Back in the 80s, when I was still searching for new Metal releases at various stores in my area, I probably would’ve bought this album right away, without even hearing a single note of it… The reason is the excellent coverart (courtesy of Alcides Junior / Burn Art) which captures the overall atmosphere of this blasphemous Death Metal release just perfectly. Even though “Awaked By Impurity Rites” is the official debut album by Brazil’s SANCTIFIER, the guys are far from being newcomers to the scene. They already got together way back in December 1989 (calling themselves INTENSE GORE at the time) and released two rehearsal tapes and a demo between 1991 and 1993. The demo (“Ad Perpetuam Rei Memoriam”) later also re-surfaced as a 7″ EP on Molon Lave Records from Greece, a release which the band is not happy about at all (for more details about this, check out their website). A name change (into HELLSPAWN) took place shortly after, and a couple of years of activity later (including another two track demo, “Hymns Of Hypocrisy” in 1995) they finally decided to go for the SANCTIFIER moniker in 2002. Their first recording was a cover of ROTTING CHRIST’s ‘Archon / Nom Serviam’, which appeared on the tribute album “An Evil Existence To Rotting Christ”, followed by a rehearsal CD-R (“Zi Dingir Kia Kanpa”) which already featured material that now appears on “Awaked By Impurity Rites”. The reason why I mention all this to you is quite simple. Nowadays the Death Metal scene in Brazil always gets associated with acts like KRISIUN, ABHORRENCE, RAEBELLIUN, MENTAL HORROR, NEPHASTH, OPHIOLATRY and the likes… bands that play this incredibly fast and brutal style… So, by knowing SANCTIFIER’s quite long history, you probably won’t be surprised to hear that these guys musically by no means follow those acts, but focus on a rather old school-ish form of occult Death Metal instead, with musical references to acts like (old) MORBID ANGEL, VITAL REMAINS or (old) ACHERON. Raw, yet very well produced… technical, but never too complex… neither gory nor in the vein of the current US Death Metal wave! The guys simply offer classic brutality, but spice their songwriting with a lot of cool riff ideas, various changes in terms of the speed and atmosphere, a perfect voice and on top of it all a very well done cover of ACHERON’s ‘Thou Art Lord’! So, if I would’ve bought “Awaked By Impurity Rites” back in the 80s because of the coverart in the first place, I certainly would not have been disappointed at all! This is a totally cool record, from a very promising band to keep an eye on in the future. For all further info, make sure to check out their great website at www.sanctifier.com.br. Label contact: www.dyingmusic.com