Early Extreme Metal in South America

by dzorrilla

The 1980s were not a kind period for South America. An economic debt crisis, military dictatorships, rampant violence, endemic poverty, right wing paramilitaries, left wing guerrillas among many other social issues were arguably the ingredients that radicalised the youth of the continent. Many were frustrated at their conditions, but rather than turning to a life of crime and destitution, some sought out to vent their frustration through music – particularly punk and metal. Many of you are already familiar with Sepultura who are a household name and arguably the only South American band who ever truly “made it”. Yet the continent possessed a lot of other bands that have been largely condemned to obscurity, mostly due to lack of means to get their music out to a larger public and simply because a lot of it was too extreme and incoherent even for most metalheads. Still, the legacy of Latin America is an important one for the history of metal and should be celebrated. This underground Friday, let us burn falses and play the symphony of atomic war. Feel free to add in suggestions! Like the Central/Eastern European list, this one primarily focuses on acts from the 80s up until the very early 90s (91-92).

Warning: a lot of this material is extremely sloppy lo-fi black/death/thrash. If you aren’t into this kind of stuff, you are likely not to enjoy this list much.

Brazil

The Brazilian scene began to take off in 1985, after the end of a military dictatorship that had lasted over 20 years. Ensuing economic hardships and widespread corruption of governing institutions were the catalysts that pushed many angry youth to channel it through extreme music.

Sarcofago No other band aside from Sepultura was more influential to the Latin American scene than Sarcofago. When you take Venom/Slayer/early Sodom and put it into a blender, the end result is INRI.

Vulcano Arguably the first extreme metal band in South America to record a full length, Vulcano’s “Bloody Vengeance” is one of the crowning achievements of the mid 80s and one of the most extreme efforts recorded in 1986. Death/thrash/black madness.

Holocausto A common trope in the early days of the Brazilian metal scene was to brandish Nazi imagery, most likely as a way to shock people. Holocausto was the embodiment of this and their album “Campo De Exterminio” was a messy mix of black/thrash. Still, pretty good!

Mutilator One of the bands featured in the legendary “Warfare Noise” compilation by Cogumelo, Mutilator played fast no thrills death/thrash. Like Sepultura, they later went on to play more Bay Area thrash inspired music.

Sextrash That fucking cover, haha. It doesn’t change the fact Sextrash played some pretty malevolent death/thrash.

Mystifier The masters of occult black/death. Much more mid-paced than the rest of the bands on this list, but still killer.

MX MX were more straight up thrash, but with that added touch of Latin American extremity. Cool stuff.

Exterminio Like MX, they had some obvious Bay Area thrash references but managed to spice it up with some extremity.

Necromancer This is one of my favourite demos from this era. Necromancer were the missing link between Schizophrenia and Beneath The Remains. A true shame they never got to record a full length until last year.

Psychic Possessor One of the lesser known bands from the Cogumelo catalog, they had a slightly more technical edge to their brand of death/thrash. Still, great stuff.

Panic Over the top, energetic death/thrash.

Attomica Similar story to Sepultura, started out as pretty primal black/thrash but then sought more influence from Bay Area thrash. I personally prefer their later sound, although the self-titled is still worth checking out.

Cova Ok, now we’re reaching into really lo-fi territory. Cova played insanely fast death/thrash, although slightly crippled by bad production. It doesn't stop their only demo from being great.

Obsessos So obscure I couldn’t even find a youtube link, so instead I’ll give you a download link. Obsessos played very dark death/thrash, almost reminding me of a Brazilian Necrovore.

Impurity Disgusting black/death. This one will appeal much more to fans of bands like Blasphemy, Beherit and others.

Genocidio Bad guitar tuning, drums all over the place, extreme vocals…pretty much what you come to expect from those early days. Not one of my favourites, but still interesting to spin every now and again.

Exterminator Ok, this is not good by any means but I still wanted to share it because it made me laugh my ass off when I was a teenager. The cover, the guitars, the drumming – this has to be one of the most incoherent messes I’ve ever encountered.

Colombia

The bulk of Colombia’s extreme bands centred around Medellin, home to the infamous Medellin cartel – headed by Pablo Escobar. Daily life was a constant struggle as violence and death was just a common occurrence for many who lived in this epoch and a prevalent theme throughout their lyrical content. Unfortunately, many whom were part of the early scene passed away in successive years – often victims of the same violence they sang about. The bands came up with a moniker for their own style of metal known as “Ultra Metal”.

Masacre The biggest DM band from Colombia. Their approach alternated between fast and medium paced songs that dealt with the tumultuous state of Colombian society. Savage and vicious.

