Logic would dictate that the 1980s held a finite number of metal bands, but yet, about once a week, somebody digs up some other Band From Way Back When That You’ve Totally Got To Hear. And here, I must admit that I’m the biggest sucker for such a thing, the one who came to metal in the 80s and is still trying, however desperately, to catch up with bands or records I missed. Sometimes, when these bones are unearthed, the archaeologist’s enthusiasm is justified – some re-releases certainly are uncovered gems, like Shadow Kingdom’s Jameson Raid compilation, the Sabbat (UK) re-releases, or the overdue reissue of Electrocution’s Inside The Unreal. Sometimes, this type of recovery is more of a historical event, as in Relapse’s repackaging of Evil Chuck’s Mantas days, which is great to own but not something you’re likely to spin often. And sometimes… well, sometimes…
Blood Spits, Violences And Insults pulls together three demos from long-forgotten Brazilian “deathcore” outfit Insulter. Back then, in Brazil, apparently “deathcore” was the term given to the thrash metal that ultimately became proto-black metal, and the term had (and has) nothing at all to do with the breakdown-laden beatdowns of the past decade or so. Like Sarcofago and Sextrash, with whom Insulter shared members, Insulter is raw, ragged, and sloppy. Insulter never garnered the acclaim of those two, whose debut records would prove to be Brazilian classics, but that’s with some good reason.
Blood Spits, Violences And Insults pulls together three demos and a rehearsal tape, presented out of chronological order, starting with the second, 1987’s Black Church. After the first of three “Intro”s, you get the first of two “Black Church”s and the subtly titled “Fuckin’,” the title of which foreshadows Sextrash’s later sleaze-thrash, but it’s musically less developed. (Sextrash would also appropriate “Black Church” for their Sexual Carnage album, and that one’s done better there.) Across all three demos, the sound quality ranges from “recorded in a basement” to “recorded in a dumpster” – the first two demos sound like a metal band is playing in the room upstairs, distant, muffled. The remainder sound like they were recorded with a boombox – the guitars are thin, the drums clicky, the bass too loud sometimes and gone others.
It’s not until the third of three demos (1988’s Ignoring The Falsity) that a memorable riff emerges, the melodic, almost-Maiden-ish descending trill of “Beyond The Twilight Line.” That highlight is immediately reprised (after the fourth throwaway “Intro”), the same song performed on the 1988 rehearsal demo that closes the comp. And with good reason, “Twilight Line” is Insulter’s finest track, the only one here that lingers after the cacophony ceases, though there are four more thereafter. Most of all of Blood Spits is toss-off rudimentary proto-black thrash; nothing really sticks; nothing adds up to anything more than the mediocre. Think of it like a junior-high yearbook photo: Maybe the subject or their friends grew up to be something special, something hot; maybe they didn’t. That result is ultimately irrelevant, because here, they’re gawky, gangly, uncoordinated, unpolished, developing, and there’s nothing that you see that could tell you whether or not they turned into Chris Hemsworth or into Andrew Edmunds.
Not every overlooked demo is worth a grand re-entrance, and Insulter is one of those, one that probably could’ve been left buried and most people wouldn’t have minded or noticed. Given the lineage of the band and direct connections to Sarcofago and Sextrash, dedicated Brazilian thrash maniacs may find this compilation interesting, if not always engaging, while the most rabid collectors of lo-fi proto-black metal may also find some merit herein. All others are advised to proceed with caution.
