What Sepultura is to Brazilian metal, Ratos de Porão is to Brazilian punk. Initially forming in the early 80s as one of the country’s earliest hardcore bands, they’d slowly start to co-opt facets of metal, specifically from the burgeoning thrash scene, before becoming a full blown crossover band come 1987’s Cada dia mais sujo e agressivo. Upon the release of 1989’s Brasil via Roadrunner (voted as the greatest crossover thrash album of all time on RateYourMusic), the band assumed untouchable status, and although their native tongue prevented them from reaching the same levels of success as Suicidal Tendencies and D.R.I. commercially, they’d achieve such acclaim creatively.
Fast forward over 40 years and 14 studio albums later. Ratos de Porão are still together and more pissed off at the state of the world than ever. It’s honestly shocking it took the band this long to put together a follow up to 2014’s Século Sinistro, since it feels like society has been needed a new RdP album (whether they knew it or not) since at least 2016. The result is Necropolítica: An RdP album for a brave new world overwhelmed with raging war, merciless plague, and an economy in ruins. If social media provides us a 24/7 livestream of what political unrest looks like, Necropolítica is its accompanying soundtrack.
Like practically every RdP release before it, Necropolítica tows the line between punk and metal with its ferocious blend of unrelenting hardcore and violent thrash. At times the band even pushes the intensity level to overload, bordering on death metal and grindcore. It’s no wonder that their influence shows up in bands like Sepultura and Napalm Death, and vice versa. The album opens with the frantic “Alerta Antifascista”, which really captures the crossover gone death/thrash approach I’m talking about. This unabashed brutality also rears its ugly head on cuts like the lethal title track, as well as the breakneck insanity that is “Entubado”.
For those who like their crossover with emphasis on mosh riffs, RdP has that base covered as well. “Aglomeração” and “G.D.O.” are mostly blurs before pummeling with some gnarly mosh breakdowns, while “Passa Pano Pra Elite” is guaranteed to get metalheads and punks alike two stepping in unison. And if straight up, no frills punk is your cup of tea, there’s no shortage of that as well. From the Dead Kennedys inspired “O Vita-Lata”, to the rowdy anthemic punk n’ roll of “Bostanágua”, RdP are not ones to forget their mohawk headed roots.
The spirit of anarchy and rage is alive and well in the music of Ratos de Porão, but as long as there are pigheaded politicians calling the shots, it always will be. This isn’t band who’s sold out or “mellowed with age”. If anything, they’ve only gotten more bitter and vitriolic. These rats don’t just bark. They bite, and they bite HARD. There’s no escaping the wrath of these Brazilian brutes.
7 out of 10
Label: Shinigami Records
Genre: Crossover Thrash
For fans of: Sepultura, Discharge, Napalm Death