TROOPS OF DOOM

Sepultura aren’t the only successful heavy band from Brazil. Here’s your guide to some of the best releases in the country’s history

stress – stress (dies Irae, 1982)

Brazil’s first metal release, Stress’s 1982 debut owes a debt to the speed metal of the great white north (think early Voivod) as well as the British likes of Judas Priest, Saxon and iron Maiden.

various – grito suburbano (punk rock discos, 1982)

Working smart to negotiate logistical – and financial – limitations, Brazil’s first punk release was a collaborative compilation of pissed-off bands in the vein of GBH and Discharge.

sarcófago – I.n.r.i. (Cogumelo, 1987)

revered by euronymous, Sarcófago’s debut album was death/ thrash in its rawest, most blasphemous form, setting the fervently filthridden template for South american extreme metal to come.

viper – theatre of fate (eldorado, 1989)

if you asked any Brazilian in the late 80s who the country’s biggest metal band were, few would have argued with Viper. Theatre of Fate even beat nirvana and Van halen to the top of the Japanese charts.

krisiun – Conquerors of armageddon (Century Media, 2000)

krisiun’s third full-length release was their Century Media debut, and it marked a new fierce breed of Brazilian death metal that was ready to take on the world.