Parabellum Parabellum were not just one of the first Colombian extreme metal bands, they were one of the first extreme metal bands PERIOD. Their first EP came out in 1987 (although written since 1984) and was a furious mix of the heaviest music from that time period – hardcore, crust, Venom, Sodom, etc.

Reencarnacion One of the enduring bands from the Medallo scene. Extremely dirty and filthy 1st wave black metal.

Profanacion Many Colombian bands came from poor stratos, meaning there was little money for recording proper demos. Profanacion only left behind this rehearsal demo of primitive death/thrash, showcasing a lot of potential.

Sacrilegio This one hurts because Sacrilegio were one of the most promising Colombian acts, yet they only managed to record one rehearsal. Devasting death/thrash that was out of this world. Listen to this!!!

Herpes One of the guys from Parabellum decided to record a grindcore EP. This is Napalm Death/Repulsion/Terrorizer on crack.

Blasfemia A noisy, incoherent mess of ugly South American extremity. In other words it’s pretty cool.

Nekromantie I’m running out of descriptions, but Nekromantie followed in the same footsteps as other bands in Medellin. Basically writing music that was a chaotic mess, yet oddly enough still listenable.

Danger This band differed quite significantly from the others playing the “Ultra Metal” style as their brand of metal was more of a punky thrash with strong social commentary.

Astaroth Not quite as intense as Parabellum or Reencarnacion, but more structured and streamlined death/thrash hampered by low production values. Still worth a spin.

Inquisition I hesitated to include them since the bulk of their releases were recorded in the US, but I know somebody would inevitably ask so here you go. Inquisition began by playing thrash in the teutonic style (obvious Kreator influence) and weren’t bad by any means, but they went on to achieve so much more as a black metal band.

Chile

The 1980s were a relatively more “tranquil” period for Chile compared to the chaos that ensued in the early 70s with the ascent of Augusto Pinochet into power. Nonetheless, discontent was brewing and it was none more evident than through some of the great acts that graced the country until the end of the dictatorship in the early 90s.

Pentagram The stalwarts of Chile. One of the most well known bands from the South American underground and even covered by Napalm Death. A good dosage of Slayer/Possessed worship.

Cancerbero Almost verging on pure death metal, Cancerbero wrote uncompromising death/thrash – just the way it should be.

Death Yell They are most recognized for their cult split with Beherit. Rudimentary black/death at its finest. Atomic Aggressor Another cult act, playing what South Americans do best – raw, uncompromising death/thrash. Some strong Possessed and Morbid Angel influence displayed here.

Sadism Straight up death metal of the Florida variation. Damn good if you ask me.

Totten Korps More Florida worship, but with more brutal vocals. Think of a more malevolent Deicide and you get Totten Korps.

Torturer A band that was more on the technical side of death/thrash, but could deliver some excellent riffs.

Peru

Peru’s story is like that of many other Latin American nations. A country that was rife with economic hardships and was spearheading a war against a left wing guerrilla movement known as the Shining Path.

Mortem For me, the best band to grace Peru. While their early demos were solid, they really improved over the years and graced us with fantastic dark death/thrash albums at a time when everyone was more interested in being brutal/technical/melodic/whatever.

Hadez One of the first extreme acts from Peru, Hadez was emulating the sound that resounded throughout the Latin American scene. A Peruvian Sarcofago if you will.

Anal Vomit Ok, so they came a bit later on but I just could not avoid omitting these guys. Anal Vomit play the old school South American style to a tee. Pure Sarcofago worship.

Argentina

I’m not terribly familiar with the Argentinian scene as quite a few from the country have professed to me their scene back in the day was nothing out of this world. Still, recently I stumbled upon this youtube video with a nice compilation of old school death metal from the country which I will link here. These bands tend to oscillate between straight up death/thrash and FLDM.

Uruguay

Graf Spee Interesting, yet sloppy death metal album from 1989. If you enjoy the messy kind of South American extreme metal, then this will appeal to you.

Angkor Vat I prefer this to Graf Spee. It sounds like Slayer, Possessed and a pinch of Sarcofago. Give it a go.

Venezuela

Baphometh The only Venezuelan band I ever encountered in my teen years, these guys sound a bit like Sodom during their Persecution Mania era. Not bad at all.

That covers most of it. If anyone has more suggestions, feel free to add them in the comments – especially if you’re familiar with the Bolivian and Ecuadorian scene. On a last note, I want to recommend you guys check out the Colombian film Rodrigo D: No Futuro. The movie deals with the life of those involved in the Metal and Punk scene in Medellin during the late 80s. It was the first Colombian movie to be presented at Cannes. There in one notable scene in particular, where Blasfemia are playing on a roof and the drummer for Parabellum performs a drum solo accompanied by very poetic lyrics. Watch it here.