Release Date: 2005 Record Label: I Hate Records Track list: Band Website: Vulcano |
Vulcano - Anthropophagy/Devil On My Roof
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| Anthropophagy lineup: Zhema- Guitars Angel- Vocals Fernando Levine- Bass Arthur- Drums |
Devil On My Roof EP lineup: Zhema- Bass Angel- Vocals X-Remainder- Guitar Renato Pelado- Drums |
Thank Beelzebub for this. For much of its juvenile life, black metal has enshrined and deified a Norwegian scene that learned many of its tricks from a young, rabid South American scene, who absorbed the doctrines of Venom and extrapolated them to the most outrageous extreme. Donning the requisite spikes and leather regalia, bands like Reéncarnacion, Parabellum, Sextrash and Holocausto redefined the face of extreme metal, defying existing conventions of volume and extremity, funneling pubescent spite into bursts of bloodsoaked mayhem. In a classic case of the student surpassing the master, an embryonic Norsk scene that germinated in the wake of these bands went on to capture the imaginations of scenesters the world over, eclipsing the legend that Norway owed so much to. While 'Bloody Vengeance' and 'Live!' have been relegated to being OOP eBay curios and their latest record 'Tales From The Black Book' went severely overlooked by a Moonblood-fixated public, at least we can thank Ola and the SUPERB I Hate imprint for resurrecting Vulcano's second album of atavistic bestiality.
The keyword here, really, is VIOLENT. The fundamental premise of Vulcano's bloodstained sound comprises of hectic, almost-too-speedy-to-be-discernible riffing, messy, cackhanded drumming and hoarse, glass-gargling shrieks, all coagulating to form an apocalyptic vortex of nightmarish proportions. Not as nebulous as Sarcofagó, nor as inebriated as Sextrash, but not as overtly thrash-oriented as something like MX or Executer, Vulcano are somewhere in between, peddling something that is veritably violent yet firmly rooted in the necksnapping headbanger fare of yore. Take the opening chords and insistent, palm-muted passage that opens the record, a frenzied neckwrecker of a motherfucker that urges rabid hair-flailing and horn hoisting. “Death Angel's Armies” takes a decidedly more frenetic approach, a whirlwind of relentless double bass, hyper snare hits and cataclysmic riffage that coalesces into a maelstrom of depravity, predating Krisiun and Mental Horror by about 20 years as well as showcasing the minimalistic, trebly chords over wall-of-blasts approach that would form the basis of Immortal, Enthroned in a distant future. How tragic is it that such an incendiary, revolutionary outfit has been relegated to being little more than a cult curiosity while their understudies have gone on to grace the stereos of kvlt ignoramuses across the globe?
As befitting a band that was so ahead of their time (quite ironic considering how savagely atavistic their approach was), the material on show throughout this record hardly sounds dated, the frantic blasting passages and more pronounced chunky riffing sounding equally vital and vibrant, even when contrasted with the host of bands that have pilfered from their legacy. Songs are succinct, nugget-sized bursts of energy (save for the 6 and a half minute ‘'Fallen Angel''), bursting at the seams with buzzsaw guitars, screeching solos and pulsating rhythms. The drumming really holds everything together here, and though the performance provided is far more precise and less endearingly charismatic than, say, DD Krazy, the busy, squeeze-a-fill-into-every-empty-space, snare roll intensive (again, predating Mental Horror) style really adds a disorienting edge to the insanity, at times perfectly complementing the syncopated, rhythmic guitars and at others pursuing a tangent all their own, creating an unhinged dissonance that is quite hellraising indeed. While admittedly not on the same level as their first two landmarks 'Live!' (which goes down in history for having the best cover EVER) and 'Bloody Vengeance', this record more than lives up to Vulcano's legacy, another blasphemous masterpiece that would unfortunately precede an invariable decline and ultimate return to form in 'Tales From The Black Book'. I could honestly have done without the elaborate quasi-Bathory epic “Fallen Angel”, but that is a somewhat minor complaint, as the lyrics MORE than make up for it (here's a verse: “They got, some girls/ But don't, make sex/ They see, a head/ But don't, around/ Once I, was there/ Put down, the meat/ But was, so much/ Got out, be free/” WTF?!??!!?).
To the severe detriment of this reissue, the songs derived from the 'Devil On My Roof' EP are a lot less promising than those from 'Anthropophagy'. It's not necessarily the extremely muffled, compressed sound that I have a problem with here, the drums sounding like they've been covered with blankets and the recording sounding like it's been taped with one mic in a cavern, but this truly doesn't sound like the Vulcano I know and love. Instead, this all comes off as a substandard take on vintage Venom, complete with rambunctious, crossover riffing, sporadic speed metal solos and Cronos barks. It's certainly interesting for historical and archival purposes, but certainly rather amateurish in comparison to the much more involved work that would typify their later work. It's not all horrible, the Holocaust-ish riff that opens “Prisoner From Beyond” is actually pretty cool in a nostalgic sense, but again, very, very uncharacteristic of a band that would go on to revolutionize the face of EXTREME music.
Discounting the quaint, but largely inessential EP that has been awkwardly appended to 'Anthropophagy', this is a VERY worthy release that will likely prove a revelatory experience to all who are unfamiliar with the Vulcano legend. THIS is black metal, and if I had my way this record would be as mandatory as 'Deathcrush' for anyone seeking an education in perverse BLACKNESS.
August 29th, 2005
