Sarcófago was a band that always had been surrounded by mystery and controversy. Wagner Antichrist began as a member of Sepultura. But his stay in that band was short lived. After leaving that band, Antichrist decided to form the most brutal and agony-ridden band he could muster; thus began Sarcófago. From the onset, the band’s attitude, image, songs, and lyrics drove home the utter repudiation of the Christian faith, all its idols and anything that could ever be derivative of it. The band also unveiled the ugly realities of the human psyque through the notion of hidden sex desires, and the raw truth of Brazil’s dysfunctional and elitist society of the 80s.
The band was created in 1985, in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Antichrist, was the singer; Incubus played the bass, Butcher was the guitar player and D.D. Crazy played the drums. The musical agenda involved lightning-fast drumming (INRI was one of the first metal albums to ever contain blast beats), dirty and ugly riffing and an agonizing Death/Black Metal vocal delivery.
Sarcófago’s first two songs, which are considered classics today, were included in the “Warfare Noise I” compilation (1986), along with Mutilator, Chakal and Holocausto. But it wasn’t until INRI came along that the band’s name starting flowing worldwide. Songs such as Satanas and Nightmare are mainstays of Black Metal. INRI was followed by the solid Rotting, which delivered a more polished production and an even more brutal discharge of vomits by Wagner Antichrist. Listen to Alcoholic Coma and you’ll see what we’re talking about. The Laws of Scourge is a bit more accessible but no less violent than its predecessors. Sarcofago’s next album, Hate, saw the band going back to an ultra radical way of making music with inhuman machine gun drumming. The Worst marked a slowdown for the band but still has insane compositions. The final EP Crust couldn’t have been more appropriate as a swan song. Like a demon refusing to leave a possessed body, the band screams and vomits black blood until its very last minute in this earth.