Arguably the most controversial
heavy metal
album of all time,
Holocausto
's
Campo de Exterminio
("Extermination Camp") obsessed over the Third Reich's atrocities against Jews during WWII in such gory detail and, most agree, poor taste, that it has often been mistakenly branded as an anti-Semitic work. Naturally, the
extreme metal
quartet from Belo Horizonte was quick to refute these claims, swearing that the album's shocking and unflinching descriptions were simply meant to show their own revulsion to the events that had inspired their name. Unfortunately, sometimes perception, as they say, is everything. If, however, you manages to get past all of this (as well as the album's introductory audio, taken straight from the Nuremberg Rally), you will note that, musically speaking,
's style centered around the same confluence of vulgar, post-
Venom
black metal
and mid-'80s
thrash
typical of many
Brazilian metal
bands of the period, including
Sarcofago
,
Vulcano
, and even the soon-to-be mighty
Sepultura
.
were rarely as capable as these competitors when it came to imprinting their frenzied outbursts with a personality of their own, though, resulting in but a few songs in any way justifiable as standouts (see
"Faccao Revolucionaria Armada,"
"III Reich"
and the unexpectedly off-topic
"Vietna"
and
"Setembro Negro"
). On the remaining majority of cuts, unimaginative arrangements, endlessly repeated circular riffs, and atonal Neanderthal grunts (the unintelligible nature of vocalist
Rodrigo Fuehrer
's enunciation making the fact that all lyrics were written in Portuguese a moot point) decry the band's one-dimensional approach. And that's, in fact, most likely the true cause of
's ultimate failure to advance their career beyond the deepest South American underground, regardless of chosen subject matter. [
's CD reissue in 2003 added the bonus track
"Massacre,"
from the
Lost Tapes of Cogumelo
compilation, and boasted a prominent front cover disclaimer attempting to renounce any anti-Semitic intentions once and for all.] ~ Eduardo Rivadavia