Carniçal is a highly a controversial band in the underground scene of Brazil, due to their use of social media such as TikTok and Facebook to gain more followers and their claims of being a 'black metal' band (Which they are not). That said my opinion about those or other controversies regarding the band or it's bandmates will not affect this review, this an unbiased review of their EP "Inquisição Espiritual".

"Inquisição Espiritual" opens with the track "Despertar", an intro that reminds of tribal/native music from South America, but overall nothing special. The second track "Pedrada" kicks off the album with slow and simple riffs, with a very "thrashy" guitar tone and accompanied by a thin but present bass. The only problems I had with this track (and which also happens in other songs of this album) are the vocals, who get can notably out of tune in higher notes and the drums, who sometimes seem to lose tempo and also get lost during the progression of songs. Almost all Lyrics are simple, but lack rhyming or musicality, which in the long run is noticeable and can bother if you understand Portuguese.

Going through this album the songs I disliked the most were "Silencio da Noite", "Guerra Mental" and "Ritual", and for the very same reasons I listed before, tracks going for too long and feeling very tired and stretched out, riffs feeling more uninspired and repetitive, drummer loses himself and vocals get too much out of tune. While those problems appear in the rest of the EP here they seem to be amplified and potentiated to the maximum, especially in "Silencio da Noite" (A song which also has a video clip, for some reason).

With that said, the songs I liked the most from the album were "Mistério Macabro" and "A Morte de Cristo". "Mistério Macabro" seems to be the most balanced song of the entire EP, with good solid guitar riffs/solos and drums. "A morte de Cristo" is a quick but effective ""headbanging"" instrumental, serving as an obvious tribute/medley to "Electric Funeral" from Black Sabbath and "Call of the Ktulu" from Metallica.
(PS: The outro "Sonho de Liberdade" is also pretty good and it's what I think the intro should have been like).

This is not a terrible album as many would want you to believe and also not as great as many who praise it claim to be, but as I listened to it I couldn't stop thinking about Sagrado Inferno and Overdose. The only difference being that those bands have speed in their songs which is something that Carniçal could have benefited from in order to make this release feel less tiring or mediocre. In general the production and mixing are alright, most problems with this release rise from the largely repetitive nature of its riffs, the lack of speed and the vocals. My only advice for those reading is to not fall for the falacy that this is a black metal EP, It isn't, even if the band claims to be the sound is closer to old school heavy metal and thrash than it is to black metal (even 1st wave BM). If you like the sound of Brazilian bands like Sagrado Inferno, you might want to give this EP a shot, even with the slower sound to it.