FARSCAPE, Doctrine Sickness (2001, demo)

The skull:
Are we really on skull #350 already? What a crazy world. But before we get to the skull itself, I’m a little confused about the demo title. Is it sickness from having read or followed too much doctrine to the point you’ve been made physically ill? Or is it, like, bad-ass doctrine, as in “Dude, that doctrine you’re spewing is SICK!” We may never know, and this skull doesn’t offer any helpful hints. All this skull does is look completely batshit crazy. Not sure what’s in his eyes, but it appears to be cosmic and glowing. He’s got some liquid junk coming out of his mouth, too. Since this is black and white, it’s probably supposed to be blood, but looks more like spittle. Either fluid would be appropriate. Then there’s that ridiculous-looking wisp of hair, which looks like a guy going bald desperately trying to hang onto his last several strands. Or maybe he’s a metal dude adopting a faux-Hare Krishna style, you know, the metalhead that’s always left of left-of-center, just to be all idiosyncratic and random and shit. And what the hell are those wing-like things? They’re full of goo and wrapped in what looks like barbed-wire. Like I said: batshit muhfuggin’ kuh-RAY-ZAY.

The music:
These Brazilians play vicious, biting, ultra-intense thrash that brings to mind early Sadus, early Kreator, Darkness Descends-era Dark Angel, and off-the-chain Brazilian brethren like Vulcano and Violator. There’s not much more to say, as what you read is exactly what you get. They’re very good at it, and if I’d never been exposed to the aforementioned, I’d be going apeshit over this. The riffs are good, the intensity is high, the delivery is spot-on, and the conviction is true. How much you need Farscape in your life will depend on how many layers you like to peel off the thrash-generations onion. It makes me cry after about two layers, usually.
— Friar Wagner