Negatives

Holocausto started as a blackened thrash metal band who released one of the heaviest, rawer, and faster albums out of that mid-'80s Brazilian scene while signed to Cogumelo Records. They were somewhat important to metal music at that time. From their second album and so on, they started to play a kind of crappy crossover thrash that has nothing new to bring and nothing outstanding.

In 1990 they came with "Negatives". What I can say about this record is that it sounds like a bunch of retarded kids trying to do something technical, and Voivod-like-sounding, mixed with badly executed crossover. The vocals sound childish as like almost every crossover band out at the time. The guitars sound weak and everything sounds "tiny" considering the bad production, the instruments are all drowned out, and the vocals conduct the whole thing. Sounds really pathetic.

There are only a few songs that are quite enjoyable, one of which is "Muted by Fear". This one is a more thrashier sounding song on the album as well as the really energetic "Opened Eyes to the Nothing", this one with a more "punk-ish" sound, and probably the catchiest song on the whole record, "P.M.D.". The rest is pretty annoying (the most annoying being "Congratulations, Mr, Money") considering the vocals. The lyrics are almost all about politics and social problems from Brazil. I really don't understand what Holocausto tried to do in their post-Campo de Extermínio years by changing their sound drastically. I particularly like bands that change their sound through the years, but a change that brings something new, inspired, and enjoyable. This was not Holocausto's case.

So, Holocausto tried to do something catchier and technical in the ways of progressive thrash, considering the Voivod-like riffs mixed with a TOTALLY different styles of music and the result of this is terrible. If you are looking for some good stuff by this band, go back to Campo de Extermínio. For me, it's still the only good thing they did.