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ALCOHOLOCAUST
Necro Apocalipse Bestial

Helldprod (2019)
Rating: 7/10

A few seconds into this album and I know where we are heading with this debut platter from Portuguese black thrashers Alcoholocaust. Yep, we’re in the realm of Teutonic metal meets South American as this spritely bunch revel in nostalgic rips of old Sodom and Kreator mixed with, say, Mutilator and probable unknowing nods towards Aura Noir and just about any other beer-swigging, leather-clad army to hit the scene since Venom.

It’s all very predictable as it exists upon frenzied speed metal riffing and vocals straight out of Germany circa 1985, but that’s what these guys do and they are not ashamed of it. In fact, they wear their alcohol on their garments along with their influences.

So let us burrow into the rather fragile, rusty and limited layers of this album, a record which, as expected, is rather short, sweet and unkempt at half-an hour. A chap named Blasphemator is responsible for the snarls and yelps, while behind him the studded belts and clanking army is provided by axe men Possessus and Speed Bastardo, and the drummer likes to go by the moniker of Thrashminator, which leaves bassist Sordidus to complete the line-up.

The tracks rush by at breakneck speed; the best being ‘Speed Metal Tornado’, ‘Bulldozer Infernal’ and ‘Blasfémia Total’ (‘Total Blasphemy’). Each one being a riotous affair that evokes the stench of old, whereby bands took the Venom and Bathory sound and attempted to inject their own streetwise fury into proceedings.

Yes it’s predictable, but it’s fun, and what really surprised me was the quality of the production. I know a lot of this sort of stuff wants to sound intentionally grim, but here the guitars have the effect of a hefty jab to the head, the vocals sneer in crystal clear fashion and the drums and bass clang and clatter at all the right moments.

Duff tracks are few and far between. ‘Anti-Sóbrio’ (‘Anti-Sober’) is one for the beer drinkers and ‘Necro Ritual’ is equally fiery and fiendish; both tunes billowing black smoke and discarding huge lumps of rust into the atmosphere.

While this album may be missed by many, it’s one of those records that does not take itself too seriously and benefits from such construction. I’ve heard hordes of similar sounding bands over the last goodness knows how many decades and the fact that such unholy noises are still being crafted as an ode to yesteryear is testimony to how such a genre remains so potent. Alcoholocaust won’t change your life, but they might give you a good night in.

Neil Arnold

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