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INDEX
INTERVIEWS
GUESTBOOK
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DEATH
METAL/ BRUTAL DEATH
FROM BRAZIL
IN
THE OLD SCHOOL VEIN!
1. Hello, before all, can you write an introduction to GORENCEPHALIC to awake our readers' lazy European minds? Ahah
Yuri – Hello Gabriel… well, after decades of death metal, and passing through many metal bands (Deformity BR, Sower, Ímpios, Martyrdom, Mystifier, etc.), four zombies decided to come up with a new brutal project… The idea was to merge brutal death metal, some 90's influences, not many musical boundaries, and some gore themes related to the Brazilian psychiatric colonies from the last two centuries, including the extreme experimental techniques applied to the inmates. Well, Gorencephalic is the final result. The band was announced in 2023 and, right away, we were working on the recording sessions. So, the first EP was released at the end of 2024. All those years of experience should be worth something…
2.
I saw you regularly mentioned your style of music as "Splatter
death". Do you use this name because the kind of death metal
you play happens to be influenced by Cannibal Corpse? Or is it because
your vocalist has big angry vocals? (Does he wish to transform into
a big angry bear? ahah) Or is it about the content of the lyrics?
Yuri – Other projects were more influenced by Cannibal Corpse. Despite some characteristic riffs, I wouldn't say Cannibal Corpse is a huge (continuous) influence… kkkkk. So, I think I mentioned "splatter" because of the lyrics style, which uses literary hyperbole, exaggerating the spilled blood details. I guess today I'd use the term "gore" instead. But anyway, the main theme is disturbing itself. As I mentioned, we were inspired by a strange event referred to as the Brazilian Holocaust. That was the description for the psychiatric hospital in Barbacena, active from 1903 to 1996. During that period, the estimate is that 60 thousand people died inside that colony; many (almost 2 thousand) bodies were sold to medical schools.
3. Some musicians of the band also play/ or played in DEFORMITY BR, which was created a long time ago. Are the two bands two very different entities? If I got it right, it's not the same musicians composing the music in each band?
Yuri – Yeah, Deformity BR is a death metal band from 1995… and 75% of us have played with them! Besides the death metal background, the bands are completely different from each other. The composers are/were different people, so that helps define their distinct musical identities. In our last days with Deformity, the music had a grind influence… Those were good days! Me and Krusius left the band in 2020. I was so used to playing with Deformity that I faced some challenges while preparing the drum parts for Gorencephalic, which is good. New challenges, new death metal learning.
4.
What does the name of the band GORENCEPHALIC mean? In my hears it
sounds like "Gore in the mind", or "brain infected
by gore"... Or perhaps there is be a nuance I didn't get? For
an unknown reason it reminds me of some old putrid brutal death
spirit from South America from 20 years ago, something like the
"delirium" of the band name VOMEPOTRO (Vomit putrid) ahah
Yuri – That's it… brain with gore, or something like that. The idea was to come up with a unique band name, since many ideas are already taken and we can't guarantee an exclusive name. Many bands in Brazil have decided to use Brazilian words, which would be another option. Yeah… Vomepotro was a killing band! They just announced they're back in action, and have released a new album: Fall Into Decay. I never understood their name until now… kkkkkk
Krusius – Well, now that you mention it, we do have some similarity with VOMEPOTRO from that perspective, to be honest. We combined the words "Gore" and "Encephalic" to evoke the idea of a brain filled with gore for everyone — at least if their reason was the same, hahahaha. Great band, by the way. I would love to play a show with them someday, and I'm glad they are back again.
5. Something I enjoyed with you Ep lies in the fact it's not over produced: The recording is quite powerful, but it doesn't sound too surgical, it wasn't too manipulated with softwares, and so the listener can feel some life and energy in the playing of the drums, in the outcome of the big angry vocals for example... It's not so often the case with every European metal bands, because many of them in Europe want to be "so weeeell produced" but finally they sound like cold robots, perhaps very precise and "professionally brutal", but still like cold robots... At least in my opinion... Well, was this a volunteer choice to avoid a too surgical production, and keep some brutal live energy inside, or perhaps you lacked of money to achieve a bigger sounding outcome? (This would have been unnecessary in my opinion). Does GORENCEPHALIC sound the same live, during rehearsals, and on the recording, or are there differences?
