Immortal Force

The middle 80s period was incredible for the growing extreme metal genre in the whole damn world. In Brazil we could find lots of new, extreme bands and among these we have Mutilator. They took the lesson in violence from Slayer, Kreator, Sepultura and so on to create their own personal death/thrash music style. This is the classic old fashioned metal recording that any extreme metal fan should at least listen to brush up his knowledge about the roots of that music.

The music here is truly essential and raw as sushi. There’s no melody concession obviously and everything is made to be as bestial as possible. The following album, Into the Strange, will feature more thrash metal patterns but here we have the perfect mix of those influences with a primitive form of death metal. The production is quite clear anyway and the sound is quite powerful too.

The main role is played by the rhythmic session and the vocals. The drums are always very pounding and hammering, while the vocals are a sort of Venom/Kreator mix. We don’t find the same bestial early Sepultura’s aggression but we are so close. If the first song features more mature and less impulsive parts, the following “Blood Storms” is total speed. The up tempo parts are a sort of Hellhammer style ones but far faster.

The refrains are well stuck in the aggressive music and the guitars riffs are in a terrific, fast sequence. There’s no time to relax in this lethal combination of guitars whistles, shreds and palm muting riffs. “Butcher” and “War Dogs” are almost hilarious in their essentiality but they are very good. The drums rolls on “Brigade Of Hate” are excellent to give something more to a sound that, even if doesn’t want to change, always remains very good we must say…

The various thrash/death metal influences are always present in massive dosages but the beauty of this kind of music will never die, especially when it comes from that period. Mutilator didn’t invent anything, but in their way, they contributed to the growth of one of the most genuine and sincere scenes of all time.