Campo de Extermínio

This album is not unknown to underground extreme metal fans and does not need much introduction; Holocausto, the true fathers of War Metal, Classic Brazilian band from 80's, hailing from the Belo Horizonte scene, also associated with the also classic Cogumelo Records' bands Sepultura, Sarcófago, Chakal, Mutilator, etc.

While I must admit that the musicianship here isn't top notch and neither are the song structures, and not that you need to be a great musician to make great music, the Sepultura guys made catchy tunes with limited musicianship, but what really makes Campo de Extermínio is its feeling. The Hitler speech at the beginning sets the mood of war, death, destruction, pain, and from now on, this is what is musically translated into this cacophonic wall of sound for the next half hour.

As I previously said, the musicianship isn't top notch, so much of the riffs are kinda weak and sound random-ish, and if the listener tries this album with a guitar-oriented mind, it might sound disappointing, but if one understands the appeal of bands like Blasphemy (Fallen Angel of Doom, where the mix is so fucked up that in some songs you can only hear a cacophonic wall of sound of blistering drums, like in Darkness Prevails) Beherit (The Oath of Black Blood) and the likes, this is definitely the album. But of course, take in consideration that this is 1987, so it's like a proto version of that kind of sound. It's its embrionary stage.

The vocals and its switching between Rodrigo Fuhrer and Anderson Guerrilheiro are the highlights here. I always loved Danny Lilker's screams on Brutal Truth's first album, and Anderson's reminds me of him. They sound like screams of anguish and despair, much like the war scenario. Rodrigo's grows sound a little raspier and lower, like ferocious dog, like that one on the cover.

Of course, I can't ignore the nazi imagery portrait here, which may cause some controversy, but one thing must be known: it is not about ideology, it's a historical portrait. This is an album about the horrors of war, and you can pretty much translate the lyrics using Google Translate and see that it is not about nazi sympathy or plain propaganda, they portrait war and its horrors pretty much like Sodom does.

Campo de Extermínio is a classic, and precedes the now established Black/Death Metal subgenre "War Metal", or "Bestial Black Metal", pretty much birthed by Blasphemy, which came only two years later with their demo. For those who love that good chaotic noisy cacophonic wall of sound, that's my recommendation, the album that pretty much planted the seed for that kind of sound.