Krusius –
We kept things organic, not using many filters or samples during
recordings. We had a sound in mind from the start — the "Circle
of Perversion" album by Inveracity really inspired us in terms
of which sound we wanted to build. We knew where we wanted each
instrument to sit in the mix. Despite the lack of resources and
using real amps instead of any digital simulation, we did the best
we could to capture a sound that feels good to us. But the mix and
mastering truly created a masterpiece. The raw material was full
of energy, but without the work of Hugo Elias (check out his band
Devouring!), we would have sounded like a rehearsal demo tape ripped
from another tape for the 666th time (hahahahaha)!
I would say
yes, if we play on decent equipment, hehehehehe. Due to economic
reasons, that's something harsh to find in our underground, but
one might say that we sound even angrier live.
Yuri – Yep, it sounds more raw, more old school. But for sure, there are many mixing processes in the sound construction… kkkk. A couple of years ago, a sound engineer asked me if I wanted the production to sound traditional or modern. The answer was simple… traditional. My opinion hasn't changed since then! Same for the drum recording… I'd rather not use triggers… since the 2000s I think triggers have given a plastic texture to the drum sound. Sure, technology has improved a lot, changing the way triggers work and sound, but I still prefer not using them. It's harder to get the right drum sound just with the drums, drumheads, mics, technician, some peripheral gear, and a drummer. No drum editing… But I take the bet. This time we recorded the guitars through a real amp, with real distortion. I'm not saying this is the right way, but we prefer the way this sounds. You bet, we don't have much budget to spend, and that limits our possibilities. But I'm sure we wanted it to sound organic! And yeah, that'll be the same sound you'll hear at our rehearsals and gigs. The recording details aren't overdone, so we can reproduce them at any moment.
6.
When talking about Brazilian metal, the average European metallers
will think about Sepultura, but honestly I became "a bit"
bored about them a long time ago... Years of "nu metal",
years of seeing them too often in the metal press, then years of
average come back to thrash death (Under a band name or another)
etc etc... It feels there are better things to check out in life,
at least for me... Well, can you tell me how the underground metallers
in Brazil view the evolution/ devolution of Sepultura and the Cavalera
brothers on the long run? Are they still famous and praised in Brazil,
as well as in Europe, or maybe some peoples are more moderated,
or opinionated?
Krusius – That's a tough question… Sepultura has some releases that touch our hearts. For me, it is Bestial Devastation and Morbid Visions, but the rest just don't touch me at all. I don't know anyone who hates all releases from Sepultura, nor anyone who is obsessed by them. They are not part of our underground, to be honest — we tend to talk more about their past releases. I do not feel very comfortable talking on behalf of everyone here. Brazil is a large country, but in the extreme underground scene we have some more trustable names than Sepultura: Embalmed Souls, Headhunter DC, Nauseous Surgery, Vulcano would be some of them.
Yuri – I'm sure Sepultura and Sarcófago are/were the most influential bands in Brazil. Both of them had many different moments in their careers… both were high-spirited, daring, innovative… Because of that, Sepultura got different audiences, different fans, different generations. I think these different metal generations respect Sepultura for its different contributions to the scene. Some will praise the albums up to Arise, others like the Chaos AD and Roots era, but a whole different audience would prefer the Derrick Green era. They made it through different generations… that's awesome. But the band was kind of rejected in Brazil after releasing Roots. I'm sure they're still very famous, although they ask for more recognition ($$$). Metal bands in Brazil (even the big ones) may not make much money… the country is huge, but the economy doesn't help much. In general, metallers don't have much budget to keep this underground economy running. Or maybe we need to think of other strategies for the audience, bands, gigs… the way it is right now isn't working so well – especially for the underground bands. But anyway, the gigs for the "Celebrating life through death" tour have attracted many people, as it might be a last chance to see them on stage.
