This came out in 2002 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
Who: One of Brazils’s longest-running musical outfits, Ratos de Porao (Basement Rats) started out in 1981 as a punk band, then went hardcore, then switched to metal. Nowadays, though, they play them all — sometimes at once.
What: With just eight songs that last 16 minutes, Guerra Civil Canibal is a short, sharp shock in more ways than one. First there’s the cover, a gross picture of someone chewing on a human leg. Then there’s the music, a furious conglomerate of double-time drum-bludgeon, clanging guitar-shred and Portuguese screaming that’s almost as unsettling as the cover.
Highlights: Amid all the chaos and brutality, the Ratos suddenly toss in a gleeful pop-thrash cover of Jad Fair’s Fire to Burn — then go straight into Sepultura and Jello Biafra’s Biotech is Godzilla, complete with Jello impersonations.
Musical Formula: Sepultura + a sense of humour x a better record collection.
Final Verdict: Is it punk? Is it metal? Who knows? And when it’s this good, who cares?
https://youtu.be/BRMenDBbBvA
