I.N.R.I.

WARNING: The following album will induce, but may not include drowsiness, constipation, upset stomach, mood swings, anxiety, panic attacks, religious mania, obsession with the occult, alcoholism, dementia, the urge to kill a lot of people, bestiality, and frantic head banging.

Sarcofago's "I.N.R.I." is considered a Black metal classic for obvious reasons. It made everything else seem like pale imitations and it called bands out due to their wimpiness. Sarcofago in their very early days were already a cult act who were pushing boundaries with their demos and appearance on Cogumelo's Warfare Noise I compilation. Alongside fellow up and-coming band Sepultura, Mutilator, and Vulcano who had already released the godly first ever South American black metal album "Bloody Vengeance," Sarcofago pulled out all the stops and injected an unholy dosage of breakneck speed to the already fast-evolving Black metal scene, and not just in South America but worldwide. The only other band that was playing anything as extreme as this were England's grindcore bastard song Napalm Death. That should give you an idea on how groundbreaking this album is.

Not only was the music extreme but so was their image. Sarcofago took the standard spikes and leather and made it even more demonic. Sarcofago were also the first band to properly use what is now modern-day corpsepaint. King Diamond, Celtic Frost, Bathory and early Slayer had sewn the seeds of the macabre facial paint; Sarcofago made it fucking evil. Sarcofago even started the trend of black metal fans standing around in the graveyard looking goofy, but Sarcofago made it look like they were for fucking real. Take Destruction's look on the first Destruction E.P "Sentence of Death," put it on steroids and that's what you get. The drummer DD Crazy with hi two foot high mohawk, corpsepaint and bullet belts is possibly the coolest fucking thing I have seen on an album cover. Also as a trivial note, this is the band Mayhem's guitarist said he wanted every band to sound and look like.

For the most part, Sarcofago's music could be described as crude and ugly. Wagner Antichrist's vocals are low and demonic-sounding without it sounding corny and a few high falsettos. Guitars sound like a chainsaw with the throttle on full blast. Drummer D.D. Crazy...how the fuck is he playing THAT fast? The drums are so fast it will induce a few dizzy spells. There's little to no bass on this album which actually fits perfectly. The sound production is probably the ugliest there is next to Beherit's "The Oath of Black Blood."

I really can't say there is a bad song on here, just some will be stuck in your head for years to come; "Nightmare," "Satanic Lust," "Desecration Of Virgin," "Deathrash," "Ready To Fuck," and "Christ's Death" will have any fan of black metal or extreme metal in general salivating and going absolutely fucking nuts.

P.S. I don't think anyone has mentioned this, but if you get your hands on "I.N.R.I." try to get the original orange cover or if you are a die-hard vinyl collector, try getting the Nuclear War Now Productions picture disc. Stay away from the shitty Pavement Music release where they completely omit the classic graveyard photo for some shitty stock photo and even misplaced track listing.