FARSCAPE
Demon's Massacre
(Dark Sun Records)
39:13min

Not too long ago our good mate Laurent Ramadier told me that he had discovered a very cool band from Brazil that was supposed to play Thrash Metal in the good old 80s style… At first I wasn’t too excited as there’s of course tons of bands around these days, claiming to be inspired by that particular era… and their name (FARSCAPE) not necessarily sounded like something I usually freak out on either. But somehow I trusted Laurent’s good taste in real Metal, so I agreed on publishing the interview he had done with them already. As soon as I was proof-reading it and doing the layout for our site my interest already increased quite immensely… The band’s attitude in that interview always came across very cool and the pictures I got along with it looked indeed very METAL. So I contacted them for a copy of their album, which I received after several delays now. But it was definitely worth the effort and wait, because FARSCAPE exactly sound like all those raging Thrash bands from the glorious 80s! “Demon’s Massacre” is actually so close to that particular atmosphere and feel that it sounds way more like a re-issue than a recording from 2002. And that is obviously meant as a compliment here! The whole album is so fresh and energetic that it’s a real pleasure to listen to it. Musically I often feel reminded on BLOOD FEAST’s legendary “Kill For Pleasure” debut (especially due to a similar hateful vocal style) mixed with a bunch of vintage era SACRIFICE riffings / songstructures. Especially “Torment In Fire” seems to have had a big influence on FARSCAPE as a whole as not only their backcover design looks pretty similar, they also did a cover of the track ‘Sacrifice’ which closes this disc in a very impressive manner. Production duties were handled by APOCALYPTIC RAIDS’ Leon ‘Necromaniac’ Mansur, who did a good job in maintaining that old feel in the band’s music, avoiding modern technology tools completely. So, even if you don’t get a kick out of nowadays Thrash Metal records anymore you should give FARSCAPE a chance nevertheless. Their fire is definitely still burning! For more info read the in-depth interview or contact the band at one of these two email addresses: oldthrash@hotmail.com or poisonhell@hotmail.com

Frank Stöver

Frank Stöver

Related reviews / interviews:
FARSCAPE - For Those Who Love To Kill (Nathan Shapiro)
FARSCAPE - Interview (Laurent Ramadier)

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