I.N.R.I.

I.N.R.I., released in August 1987 by the Brazilian devils behind the band Sarcófago, is presented to the listener with a straightforward, shocking, hard image that shows the members of the band at the time at their most menacing, looking the worst they possibly, humanly can, surrounded by anti-christian, satanic elements and portrayals in a death-evoking setting. The imagery that accompanies the album is in fact pretty much a perfectly accurate depiction of what the infernal music on this release sounds, feels, and is like in its pure, raw essence.

It’s not an easy task to properly describe this music without reiterating its most flagrant attributes time and time again. That’s mostly because one of the main characteristics is the very fact that this a very punishing and aggressive form of black/death/thrash metal, and it gives the listener no time to rest, constantly reiterating its roughness, toughness, and hardness. It’s a very short album, as it’s barely 28 minutes long, but it’s honestly damn near impossible to believe that is the actual running time since it feels like it’s much longer than that. The listener is truly exposed to aural torture when facing the contents within this record, and that’s not a hyperbole.

As vicious and as rich as the soundscape of riffs and the playing of every instrument is throughout the nine tracks that make up the original tracklist (my copy is the 2012 Greyhaze Records edition so it features fifteen instead, three of those additional six ones being live versions), the mad, poisoned compositions trap the listener into an inscrutable maze of maniacal screams, blackened death metal, thrashy riffs that sound razor sharp and very buzzsaw-y, and they don’t let go until they’re done beating you over the head until you’re leaking.

It’s been a long time since I first listened to Sarcófago’s I.N.R.I., but I could still never forget the feeling it gave me. I still get those exact same emotions beat the fuck out of me whenever I listen to it, as this is a very visceral, very organic, sincere, uncompromising record that makes you feel vulnerable, yet strengthens your core by roughing you up and building you up in evil and darkness once again. It’s tough, but the aggression in the music doesn’t subtract from the rest of its attributes, as it’s still slick in its animalistic nature. Nothing is left up to chance, and the entirety of the tracks feel extremely well mixed, arranged, and composed. It’s a very well thought-out album that encompasses three different subgenres of metal and mixes and blends them all into an infernal masterpiece that honestly couldn’t be improved in any way.

The guitars, handled by Zéder "Butcher", here going under just the Butcher alias, are very tight. They are super fast and very raspy sounding. The riffs give a very evil sound to the music, they’re intentionally sick and twisted. They make the vocals and the rest of the instruments sound more macabre and mad, giving off a disturbingly dark, purposely mean, ceremoniously devilish vibe. The fact that this band is anti-melodic is simply grand on its own. Not only do they outclass and outperform every other band that indulges in pointless, shitty wankery that’s good for nothing, but they actually get across a much more true to life satanic quality to the album than any of those other run-of-the-mill bands could ever dream to.

The drums, another key element to the legendary and fantastic crazy sound of this record, are handled by Eduardo "D.D. Crazy", here featured also under his very apt and accurate alias, D.D. Crazy (he’s Butcher’s brother). The constant, brutal blast beats are like nothing else I’ve heard on an extreme metal release aside from the rest of the band’s other albums. They really fuck with your head after a while. If you crank up the volume on this shit you’ll definitely feel like they’re playing the live instruments right in front of you, and I say this now because the drums are particularly mighty, yet, as is the case with other Sarcófago releases, the mixing and production are so excellently taken care of that no part of the music is obscured by certain instruments, and everything can be heard perfectly while still sounding dirtier than all other poser, fake bands that intentionally lower their production value to cater to a certain worthless standard (which is of course laughable). It’s well-known I.N.R.I. is one of the first albums in the extreme metal genre to feature blast beats to such lengthy extents, and that’s nothing but a good thing here. The intensity of the release is elevated to new heights thanks to the drums precisely. They’ll stay stuck in your head for days on end, together with the rotten compositions plaguing the release. They’re one of the main reasons why this album sounds so omnipotent, big, strong and mighty in its darkness. They’ll overpower pretty much any other drumming I’ve heard on extreme metal bands.

I’d normally ignore or not have much to say about the bass when reviewing or just talking about extreme or black metal in general, but I do have to point out how well it can be heard on this record, and what an important role it plays on the sonic map. This, of course, can be attributed to the proficient mixing that I refer to in this review, but the playing of the bass itself, handled by Gerald Incubus, here going under just Incubus, is great in itself. The bass bounces right back when a guitar riff hits a low or a high, and it reverberates the cursed notes and creates a very dirty atmosphere, furthering the overall malicious feeling of the full-length. So much attention to detail went into creating this masterpiece, as evidenced by how well composed it is, and how every instrument has a key part in it.

The vocals by Wagner Antichrist, here going as just Antichrist, sound demented in the strictest sense of the word. They sound desperate, desolate, grim, violent, and filled with rage. They’re referred to as “vomits”, and that pretty much sums up how they are like. They’re some great vocals with some very disturbing parts, as they alternate between more human-like, frail screams of desperation and monstrous gurgles of disgust.

I can’t forget to point out how much I love the repetition element they constantly play with on the record, repeating infectious riffs such as those tense, nervous, perilous sounding notes on the Nightmare track and the lightspeed riffs of Deathrash (which really reminded me of Deathcrush the first time I listened to it).

I.N.R.I. is probably one of my favorite albums, if not my favorite, and there are multiple good reasons why. This is not only satanic music done well, but the imagery that accompanies it, the lyrics, and the genius compositions make it all click into an essential package for anyone who wants to know what the best the genre can offer is. I wish Sarcófago had kept cursing the world with their hellish music for longer, but they did more than enough just on their first album, and it has stood the test of time, and always will.