Excuse Me, My Soul Is on Fire
This demo
was released in 1996, so, as you probably know, that times were totally crazy
as compared to the present. If you were looking for some unknown bands, the way
was simple to get it: a flyer in the zine, money in the envelope and here we
go. Yep, the foreigners can be surprised when I was waiting for the answer several
months from the land of Brazil (Polish post office rules!). Such was a typical
mechanism to own the “Burning Souls” copy. To put it briefly, the stuff that
kicked my ass at the first time and nothing has been changed until today. But,
mind you, the second half of the nineties was a beginning of a birth of a new
Brazilian beast. Krisiun with the debut “Black Force Domain” dated on 1995 and
the absolutely killer “Apocalyptic Revelation” from 1998, gave a sign of the
things to come. But, Anesthesia seemed to live its own life down there in
Caxias do Sul with a killing dose of death and thrash. Or better to write:
thrash and death.
Yes, I
think thrash metal is the base here, and the Brazilians follow the well-known
path with such names as Sepultura or Slayer (“South of Heaven” and “Seasons in
the Abyss” era), however all-the-time fast tempos and neck breaking shots won’t
be found here. The speed isn’t the main thing that absorbs my attention. The
opening track “Smell of Death” seems to be sound asleep, it doesn’t want to
gain a faster tempo. It’s good that this misleading impression disappears while
the song grows and shows the fury. The demo has a really good production, each instrument
is audible without any problem (especially bass lines), it has this killing
force with harshness and crudity making “Burning Souls” a true road roller for
the senses. The vocal lines of Marcelo and its animal manner of articulation
are the main reason I can name the music as death metal, that’s right, some
short outbreaks of speed are present here and there, yet the mid-tempo reigns.
The Suliani brothers put rather simple riffs in the structures, yet “Devastated
World” has many complex tunes as well. Generally this song seems to be very
anxious and turbulent. In turn, the third piece “Dying for Me” which is the
fastest one, has brilliant riffs suitable for “Beneath the Remains”. Good
guitar leads are also maintained in not so fast manner, they are really memorable
and well-thought-out. These eighteen minutes runs smoothly, the idea is good to
show the skills, however something broke in the kingdom of Anesthesia…
Still I
like this piece of churlish ancient denial of fucking samba, still I listen to
the tape, and what is more, this title belongs to my beloved demo tape list and
nothing can remove it from its praiseworthy place. Unfortunately “Burning Souls”
is the final word of farewell to the world. After two years of releasing of the
demo, the musicians decided to change the name into Abominattion and musical
direction. And now, after all these years, I’m wondering if it was a good move…
80/100
-Tlacaxipehualiztli
(written in May, 2015)
