Fear, Emptiness, Decibel: Sarcófago’s I.N.R.I. Enters The Hall of Fame!
Before there were blogs there were these things called magazines, and the only metal magazine we still get excited about reading every month is Decibel. Here’s managing editor Andrew Bonazelli…
The older you get, the less credit you give to kids. After all, what the fuck do they know? You’ve been through your share of significant others—maybe even living with a couple—your work life has somehow become more rote and complex at the same time, you’ve begun to gradually lose friends and family. Youthful idealism and bravado comes to be an annoyance, not an inspiration. If these little fuckers think they’re going to change the world, they’re sorely, hilariously mistaken.
But metal fans—elitist, snarky and dismissive as we can be—are less likely to go whole hog on cynicism. We know deep down in that almost imperceptible non-rotten sliver of real estate in our hearts that most of the bands responsible for everything we hold dear made their greatest impact as teenagers. Sure, without the presence of ubiquitous social media, it seems much easier, in retrospect, for a band like Sarcófago to cultivate an alluring and dangerous cult persona. But at the same time—and we’re talking 1987 here—the cultural climate was conservative enough that taking photos of your proto-corpsepainted, bullet-belted band licking and fondling a statue of the Virgin Mary for sure qualifies as daring.
The Brazilian quartet’s debut LP I.N.R.I. is the subject of our last Hall of Fame before our 100th issue surprise installment (the first time a band will be given the honor of a second induction), and it’s easy for longtime ’heads and the unfamiliar to fall in love with these dudes. Even though they were mostly just fucking around with Satanic imagery, they were prescient enough at an early age to know the impact it would have on their surroundings: namely, appalling the pious and blending right in with the “sex and debauchery” of their hometown of Belo Horizonte. Oh yeah, and their drummer just may have invented the blast beat. If that’s not good enough, we also included Sarcófago testimonials from heavy hitters such as Fenriz, Phil Anselmo, Tomas Lindberg and Matt Harvey. It’s all in there, crudding up the Top 40 issue, available now.
Sure, you could just buy this one issue, but why not just get a full subscription to to ensure that you never miss Decibel?
