''Rotting'' is an EP by the Brazilian
extreme metal
Extreme metal is a loosely defined umbrella term for a number of related heavy metal music subgenres that have developed since the early 1980s. It has been defined as a "cluster of metal subgenres characterized by sonic, verbal, and visual tra ...
band
Sarcófago
Sarcófago was a Brazilian extreme metal band formed in 1985. They were fronted by Sepultura's original singer, Wagner Lamounier, and Geraldo Minelli.
The front cover of the band's debut album, ''I.N.R.I.'', is regarded as a great influence on ...
. It was released in August 1989. Prior to recording, drummer Eduardo "D.D. Crazy" left the band to join Sextrash and was replaced by Manoel "M. Joker" Henriques. The EP was recorded following a brief tour to promote the band's debut release ''
I.N.R.I.
In the New Testament, Jesus is referred to as the King of the Jews, both at the beginning of his life and at the end. In the Koine Greek of the New Testament, e.g., in John 19:3, this is written as '' Basileus ton Ioudaion'' ().
Both uses of t ...
'' and was licensed to
Music for Nations
Music For Nations (MFN) is a British independent record label focusing mainly on rock and metal. It was a subsidiary of the larger label distributor Zomba Records, which was a division of BMG and later Sony Music Entertainment.
Launched in ...
in Europe. The EP's cover was censored upon its release in the US. Later, the EP was seized by the authorities from European importers and distributors, once again because of its controversial cover, which depicts what appears to be a traditional
grim reaper
Death is frequently imagined as a personified force. In some mythologies, a character known as the Grim Reaper (usually depicted as a berobed skeleton wielding a scythe) causes the victim's death by coming to collect that person's soul. Other b ...
making out with
Jesus Christ
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
.
[Nemitz, 1994, p. 59.]
The EP features a much more technical approach than the band's previous effort ''I.N.R.I.''. Additionally, instead of a collection of relatively short songs, the EP features four tracks over 6 minutes in length, the longest, "Tracy", nearly reaching the 9 minute mark. The EP does, however, retain the
death metal
Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep growling vocals; aggressive, powerful drumming, fe ...
sound of ''I.N.R.I.'', featuring several tempo and riff changes in amongst odd song structures, with "Tracy" containing approximately 20 riffs. The EP is also noticeably fast with the average tempo for each song being 260 beats per minute.
Although Wagner Lamounier is the only guitarist present on the EP, the guitar tracks have been given a
stereo mix
Stereophonic sound, or more commonly stereo, is a method of sound reproduction that recreates a multi-directional, 3-dimensional audible perspective. This is usually achieved by using two independent audio channels through a configuration ...
whereby they can be heard in two channels instead of one; the guitar in the right channel has had its pitch altered slightly, giving the impression that there are two guitarists playing simultaneously.
Track listing
Credits
;Sarcófago
*
Wagner "Antichrist" Lamounier -
lead vocals
The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of th ...
,
electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gu ...
* Geraldo "Incubus" Minelli -
backing vocals
A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are u ...
,
bass guitar
The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and s ...
* Manoel "M. Joker" Henriques - backing vocals,
drums
A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...
,
percussion
A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...
;Additional Musicians
* Eugênio "Dead Zone" - keyboards
* Oswaldo "Pussy Ripper" Scheid - backing vocals
* Vladimir Korg - backing vocals
* Eduardo "D.D. Crazy" - backing vocals
References
Sarcófago albums
1989 EPs
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