7. I hear from time to time it's complicated to send packages to Brazil, because the local customs seem complicated to deal with. I had a package to send you, and this confirmed this impression. What can you to tell about the reasons behind it? Perhaps Brazilian authorities want the country to remain enclosed on itself? Or they might need to take more money where they can? I remember it was easier to send packages to Brazil ten years ago or more, we just sent something like a letter without registration, and it often arrived without problem... but now it seems to be more like an administrative cut-throat ahah
Yuri – You need to go back in history to understand this customs and import tax policy. A long time ago, Brazil implemented taxes on imported goods to protect and stimulate national industry. That changed a little in 1990, when taxes were reduced and barriers were removed. Well, but that doesn't seem to have a connection with the mail. Yeah… but lately, online shopping, e-commerce, has grown, and products are sent through the mail (many of them imported). So, the government's reaction was to increase inspections and taxes on this new type of business, to prevent tax evasion and ensure tax equality between national and imported products. If you buy some vinyl, for example, but don't declare it and pay the taxes beforehand, when the goods arrive at customs, they may apply a 75% charge on the amount of tax due. The worst problem is that these policies have never really encouraged national industry – the big ones are/were state-owned companies (Vale, Embraer, Petrobras, Eletrobras) but few emerged from that era. Well, I'm not an economics guy… let's see what changes after this EU-Mercosur trade agreement.
8.
If I understood it well, Brazil was colonized by the Portuguese
centuries ago (from 1500 to 1815 according to Wikipedia), they strongly
influenced the life of the country back then, and now the Portuguese
language is the official one in your country. But I would like to
ask you the feelings of the Brazilian peoples towards the Portuguese
nowadays: Do most of peoples in Brazil feel ok with the Portuguese,
are the Portuguese influences well integrated in the Brazilian life,
or are there peoples trying to reempower their ancient roots claiming
the native American traditions were much better and trying to talk
elder languages again?
Yuri – Brazilian people don't really talk about it. And I think I can't really answer you about the general feelings towards Portugal. Until recently, schools would neglect discussion about the true process behind the invasion of the Americas. History classes would say that our history began in 1500, after the Portuguese came in, and painted native people as if they had no big contribution to our culture. Same for the Africans who were enslaved and brought here. I'd say this Eurocentric education tried to erase the memory of our ancient people. But now, both indigenous people and Afro-Brazilians have claimed their participation in our history, besides the right to tell their own story. And this changes everything… hope that schools can integrate these other narratives into regular classes in the near future. Also, it's necessary to tell the history before 1500! I'm sure the Portuguese influence is well integrated into our culture, and so are the indigenous and Afro-Brazilian influences. But most people don't realize it. As for the language, Portuguese is the only official language, but there are other native languages (Tikuna, Guarani, Yanomami, etc.) that are still alive and survive among the indigenous communities thanks to their cultural resistance. Unfortunately, we don't have contact with these other languages. In this sense, Paraguay, Bolivia, Peru, and Venezuela have kept their ancestral identities and memory, so native languages were maintained as official languages alongside Spanish. I tell you, I don't feel very comfortable about this past imperialist relation and how it reflected on our recent history – for example, universities were built only in the 20th century. However, this theme has been ideologically pacified among the Brazilian people.
Krusius –
Well, there are some who claim to be the true successor to the throne
of the monarchy and picture themselves as defenders of that old
regime. Despite being from the social elite, they are not taken
seriously. The day-to-day Brazilian doesn't even have time to think
about the Portuguese, to be honest. Deeply, I would say some old
customs continue to be perpetuated in our dealings — customs from
an old royalty and nobility that I dare say no longer exists today.
In
Brazilian history, there have been several attempts to build a national
identity, and we are still doing that today — trying to understand
who the Brazilian is and how it feels to be Brazilian here and abroad,
keeping those old traits even when we don't realize it, mixing in
new ones, and trying to recover our own roots (keep in mind that
it's uncommon for two random Brazilians to have the same roots)
and survive.
9. How is life in Brazil for a metaller in 2026? What kinds of jobs are the musicians of the band doing? Is it somewhat regular to be a metaller in the streets of Brazil, or do you feel some kind of negativity from the "normal peoples"?
Yuri – I bet
it must look really strange to see a metaller in the streets: long-haired
people wearing black and tattoos in a fucking hot tropical country.
The bigger the cities, the more people are used to this scene. So,
I'd say it's not a big deal. On the other hand, the evangelical
Christians have grown considerably around here, and they're way
less friendly towards other religious cultures, or the lack of them.
Because of that and how the evangelicals have pursued political
and economic power, I feel that Brazil will become kind of a theocracy
and "different people" may be hunted in another 50 years
from now. Hope I'm wrong about that!
