Immortal Force

Somewhere in the pitch black plains of the netherworld there was a chance rendezvous between Sepultura and Slayer that resulted in a wicked consummation of sorts. This metaphorical appeal to a truly nasty and beastly musical endeavor circa 1987 had a proper name of Mutilator, and the term proper should serve to thus properly illustrate what was likely happening to the ears of those that first heard its pummeling blows. Indeed, there are points where the unrestrained sonic fury that is "Immortal Force" hits with a ferocity that rivals "Pleasure To Kill", though with more of a distant sounding production quality in line with the blackened landscapes of the Sarcofago debut, which went into circulation just a couple months after this did.

In the overall evolution of death metal, this gets to be a bit forward looking in certain respects, though it is largely time appropriate given what was already making waves both in this band's native Brazil and up north in the United States. It has a similarly tinny quality with a strong helping of crunch that was fairly common before the Scott Burns sound fully took, but is a bit less muddled than what Slayer sounded like at the time. Indeed, an interesting thing about this album from a production standpoint is that it sounds more like a thrash album than the slightly muddier character of "Reign In Blood" that would be further exaggerated by Schuldiner on "Scream Bloody Gore", but in terms of stylistic devices in the riff and drum work, it's closer to a death metal character than anything Slayer had put out in the 80s.

The Slayer comparisons, while perhaps a bit redundant given all the bands with similarities to them at this point in the game, do merit further consideration given that they are far more obvious than otherwise. Taking the epic opener "Memorial Stone Without A Name", for example, is slightly punchier and less dissonant yet very faithful homage to "Hell Awaits". Perhaps even more interesting is the frequency of blast beats that occur not only on this song, but throughout the listen, clocking just a bit faster than the frenzied thrash beats heard out of Slayer's mid 80s repertoire, but not quite reaching that height of sheer chaos accomplished by Repulsion and Morbid Angel. Likewise, the whammy bar happy shred fests that guise as guitar solos are about as cut from the textbook Kerry King mold as can be.

It obviously goes without saying that this isn't quite to the level of what was coming in out of Florida as the 80s roared on, as much of these songs definitely have a healthy remnant of an early thrash character to them. Even when things almost seem to venture into early Death territory as on the verses of "Blood Storm", "War Dogs", "Mutilator" and damn near every other song rolled out, the vocal work remains highly reminiscent of a Tom Araya shout with maybe a hint of Chuck Billy. Likewise, when slower, groovier sections emerge it definitely has more of a fist-pounding Bay Area feel than an outright gore fest. But it definitely carries enough elements of that developing death metal character to creep ever so slightly closer to the tipping point than, say, the Infernal Majesty debut, which was chock full of death metal leanings at times.

While not quite the ideal meld of thrash and death metal that "Schizophrenia" was, nor a colossal cacophony of extreme metal elements like "I.N.R.I.", this is definitely something that stands as a solid example of what the Brazilian scene at the time was capable of. It's Persian flaw manifests in a production job that leans a little too heavy on the drums and sees the guitars pushed back in prominence further still when the vocals come in, and this even holds true on the 2003 remaster. But anyone approaching an album like this should expect a healthy dose of rawness. Some might say thrash till death, but Mutilator was one of those bands that was definitely taking the concept a bit more literally than most.