Striking open the crypt with a vengeance only sated by shattered bones and pyre-bound conflagration São Paulo, Brazil-based death/thrash metal band AÇOITE offer raw and rotten flesh in sacrifice to the old gods on this well-improved yet highly authentic sophomore full-length album. Old school thrashing death down to their marrow these fellowes have done well to study the 80’s South American extreme metal ways and translate them into their own sound, their own maniac form on ‘Revanche! Hecatombe!‘. Bringing along some actual Ancient Ones peppered throughout this fast-whipping, vile attack you can tell these folks are propositioning the ruggedness of a bygone dark age out of all-encompassing fandom as their fevered love for evil thrash metal classicism shines through immediately, complimenting the niche with great precision and the exact right mean-assed attitude throughout.

Açoite formed around ~2017 with the intent of playing authentic Brazilian death-thrash metal in the 80’s style drawing influences from the thrashing aggression of early Sepultura, Vulcano, Panic and the more grinding black/death/thrash maul (or “deathcore”) of Sextrash, Expulser, Sarcofágo among many others. Of course their inspiration called to all manner of metal and weren’t limited to historic countrymen but they’ve always made their goal clear in making authentic, unpretentious and violent ‘old school’ death-thrash metal. The original quartet made early progress along these lines with a promotional demo (‘Promo 2018‘, 2018) not long after forming and they didn’t waste any time getting to work on a debut LP (‘Açoite‘, 2019). During the course of reviewing that debut it spoke to my earliest instincts as a teenager in the sense that once I heard ‘Schizophrenia‘ I went and investigated everything Brazilian metal, looking at every band in the liner notes and searching out rare dark thrash and death from the region. Some of the main inspirations for this band are a nostalgic hit to me, sure, but also a foundational part of my own experience with underground music early on. Finding anyone who knew (and actually liked) albums like ‘Rotten Church‘ or ‘Toxin Diffusion‘ back in the day was far more rare than it is today, at any rate.

Recording with modest analog-as-possible means, playing with rabid intensity and retaining the spirit of this niche without plainly copying its biggest ideas meant Açoite sounded genuine out of the box then and now but from my point of view that first album didn’t necessarily burn shit down with its riffs out the gate. The biggest thing I’d noticed here several years later with album number two is the production values have cleared up to the point that the frantic nature of the drumming is emphasized, the bass guitar tone is clear yet aggressive with a percussive edge to its shape, and the guitar sound is vastly improved as they deliver doubly-quick and cutting riffs throughout ‘Revanche! Hecatombe!‘. The rhythm guitar tone in particular has that sinister early Sodom edge to start as they cut into opener “Calvario em Chamas” a song which features a guest spot from Rodrigo F. of Holocausto, the first of two appearances on the album. While I think the big leap here in terms of the actual recording is the render of the rhythm section there is something to be said for a decayed thrash metal guitar tone carrying the experience through its riffs, an ideal medium to build fast and morbid songs from without completely overtaking the senses or blurring out the vocals.

‘Revanche! Hecatombe!‘ makes an effort to hit the ear with its fastest, most violent wares first and then slowly work from ~2-3 minute rippers toward somewhat more complex songs as they burn through the eight songs that make up the main LP. They’ve barely breached the four minute mark on these songs and this ensures they get in, make their point and typically bring a big riff, a groove or a percussive volley before moving on. The first three songs rush in a direct line, belt-fed from the clip and eventually find a more classic thrashing cut on the fourth piece, “Magia Sonora”. This song has that old school ‘Bloody Vengeance‘ feeling from the start and of course this might’ve been intention considering they’ve brought in Angel, main vocalist for Vulcano ’84-’96 and some revival albums, as a guest vocalist alongside a reappearance from of Rodrigo of Holocausto again. At this point I think the album had been going well but this song in particular feels like we get a real fanservice moment, a memorable circa ’86 death-thrasher with a kind of speed metal root to its attack. The personalized thrash metal centered angle of the band begins to bloom here within the next few pieces, particularly within “Crucifica-o!” not only a memorable song for how it develops but for the possessed guitar solo that they work in near the end.

For all of the furor to start, brain-jolting thrash in the middle and energy pressed throughout ‘Revanche! Hecatombe!‘ one of the best songs here is actually one of the “slowest” in terms of starting out with a shambling, radiation decayed riff before whipping through its blasted-at bulk. “Guardião de Ecos” is both a highlight and the closer for the album, another song which features Angel on guest vocals but also guitar solo from Vulcano founding guitarist Zhema. The crooked walk of the opening riff reprises itself at full intensity and basically the album ends on its highest note for my taste. The full listen of this album reads similar to ‘Açoite‘ in terms of how they’ve arranged these songs almost grouping them by similar intensity so that the album flows through well enough but features an eclectic set of sounds which all encompass an evil thrashing attack but not just one dimension of Açoite‘s interests.

From there what comes next depends on which version you’ve gotten: The vinyl version includes a cover of Dorsal Atlântica “Armagedom” which has a guest solo from that band’s founder Carlos “Vandalo” Lopes, of course if you know this band the two big “heavy metal” moments and the drum fills are preserved with some great intensity. You can tell these guys are huge fans of the band with the amount of care put into this particular cover. For the CD version the closing cover is Vírus‘ “Matthew Hopkins” a song from the band’s infamous S.P. Metal compilation from 1984 and an incredible deep cut, a song I’d recommend tracking down the original of to contrast. And finally the cassette version of this album includes a cover of Psychic Possessor‘s “Breath Till Drop” from their darker first album before leaning more crossover on the second, anyone who knows this song anticipates the 80’s hardcore style breakdown as it develops but I particularly like this brutal version with Açoite‘s bass tone being perfectly fitting and the vocals sound incredible as they echo big and loud leading up to the break ~2:35 minutes in.

For my own taste Açoite offer more than a short-but-solid death/thrashing album experience but also a level of fandom for this type of music which feels like it matches my own enthusiasm for the ancient, raw and riff-guided version of extreme metal which Brazil has always been a fine exporter of. The guest spots and the cover songs go a long way to engage this part of my brain that collects and obsesses over those great old ones but of course it helps a lot that these guys actually rip, have riffs, and approach their craft in an authentic way. The big boon here, again, is the production values are more readable without taking away from the obscure darkness intended and they’ve obviously taken some serious care in presenting an altogether authentic but much improved version of themselves. For my own taste it is one of the best records of the year as it piques my interest in the niche though in giving a recommendation to the general public I figure there are only so many die-hards out there who will understand what this record is and why it is a thrill to behold. A high recommendation.

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