Rotting

There was a transition in Brazil by '89 for extreme metal. Those well known bands that added their rough and tumble outputs prior were shedding their sinister overtones and moving away from the tainted and untamed song writing. Namely: Mutilator, Holocausto, Dorsal Atlantica, Sepultura, Vulcano, Psychic Possessor and Attomica. Though Dorsal Atlantica, Sepultura and soon enough Attomica came out with worthy follow ups, but generally those other bands didn't work out as well when they went into less harsh or different directions—leaving the Brazilian hey-day of being over-the-top behind and coming across more as under-the-weather. Along with some lesser known bands, Sarcofago kept it up with their second release and maintained the bridge in Brazil to groups in the '90s with the likes of Mystifier, Headhunter D.C., Expulser, Impurity, Lou Cyfer and others who would pick up again where their metal forefathers lessened off.

'Rotting' is still stepping on toes, though not crushing and pancaking them as they did on 'INRI' with their fearless-enough-to-bludgeon-the-sabertooth-on-the-head, barbaric attitude. The first difference is this has less tracks and more song length to work with within those tracks. Essentially there is a little more attention paid to evolve and expand a song than nearly blazing right through, though drummer D.D. Crazy went back to his band Sextrash at this point, but with Sarcofago's song writing slightly expanding, I'm not sure his strictly primitive style would have worked out here where it did Neanderthalic wonders for 'INRI.' This still has fast parts that peak to blasts, as well as mid-thrashy moments and some slower sections that are going for a darker and more absorbable atmosphere. Newest member M. Joker's various rolls, hits, jabs and stabs are going to shine more during the slowed down moments, since when it gets fast he truly goads the horse in the rear and can sound like an onrush of stampeding strikes.

Main vocalist Wagner took over guitar duties since Butcher left. His strings literally sound rusted and the projected outcome comes across as something like old and worn machinery in an echo-laden abandoned factory, with noises being thrown back and forth, giving it this layer of murk, slime and imperfection. I don't think the band has anything to hide, except for the sacrificed virgin under the flower bed in their backyard, but the production, along with their playing, makes it sound nightmarish and surreal. Justifiably fitting when he'll scream his lungs out of his mouth and onto the floor for everybody to reel back from and clutch the safest thing closest to them which incidentally might be another band member shoving you right back towards the main vocalist. Picture something like a deadly game of extreme metal "pickle" with your life in the balance. The deep and snarling growls on 'INRI' aren't present, though he uses more of a shifty rasp with yells and attached screams done by him and the other members, who literally sound like they're pleading in voice-losing agony for help to escape the writhing hell they've found themselves now head deep in.

The music on 'Rotting' sounds more inherently thrash, of course with touches of ambiguous '80's black and death, where their first album was closer to what we would eventually hear in the '90s with chaotic black metal in the likes of Blasphemy, Beherit, Impaled Nazarene and others who mixed a heavy-handed sacrilegious outlook with what's been established musically at that point in death and grind. Though it's like Sarcofago were so ahead of their time on the debut that they put out 'Rotting' afterwards to get more of a breather but still maintained a tone that is dingy and devious sounding through other musical outlets. By Sarcofago standards the guitars here are technical in a way. They take advantage of the lower strings and use more rapidly played open and closed riffs that would be recognized and related to thrash techniques: palm mute crunching, power chord lunching, hammer-on munching, single string scrunching. They can be simultaneously aggressive and catchy, being mean and blunt and then hooking you back in to become friends again. The song 'Nightmare' was re-recorded here with some mystical sounding keyboards playing a few rung-out higher stringed notes during the slower sections. This was at a time when it was experimental to incorporate keys, not just as an intro or outro, but while metal music was playing. Knowing Sarcofago's nefarious track record up to this point someone might initially repulse away just at the thought of them doing it, but then again it is played sort of tame compared to what a now-a-day's listener might be used to with bombastic sounds or with them being full-on additions. 'Tracy' also has a few subtle notes played in the beginning to help build up the song. In both examples they most importantly made it blend and fit, even for a song that was originally surrounded by 8 other unforgiving demons on the last recording.

Sarcofago are at a slightly different musical leaning here due to line up changes, though each band member in their respective area are still ready to envelope the listener with a demoralized mind-set. They perform little incantations inside your ears while leaving your mouth with a taste of sweet-disgust then penetrating your nose as sharp as sulfur. They prick and prod the back of your spine like three intoxicated audio-surgeons performing a ghastly musical spinal tap; other bands might do the procedure more carefully and deliver in a way that is calculated and concise. The difference here is they'll write a concentrated part and then have their "break out" moments mixed in between; just when you get your head wrapped around a section they'll pull your mind away with a little insanity on another. 'Rotting' isn't a seamless recording—a riff might not have been worked in snugly, some blasts might go on—essentially a certain part might not have been worked through with the brilliance of other groups where they attempt to use certain Hitchcock-like pacing and perfectly culminated climaxes compared to a returnable flawed cult flick with an occasional kink of harsh lighting, sound or editing. Even though this isn't a down pour of golden musical rain drops to make everybody with their palms outstretched satisfied, it took a risk where other contemporary groups weren't willing to go and it still mostly worked out for Sarcofago. As there would be other extreme metal demo projects that you never hear of, because they attempted the same bold music that only someone like Sarcofago and some others were able to pull off with the right or clickable mechanics and of course with some sprinkles of luck. That's one reason why you still hear about them today, not only because they came out at the right timing, but because they put out material that was against mainstream standards, even pushed the envelope within extreme metal, and were able to develop it into mostly workable ideas. Unfortunately I'll chew on some of those words since the exact same sentiments can't be said about their next album.

To get a closer idea of Sarcofago's mind-set here, their lyrics bring excess and vice to the table: alcohol and sex, and their music further unravels the rest of their abuses in particular motions and actions. For instance, the intro track sounds like a brief sexual portal was opening. Like stepping into that '90's show Sliders or the movie/show Stargate and ending up in an exaggerated land like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, except with every sexual perversion and innuendo imaginable at your finger tips: Oompa-Loompas dressed in S & M attire, Charlie himself in nothing but top hat and cane, and who can forget everlasting...uh, let's let them do the carrying away. With the production, the band sounds rough around the edges, like they knocked back a few drinks before the outset. The lyrics, while admittedly atrocious, capture their perverted tastes with blunt syntax and only snippets of forethought. The music delivers the unbalance that the everyday person doesn't need: too much of this or that might kill you. In some of the delivery, they treat the moment like it might be their last breath by screaming in a tortured way or pound the drums as if comets are going to come crashing down and take out the populace, never to be there again, or like with the whole aura of 'Rotting' he wanted to simply take his chops to some indulging levels. So if I were to relate 'Rotting' to "evil," it is essentially evil along the lines of cruelty, barbarity, sadism, selfish excess, and of course vices, where would this release be without those temptations that they give into at every chance and are just dripping with them? I don't know exactly but I can't imagine a better experience without them, and in turn it does give this recording a certain feel and atmosphere, and while it might not be as pivotal or fresh as withered daises as 'INRI' was, it is still a worthy follow up for its own individual reasons.