Chemical Death - Times of Inquisition - LP

It may come as a surprise that one of the blackest full length recording of the Brazilian 90’s scene was produced by a band named Chemical Death, an oddly Death/Grindcore sounding moniker. As a matter of fact the band even added the initials N-C/G-C (Noisecore/Grindcore) to their first logo. Chemical Death was formed in Salvador, the capital city of the Bahia region in the late 80’s under the name Desolation by Fabios Omega (guitars), Josenildo Kareca (Bass) and Canibal. These three grind heads were obsessed with the Noise Core sound that was quite popular in Brazil back then when bands like Napalm Death, Fear of God or Agathocles were truly breaking new sonic grounds. The band was obviously missing a vocalist and decided to ask Marco Russo, a fellow metalhead that was always hanging out at the Maniac record store, the main Metal headquarters of the city. Marco Russo politely declined as he had just joined the band The Side War, a vicious Thrash Death demo only band, but suggested his friend Henrique Devil instead, whom he knew loved all kinds of extreme music. Right after Henrique took over the screaming duty the band played live, without a single rehearsal. That should give you a proper idea of how chaotic events happened back then. They brought total madness on stage with their Grinding Noise Metal and announced the new formation on their flyers as such : Devil - ScreamsTormentVomitAgonic, Josenildo - NoiseralcoholicRotten, Omega - Massacrator of Head, Marcos - infernalMachineGunAtomic. And if that wasn’t enough to make you love them, they name dropped the following obscure influences : Sadistic Noise (a forgotten Greek Black core band), Hellhouse (or Hellish Torment, USA’s most obscure Death metal pioneer) and Necrobutcher (Brazilian legend that combined the original UK grindcore style with the chaotic Sarcofago legacy). Under this formation they recorded a promo rehearsal (« Evil Empire ») and then their first demo called « Agony Screams » which quickly became a classic among the noiseheads of the Brazilian scene. From that point, the band started to share the stage with many of their fellow bands from the Bahia scene, some of them being the most dedicated Black Metal cultists of their era, I’m talking about Mystifier, Necrolust and Crucificator. All these bands influenced and stimulated each other in terms of darkness and extremism and it wasn’t long before they inspired Henrique to compose the song « Satanic Legion », a much longer and blacker song than anything ever recorded by Chemical Death. To the surprise of everyone, they began to play that song live and started slowly to embrace the Black Metal spirit that was so vivid in the early Brazilian scene, especially in Bahia. Henrique had to leave the band as he moved to SP, right after he ignited the Black Metal flame into the band, but was quickly replaced by a singer named Black Angel and so Chemical Death started composing new songs. In less than one year, they recorded the demo entitled « Satanic Legion ». It’s a completely new band that is on display here, with giant spikes, leather, Mystifier shirts and black paint, accompanied with new but not less inspired monikers such as Massacrator of Church or Satanic Disgrace (Brazil always had the best pseudonyms). « Satanic Legion » was a totally fresh start for Chemical Death as it offered a perfect mix of Mystifier’s influence along with touches of their old Grindcore ways, especially in the inhuman vocals. Such Raw mix of Black Metal and Grindcore only existed in Brazil and « Satanic Legion » is a true testimony of that unique extreme culture. Influences now dropped around were Mystifier, Bathory, Necrolust, Headhunter DC… Shortly after that schizophrenic output, a lot of disagreements emerged among the four members resulting, just like many other bands from Brazil in these days, in the dissolution of the original line-up. Josenildo Noisier and Fabio Omega gathered then a completely fresh line-up in order to compose and record a full length album for which they just had received a deal offer by Brazilian label Bazar Music (based in Aracaju from the Sergipe Region). They took upon the offer, wrote and then recorded the fantastic and utterly obscure album « Times of Inquisition », perfecting once again the rotten and satanic sound of their local scene. The sudden death of the label owner unfortunately left Chemical Death without any proper support (remember that in 1993 finding a label ready to release a Black Metal album was an extremely hard task), the album was unfortunately shelved as the band moved on. « Times of Inquisition » reflected perfectly its time and place and was actually one of the very few Brazilian Black Metal full-length ever recorded in the glorious early 90’s. It takes Chemical Death’s vision of Black Metal to whole new levels, with a lot of influence once again from Mystifier and Necrolust, and only a few hints of Grindcore remaining. Interestingly enough, the shortest song ever recorded by Chemical Death in their demo days is only 10 seconds long while the longest in the album is over 7 minutes! Quite a mutation. The band obviously got frustrated by the failure of their record deal, but they decided to go on (« to record the most abominable Death Metal » says the last bio ever published). And even if that new 5 pieces line up managed to secure and play some live shows, once again the band experienced inner disagreements which ultimately led to final demise of the band. After many years locked up in obscurity, and as a wider recognition of Brazilian Black Metal’s importance in the development of the genre started to emerge, Voz Da Morte records, local Brazilian Extreme Metal necromancers, brought the album back to life in the form of a compilation cd, which nevertheless remained pretty obscure and only appreciated by a small elite of connoisseurs. Nearly four years later, Nuclear War Now productions and Zombi Danz Records offer you « Time of Inquisition » as a standalone vinyl and as it was truly intended : a Brazilian Black Metal album recorded in 1993 that fears no comparison to « Wicca » or « The Lamb’s Fury ». « Dedicated to all : Deathgrindermorbidoom Metal Fucking Bangers around the world ». - Zombi Danz Magazin