Inquisição Espiritual

To be frank, I didn't really expect much on this record to begin with. Carniçal is a band that grew due to internet influence, more specifically due to social media, such as Facebook, TikTok and Instagram. They started to gain popularity thanks to this, and in the brazilian underground, people started to notice those internet kids at their live performances, as such, they've gained some "pop" notority, that really tends to push metalheads away, myself included. Personally I thought they were just cool kids with a guitar in hand, posing to be headbangers.

That initial suspicion quickly went away, as I've finally got my ears on "Inquisição Espiritual". They start off with "Despertar", a tribal-like intro, kinda like Sepultura used to, I don't really like it, but I guess they were trying to justify the title on the cover. The first track "Pedrada" Starts off simple, slow riff, rispid vocals and dirty production, kinda expected for South American metal, except for the slow part. I noticed right here that they weren't just trying to throw something we already all know what it's like. But instead it's very deep and heavy, with isolated growlings, which is enjoyable, personally I prefer fast songs, blastbeating and raging riffs, and I was afraid that album wouldn't have any of this, or if they wanted a slow-paced song, it should be later on at the album. But from the second song "Mistério Macabro" on foward, they put my fears aside, and kicks off their fast drumming and raging riffs on their songs. But then again, they still differ from what I'm used to on South American thrash or black metal, it's noticeable that they are trying to sound different in their own way, but they don't go as far as not being metal at all. I also noticed some sloppy instrumentals and vocals that sometimes seems out of tune, well, pretty much the spirit of South American metal.

The final songs, "Ritual" with loud, desperate screaming, really points out the suffering feel they wanted to give this record, and slows down at the end with "A Morte de Cristo", actually a really good rythmic instrumental, the "Sonho de Liberdade" Outro is also very nice, and the Intro would feel better if it was like this, but can be forgettable due to being after an already long instrumental.

My only issues with this EP, is the Intro that feels a bit disconnected to the rest of the record, the fact that some songs like "Pedrada" doesn't build up from a beggining, they feel as if starts right on the middle of it. And the order of the songs, personally I don't think It's a good idea to put an instrumental at the ending, because many people will just skip it, not having vocals to catch the listener, and the Outro gets even more shaded out thanks to this.

"Inquisição Espiritual" is a really good kickstart to what Carniçal pretends to be in the future, aside from their controversial background, I really think it's great that new groups such as them are playing and releasing old-school style metal nowadays, a musical genre many people categorize as being "dead", bands like this prove that it's not. And I'm also glad that they're not just a copy paste of older works. It's far from being a perfect record, but I think it's pretty solid and worth listening to.

Highlights - "Mistério Macabro", "Silêncio da Noite" and "Ritual".