Lustful - Profane (2007)

12 years is certainly a long time to wait for a follow-up album, but for whatever reason, Lustful's Profane came out after such an extended hiatus. Their debut, The Almighty Facets was probably not a high impact effort due to its primitive recording and the ease with which any underground band could get lost in the death swarm of the 90s. The band were not completely inactive in the interim, having contributed to a Sarcófago tribute in 2001, but original members Freddy de Marco (guitars) and Rodrigo de Carya did eventually to their beloved brutality, surrounding themselves with a new arsenal of power players like guitarist Fernando Fernandes (who sadly passed away last year) and entering a studio to grind out their sophomore Profane.

Naturally, this album features a huge leap forward in production over the debut. The raw, ruptured turbulence of those uneven guitars is here replaced by a crushing, modern edge that feels like a thousand blunted axes beating in the doors of an old woodshed, with some innocent victim trapped within, in a state of total terror. The vocals are similar, but less of the grunt belch and more of a more bloody, rasping tone. The bass is not highly distinguished on this recording, lost beneath the sheer savagery of the guitars, but the drums completely kick ass over the debut, a swampy rage storm that will simply not allow the listener to drift off, whether they are grooving along in a rock format, blasting off or hammering the toms. Lyrically, the band continues their path of blasphemy, here focused centrally on the lies and fallacy of Christian or other organized religious mythology.

Like the debut, Profane opens with a creepy intro, a ghostly female vocal line over the sounds of crunching ambient warfare, soon battered in with the pummeling drums and old school chagrin of "The Dogma Child". It's a delightful mesh of Morbid Angel and Deicide aesthetics with a whiff of Swedish savagery, but the band are not devoid of a melodic sense and here the bass is actually quite virile, popping and plunking along below the violence. In a way, the band feels a little closer to their countrymen Krisiun here than on The Almighty Facets, but not too close for comfort, and Lustful relies more on dynamic range than that other band's straightforward, take no prisoners blasting. There are quite a number of songs here, one more than the debut, and while a few are brief, simplistic bursts of ghoulish sacrilege like "Killing Whispers", "Fetish" or "T.R.S.O.T.W.", most are quite reasonably structured. Favorites include "Masquerade in Hell", with a horrific intro transforming into slow rhythmic escalation into vile and crude death thrashing , the warlike grooves of "When God Died" which recalls a South American Slayer on a killing spree, and of course the closing title track "Profane" with its seductive samples and eerie, slow paced spiral of damnation.

Profane does lack some of that nostalgic appeal of its predecessor, but that is only to be expected here, since the band is leaping into the 21st century with production standards they only wish they had back in their formative years. Musically, there is just no contest; this is by far the superior of the two albums, with more standout riffs per track and a fresh, aggressive tone that I'm surprised has not turned the heads of more death mavens. If you're into South American death like The Ordher, Queiron or Krisiun, then I truly recommend you check this band out. They may not be as extreme in their delivery, but they are capable of evoking sufficiently dark internal spaces through which their riffing crashes and thrusts the spear of attrition into the listener's ear canals.

Verdict: Win [7.75/10]

http://www.lustful.com.br/

Lustful - The Almighty Facets (1995)

Though my search through the obscure Brazilian territories rarely turns up a qualifying gem, I have long held a fascination for the explosive extreme metal scene in that vast South American realm, starting with the dark blackened thrash of the late 80s through the death metal outbreak of the following decade, into the current. A chief source of cult interest would be the near legendary Cogumelo records, responsible for a great number of underground acts like Chakal, Sextrash, Sarcófago and Vulcano. There is simply something so perceptibly raw and diabolic to the output of these bands that I feel some primordial attraction, even when the actual riffing falls behind the caustic, hostile atmosphere.

Into this metropolis of morbidity thrusts the unknown Lustful, a band who produced a number of demos through the earlier 90s, signing a deal with Cogumelo for their debut The Almighty Facets, a title which seems unintentionally raunchy and humorous considering the sick but seductive, comic book 'appeal' of the cover art. Here is an unrelenting if derivative death metal band who somehow manage to put a smile on the face despite the lack of trying to truly stand out among the mindless and myriad hordes of similar bands in the middle of the 20th century's closing decade, overcoming the substandard production woes to produce an article both genuine and crushing. Essentially you've got a filthy South American thrash/death influence here hailing from a Sepultura or Sarcófago crossbred with US influences from the usual suspects in Morbid Angel, Deicide and Suffocation, a band affixed with blasting menace, carnal grooves and viral outbreaks of sloppy lead work that resemble those of Slayer or Morbid Angel.

The Almighty Facets has a boxy, crude guitar tone which seems messy and antiquated in the rhythmic core, but far brighter and more attractive when panned to individual speakers. The vocals of Rodrigo de Carya are disgusting, like an extreme take on Jeff Becera of Possessed if he were to growl a lot deeper. There are 13 tracks here in close to 40 minutes, most of which are too short to wear through the welcome veil of fresh abuse that one wears when exploring nostalgia for all things ghastly and extreme, but taken in context they can be fun while they last. Several evoke straight up old school death metal lines like "Pride and Fear" or "The Drunk", while others seem to operate on a thrashing/speed blitzkrieg, like the short but intense "Manic Blemish". Most attractive are the songs which build upon compelling intros, like the creepy "No Sense" and its opening synthesizers and guitar riff, or the wall of ripping feedback that inaugurates "Buried Alive".

Not all of the riffs are worthwhile, and the lion's share seem to be all too typical of the day and age, though this might not completely interfere with the cravings of the primitive underground advocate, the only breed of man out there that would be interesting in such a band as Lustful. The solos are well enough written, like in the closing track "Seven Almighty Faces", but nothing terribly inspiring. Aside from the intros and the rather uneven mix of the record, it's not long on atmosphere, but then, these aspects do provide enough menace that the name of the band will stand to memory, even if so few of the individual songs do. It's a solid debut if you're not too picky about technicality or innovation, which were not often major selling points of this period, and something worth breaking out once in awhile if you're interested in the lower tier Brazilian bands and their level of attitude, aggression, and blood-thirsting purity.

Verdict: Win [7/10]