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uclëar Fröst, as well some others mentioned here, despite being in a certain way a new band – formed in 2007 in the city of São Paulo – has lots of great releases, making them very popular in the underground, even out of Brazil. Initially, Nuclëar Fröst was born to be a project of the bassist Edoom Nuclear Winter, who was playing in ROT at the time and had also another project – Concrete Hammer – and had a long experience in some old school Thrash bands like Nebulizer, Retaliador and Breakdown. He soon called his friend Tom Thunder Machine to play the drums and make a Crust/HC in the 80’s Swedish vein, influenced by Anti-Cimex, Svart Parad, Crude SS, Discharge etc. As Edoom’s old bands called its quits, he and Tom decided that Nuclëar Fröst should become a real band and so they called Gaby Crust Force to the vocals and Fred to play guitar. Soon, they recorded their first stuff, the cassete demo “D-beat War 83”, with a totally HC sound, but in their second demo – “Winter Bombs” – they incorporated other influences, specially from the British Crust, inspired in bands such as Deviated Instinct and Amebix, and also lots of 80’s underground metal influences, drawing some ideas from Venom, Voivod, Hellhammer, Razor, Sodom, Mutilator and other ancient acts, making their music richer and harder than before. Nowadays, NxFx has a new line-up, without Edoom, but with Gaby, Tom, Fejão Peligro – guitar and Nilson Slaughter – bass. Also they have recorded lots of official stuff, including 2 full-lengths (“Anti-Christ, AntiNazi” and “Nuclear Winter Gloom”), some compilations, like the Brazilian Discharge tribute, and also 3 split albums with bands such as Children of Technology (Ita), Secret Sect, Minkions (Ita), Retaliador (Bra) and the mighty HC/Thrash classic Armagedom (Bra). All releases are perfect examples of the best atemporal Thrash/Crust/Metal, in the same vein of present bands like Inepsy, Dishammer or Drunken Bastards, keeping the essence of punk and adding the natural influences of the 80’s metal. When I say “natural”, I want to say that what bands like Nuclëar Fröst is doing is to prove what every old school freak already knew: that metal and punk are similar genres and shall live together instead of following its ways apart. So, for those who think that this is true, NxFx is your band. Contacts: www.myspace.com/nuclearfrost83
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Power from Hell
ne of the last bands of this scene report is Power from Hell, an act lead by Sodomic, who plays vocals, guitar and bass in most of their recordings, sometimes accompanied by the drummer Evil Destructor. The band was formed in the city of Guarulhos, São Paulo, in 2002, and has four excellent full-lengths: “The True Metal” (2004), “Sadismo” (2007), “Spellbondage” (2009) and “Lust and Violence” (2011), and a very recent split with Whipstriker, released in 2012 by the German label Fuck the Mainstream. Power from Hell’s music is an absolutely raw metal punk that maybe could be compared to the very first recordings of Venom, Bathory, Bulldozer and Warfare, combined with anti-christianity and BDSM lyrics. All songs have that simple, crude and noisy atmosphere which was typical in the underground before 1985 and is alive today in bands like Bone Awl, for example. So, don’t expect clean production or any kind of technical approach here: you will find only raw music much more based in emotion than in rational technique.
Contacts: www.myspace.com/dayoflust | facebook.com/pages/POWER-FROM-HELL
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lso from Curitiba, comes another new band formed by veterans of the Brazilian scene, the absolutely old school metallers called Axecuter. The idea of the band is old too, but Axecuter really started to play in 2010, with three friends who loved talking about metal, drinking beer and eating pizzas. Their initial Idea was to play simply Metal, without worrying about any specific subgenre, blending all their influences straight from the 80’s metal: Venom, Exciter, Dark Angel, Razor, At War, Accept, Mercyful Fate and tons more of that era, when the boundaries among Thrash, Speed, Heavy or Black Metal was not so clearly defined. Of course, their music honestly reflects this attitude, for our luck!
axecuter
The band is formed by Danmented (vocals/guitar) and Baphometal on drums, counting with the help of Buzzard (bass) as a live member. In terms of releases, they have already the Ep “Bangers Prevail” (2011), released in cassete format first and re-released in 2012 with a Vulcano’s cover as an extra-track; the 7” “Innocence is our Excuse” (2012), and this year they put out their full-length, called “Metal is Invincible”, a great work that will certainly be praised by the underground metal press around the world and worshipped by headbangers who are tired of the excesses of technicality and sophistication of the last decades in metal and prefer to listen to the straightforward music of the 80’s. By the way, they are already calling the attention of some metalheads who are above any suspicion, like Katon de Pena (Hirax), Mark Shelton (Manilla Road) and Sy Keeler (Onslaught), that gave their support to Axecuter’s music recently. This surely give us an idea of what is coming in the future for Axecuter and we hope they have a very long life in our underground scene.
Contacts: | axecutermetal@hotmail.com | facebook.com/axecuter | youtube.com/axecutermetal
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ell, this is only a brief view on what is happening nowadays in the Brazilian underground, because there are so many bands, zines and distros that I wouldn’t be able to cover all of them. Besides these 10 first bands, you can also look for more, in all subgenres: Sodamned, Khrophus and Unborn (Death Metal), Örrör, Baixo Calão and Homicide (Grindcore), Clenched Fist and Denim and Leather (Heavy/Power Metal), Mortage and Poison Beer (Thrash) and so on. Now, it is just a matter of chosing your preferred style and turning your mind and ears again to Brazil, because this scene is still strong and deeply loyal to the principles of the underground as it was in the glorious decade of 1980.
Cristiano Passos