It's not easy being a metal
musician in emerging countries. Since the arts are not a priority
in Brazil, it's very difficult to be an artist… for metal musicians
it's even worse. So, these musicians need to get other jobs and
deal with music only in their free time, alongside many other life
activities. We can count on our fingers the metal musicians who
get to live from their art only. In our case, the guitarists work
as police officers, I work as a Physics teacher, and Krusius is
still in an Physics undergraduate course. The rules to join the
band are very clear: you must be an officer, or a physicist… kkkkk
Krusius
– It's not that ordinary to see another metalhead in our region
— being next to a capital city really helps, by the way. But I don't
feel any negativity at all. Some churches will say that our path
is wrong, but not much aside from that.
Many friends of mine
are in regular jobs: maintenance, civil construction, food-related
jobs… But it's not unusual to see one of us as a teacher. We have
some friends in Neboryal and Demonized Legion who are teachers as
well. Also, one of the original members of Headhunter D.C. is a
teacher — a great friend who edits an oldschool 'zine called Desgraça
Zine. He's also a teacher. A legion of many teachers, hahahahahahahahaha!
10.
How do the people in Brazil view the peoples from Europe? And perhaps
the french? Do you have a rather positive or negative view about
us? What are the points you like and points you don't like about
the Europeans/ French, about "our" personalities, behaviors
or ways of life? (You can be honest, the fuckers/ wankers need to
know it).
Yuri – That's a tough question… because we get to see Europe generally through someone else's lens! And that's exactly through Hollywood's lenses! So, in general, people don't like Germany, Russia, and Eastern Europe. But they love other countries, especially England, Italy, Spain, Greece, and France. I'd go further and point out that this love towards France has another clear reason. It's due to their cultural influence in Brazil in the 19th and 20th centuries. Back then, the Brazilian elite adopted France as a symbol of social distinction, refinement, and modernity. So, this influence reflected on our education, architecture, arts, and science areas. As a consequence, big influential cities were redesigned, our educational system was based on French models, and French was taught in elementary/middle school courses. That was a huge influence! Away from school time, I've tried to learn a little more about the big Empires of Spain, GB, France, and the imperialist era in the 18th/19th/20th centuries, which dominated Africa, Asia, and Oceania. Well, all that money must come from somewhere! The feeling is one of sadness… Beyond that feeling, no problems nor hard feelings at all towards European people. After all, it's not regular people's fault.
Krusius – At first sight, I would say "Rich”, hahahahahahhaa — due to the exchange rate, many Brazilians have the impression that Europeans are rich and that they also have bath issues, hahahaha. Among all Europeans, but some would say that the French are the worst about it. Jokes aside, we tend to think that you guys are very polite and well-behaved people.
11.
Coming back to the band, do you sometimes play cover songs live,
or for fun during rehearsals? I could see you play songs of Cannibal
Corpse, old Sinister, or Brutality for example... At least your
still isn't very different from these bands.
Yuri – Curious…
we were talking about adding a new cover song these days. Actually,
we haven't played any of those bands like you expected. Who knows
next time… hehehehe. Up to now, we've only decided to play covers
of some 90s death metal bands from our home state that have stopped
their activities: Incrust, Deformity BR, and Sower. So, it would
work as a tribute, a way to keep their memory alive, to spread our
death metal history. Maybe we'll include one of these songs on our
next record.
12.
Your first Ep was now recorded about two years ago, so one can wonder
what has happened in your rehearsal room since then... Did you compose
new songs in the shadows? How does it sound in comparison to the
Ep? Feel free to let us know about your forthcoming projects, and
conclude this intie.
Yuri – Since the band members are kind of busy, things generally can't be done on the same schedule as planned. But you bet we've got some news over here. There are a couple of new compositions, and other ideas to be finished. I think these new songs come in the same vein as the EP, keeping the dissonance, dynamics, energy, and old school brutality. Now we're also trying to avoid Cannibal Corpse-like riffs… kkkkk. So, the idea is to get these new songs into the recording sessions sometime in the second semester… but we still need to put some more energy into getting this done. Also, the EP will get a European version through NIHILISTIC HOLOCAUST label! That was a hell of an invitation and we're very excited about this project. This possibility of having people from the other side of the world getting a bigger chance to hear our music is fucking something! So, keep your eyes peeled for this release. Well, fucking thank you Gabriel for the opportunity to talk a little more about Gorencephalic and many other stuff… It was a difficult interview… gore good! See ya in hell!
Web
pages:
https://gorencephalic.bandcamp.com
https://www.facebook.com/gorencephalic
https://www.instagram.com/gorencephalic
