#mutilator

Sepultura: Bestial Devastation EP (1985)

As I said yesterday, split releases, like many marriages, are fragile, short-lived unions of convenience; bound for divorce just as soon as either spouse disagrees with the other's life interests or ambitions and breaks off on their own; so much for "'til death do us part."

This 40-year-old split LP (not original, but reissued, of course) is a perfect case-in-point: pairing Brazilian heavy metal legends Sepultura with fellow Belo Horizonte natives Overdose, whose career, like their moniker, was anything but legendary.

And yet, both groups, plus fledgling Cogumelo Records, were just getting started, at the time, so a split album made a lot of sense for all involved, as no one could have possibly predicted the two bands' astonishingly divergent destinies.

Earlier this week, I wrote about the original A-side, Overdose's three-track Século XX (20th Century), so today I'll cover the B-side, Sepultura's five-cut Bestial Devastation, for which no translation is required, and therein lies the rub.

Because, while Overdose clearly felt more comfortable singing in their native tongue, Sepultura's Max Cavalera would have none of it -- rather sagely stating that trying to write Portuguese lyrics for heavy metal was like writing English lyrics for samba.

Not that accurate English pronunciation, let alone correct grammar, were all that important to conveying Sepultura's amusing satanic intentions in opening croak "The Curse," nor ensuing blackened thrash rituals like the title track and "Necromancer."

"The curse is launched, beware ... The Lord of Death declared the war; Satanas is invoked to destroy; And to command the bestial ... Devastation!"

But don't be fooled: as intentionally crude and savage as these songs may be; as primitive the production and amateurish the musicianship of teenagers Max (vocals, guitar), Igor Cavalera (drums), Paulo Jr. (bass), and Jairo T. (lead guitar), there was obvious potential amid all that apparent chaos and noise.

Like extreme metal contemporaries, both overseas (Hellhammer, Kreator, Destruction, Bathory) and at home (Vulcano, Holocausto, Dorsal Atlantica), Sepultura were already stretching their abilities with varied arrangements, riff, and tempo changes.

This promise of accelerated musical growth in years to come is more evident (if no less violent and sacrilegious) on twin standouts "Antichrist" and "Warriors of Death," and Brazilian metal-heads confirmed this by generally rejecting Overdose's comparative melodic sophistication in favor of Sepultura's raw, unruly mayhem.

Their faith would be rewarded as Sepultura marched inexorably towards an unprecedented international breakthrough, while Overdose lost both direction and momentum over the course of six inconsequential albums before breaking up in 1996.

Sepultura, meanwhile, seemed to be utterly unstoppable until another kind of "divorce" tore the band apart from the inside; a tragic, heartbreaking outcome that some of us have frankly never fully gotten over ... but that's divorce for you, isn't it?

ONLY THE TRUE ART CLASS FUCK-UPS KNOW THE SCORE – GET MUTILATED!

PIC INFO: Spotlight on “The Mutilator” (undated, early 2000’s), as seen in Enid’s art class in the comic book movie/comedy “Ghost World” (2001), directed & co-written by Terry Zwigoff. Artwork by David Bankins.

Seriously though, you are definitely one of the real ones if you even remember this, let alone know where this is from. Lol! 💢🔨

CULT DEATH THRASH, INTERNATIONAL EDITION, PART 2

Kremator - Below the Line (Russia, 1989)

Thanatos - Emerging From the Netherworlds (Netherlands, 1990)

Brain Dead - From the Ecstacy (Malaysia, 1992)

Dead Head - The Feast Begins at Dawn (Netherlands, 1991)