Returning to the fray weirding, bedraggled and with all spine-bound spikes raised the last mutant from the post-millennial neo-thrashmageddon one’d expect to strike is deadliest as Rio de Janeiro, Brazil-based thrash metal quartet Farscape return from a ten year hiatus with a tortured psyche and a satisfyingly obscure sound on this fourth full-length album. ‘Purged and Forgotten‘ takes a few chances, makes a few changes and overall tightens the still intact group’s grip upon a now even more seamless style of late 80’s-era classic thrash infused aggression. The big takeaway here is a more accomplished ideal achieved, a wilding personae attached to riffcraft and howling-mad vocals which speak loudest yet to the crowd and to the die-hard South American thrash/speed metal heads looking for something traditional yet mutated by the radiation of time.

Farscape formed back in 1998 and it is important to sort of set the stage for how the resurgence of ‘retro’-thrash metal wasn’t relevant to the worldwide underground in the sense that many folks had kept the spirit of the sub-genre and its many sub-sects alive throughout the 1990’s. Formed nearby their still-standing ‘old school’-minded projects Apokalyptic Raids and Diabolic Force this band was somewhere in between the idiosyncratic types from the 90’s (Torture Squad, Claustrofobia) and the new breed (Violator, Power From Hell) as they arrived with their debut demo tape (‘Doctrine Sickness‘, 2001) playing a blasting and aggressive style of distinctly Brazilian thrash metal in the Warfare Noise-adjacent realm. Around that time I would say the only thing remotely as heavy from a new entity in their region was ‘Invincible War‘ from Bywar as rudimentary as their approach was by comparison. These guys were not a small part of the strong revival of thrash out of their country which fared better than most in terms of pizza thrash vs. serious killers in hindsight. I would say that the debut LP from the group (‘Demon’s Massacre‘, 2003) was always seen as an early standout and a clear shift towards the diction of early Kreator while still keeping the hideous firebrand riffing of their demo tape. It wasn’t as cool or insano-mode as the demo in the same way Quo Vadis (Poland) kinda straightened-up on their debut LP.

I’ve long tended to agree with the fellowe over at ClassicThrash.com about the Farscape discography up until their long hiatus beyond 2013, it was a joy for those seeking typified thrash metal sounds but their work had its expected diminishing returns as they balanced several bands. With the sub-genre standard upheld on a basic level without any focus on memorable pieces the first album was a blazer, a riff-ripper but the follow-up (‘Killers on the Loose‘, 2006) was kinda chill, even mid-paced and rocking at times to the point where it’d felt like they’d took the extremity of their earlier days and pushed it into other projects. This turns out be true as we consider members had formed side-thrasher Atomic Roar in 2003 and Whipstriker would form his own gig circa 2010. The style of riffcraft the band would employ had changed beyond the first album, now reaching for speed metal rhythms to break up the bashing monotony of their increasingly straight forward post-‘Reign in Blood‘ chipping away on ‘Primitive Blitzkrieg‘ (2013), a solid but less than inventive speed/thrash metal record which I still enjoy today. Though I like some of their associated bands I’ve always seen Farscape as the type of thrash group I’d never turn off if it hit the stereo while at the same time they were never a craving, just a memorable name from the beginning of a neo-thrash era where few bands had the riffs part of thrash down.

Hoo-boy did I just about punch the speaker out when ‘Purged and Forgotten‘ started with the intro to opener/title track “Purged and Forgotten” as a guitar dribbles out a slow arpeggio while a laugh and ambient noises/layers meant to sound like an asylum play. For me it is one of the worst intros to a thrash record I’ve come across in years (not counting ‘Before…And After‘) but this is a minor annoyance as the song is otherwise a sharp and invigorated thrasher. Twenty years later and Farscape have kinda reached that point of weirding-out for the sake of variety here and for my own taste that is a good way to be since they’ve still the rhythms down and these are deadlier than expected. Marching speed riffs, kinda Possessed-spiked runs and deathly progressions make this first song an engaging creep as it sets precedence for this heavier and ancient feeling record to kick off with a roar and a whipping beat. Sitting down and trying to crack off a riff from the first half of ‘Demon’s Massacre‘ compared to like, the chainsawed cut of “Leucotomy” from this fourth record does well to showcase that these guys are better players and have taken an altogether more aggressive approach to writing immediate and entertaining riff driven songs upon return. No question the freaked out nuclear teeth-grinding performance from vocalist/guitarist Witchcaptor helps sell the mean ride of these opening moments, too, but this record pushes its dual guitar rhythm rush in an effective way throughout.

Fleet-fingered, making it weirder, and playing faster/heavier than ever Farscape had me into it pretty quick here in terms of moment-to-moment action. ‘Terrible Certainty‘ is up there in my favorites per classic thrash and I feel like this band always had that level of erratic riffcraft in ’em minus the melodic edge and this is kind of the leading feature for the first half of this record overall. When they do manage a melody it is toxic-shocked with pitch shifted layers and gang-mutant barked emphasis on “Backing From the Hole”, the mid-album peak and Side A closer which leads us into the deeper, longer, at times less serious-faced pit of the second half. If nothing else you’ll get a mean late 80’s thrash/speed metal dust up from the opening moments of this album and they are well served to die-hards who’ll appreciate the bigger personality pumped on vocals and (again) the faster whip of the riffs.

Krokodil colored eyes, eyelids optional. — The main song to catch my ear spin-after-spin was “Miss Violence” which manages to be eerie, affected in an almost cheesy way but headbanging all the same. I guess this is where the riffs kinda flex out the kinks in the record and allow the band to mess with oddball nods while they rip through a (relatively speaking) mid-paced piece which leads us into songs that are longer and more involved here in the armpit of the second half. They freak out on this particular song beyond the ~2:15 minute point eventually hitting some of the more complex guitar runs before cutting into dual blues guitar polyphony (?) at the end and still manage to make that song work. Sure, this is ugly and weird thrash metal but all the more entertaining, standing out while avoiding a trainwreck of any sort; The hardest-charged pieces on this album are yet the core strength of Farscape‘s body of work and these guys still have a death-grip upon the bladed edge of Brazilian thrash metal riffcraft, that which traded blows with Teutonic thrash and took some cues from early Slayer while making triply-hardened alloy of it. You’ll feel the death-thrash edge of circa ’87-’90 in the shove of songs like “Captivity of Souls”, the best piece on the album by far, most and this is still the bedrock of their sound and attack even if this record kinda wants to get weird in general.

Speaking of odd choices ‘Purged and Forgotten‘ closes with “Vengeance of the Forgotten” which initially appears to be a nearly ~10 minute piece that kinda goes Side B ‘Master of Puppets‘ meets Vulcano as it kicks off. The piece fades out by ~4:43 minutes in and switches to a cover of Living Death‘s “Grippin’ A Heart” from their weird-ass second LP ‘Metal Revolution‘, a deep cut which has kind of Bon Scott inspired vocals on the original. A bit of an unusual endpoint but a catchy song that brings a whiff of their speed metal minded past back into view briefly; Faster, deadlier and weirding it up a decade later the return of Farscape is well-represented by the Repka-esque cover art from Mario Proença and a solid running order which practically rushes through its ~38 minutes before leaving a dent with it second half. ‘Purged and Forgotten‘ is sure to be a welcome return for longtime fandom and an improved station for the band who are older, wiser and bear a bit more personality on this fourth LP. A moderately high recommendation.

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