There is something about Brazilian Extreme Metal from the early ’90s that still sounds dangerous decades later. Long before the scene became neatly divided into Death Metal, Black Metal and Thrash Metal camps, bands were simply taking whatever sounded fucking evil and smashing it together. Expulser were one of those bands, and ‘The Unholy One’ is a perfect example of why the Brazilian underground produced so many records that refused to fit comfortably into a single category.
Released by Cogumelo Records in 1992, ‘The Unholy One’ arrived at a time when the Brazilian underground was already carrying a reputation for primitive and uncompromising Metal. Expulser didn’t need to invent some elaborate identity to stand apart. Their approach was straightforward: aggressive riffs, filthy vocals, pounding drums and enough Black Metal atmosphere to keep the whole thing steeped in darkness.
The guitars are where most of the damage happens. There is plenty of Thrash Metal influence in the riffing, but the playing isn’t polished or technically obsessed. The riffs have that rough, physical quality where you can almost imagine them being hammered out in a rehearsal room before being thrown into the studio. When the band shift into faster territory, the Death Metal influence becomes much more obvious, while certain passages have that primitive Black Metal ugliness that was still very much alive in the Brazilian underground.
That combination is what keeps ‘The Unholy One’ interesting. Expulser aren’t trying to sound like a technical Death Metal band, and they’re certainly not interested in the atmospheric approach that would become increasingly common in European Black Metal. Everything is built around aggression. Even when the tempo drops, there is still a sense that the band are looking for the next opportunity to kick the f*cking door down.
The vocals fit the music perfectly. They aren’t clean, theatrical or particularly concerned with clarity, but they carry the necessary hostility. The delivery sits somewhere between Death Metal growls and the harsher bark associated with early Black Metal, giving the songs another layer of dirt without turning the vocals into the entire focus.
The production is equally important. ‘The Unholy One’ has that unmistakable early-’90s Cogumelo character: raw enough to preserve the underground atmosphere but clear enough for the riffs to remain audible. The drums have a natural presence, the guitars retain their rough edge and the bass actually contributes to the overall weight. It isn’t a beautiful recording, and thankfully it doesn’t need to be.
There are moments where the album’s simplicity works against it. Some riffs could have been developed further and the songwriting occasionally settles into repetition rather than progression. But expecting Expulser to sound sophisticated would completely miss the point. This is music built around impact, and the primitive character is part of its appeal.
What also makes the album worth revisiting is its place within the Brazilian scene. The country had already developed its own Extreme Metal language through bands such as Sarcófago, Mutilator, Holocausto and countless lesser-known acts, but Expulser were never simply another clone riding the reputation of the Minas Gerais underground. They absorbed the same hostile environment and pushed it toward their own Death/Thrash/Black Metal hybrid.
And that is probably why ‘The Unholy One’ has aged better than plenty of technically superior records from the same period. It doesn’t sound like a band trying to impress anyone. There is no unnecessary virtuosity, no attempt to clean up the rough edges and no sense that Expulser were worried about whether their music fitted neatly into whatever genre box was available.
This is early-’90s Brazilian underground Metal doing what it did best: taking Thrash Metal, Death Metal and Black Metal, throwing them into the same fucking pit and seeing what crawled out.
‘The Unholy One’ may not be the first name that comes up when discussing Brazilian Extreme Metal, and that’s exactly why it deserves another spin. For anyone digging beyond the established classics of the Cogumelo era, Expulser’s 1992 full-length is a filthy little piece of Brazilian underground history that still carries plenty of bite.
