UMUR
"Funeral Serenade" is the second full-length studio album by Brazilian thrash metal act Sextrash. The album was released through Cogumelo Records in September 1992. It´s the successor to "Sexual Carnage" from 1990. Sextrash was founded in 1987 by former Sarcófago drummer D.D. Crazy under the Insulter monicker but soon changed their name to Sextrash. They released the "XXX" EP in 1989 and their debut full-length studio album "Sexual Carnage" in 1990. Both releases featuring some pretty controversial cover artworks. Although "Funeral Serenade" also features a naked lady on the cover, the artwork is a bit more cartoonish and innocent.
While the two first releases by Sextrash features a raw, primitive, and savage sounding type of thrash metal, the band have added an additional death metal element to their sound on "Funeral Serenade". Given the major success of fellow countrymen Sepultura who followed a similar path, it´s not a strange move, and a move many other contemporary Brazilian thrash metal artists also made.
The band write some pretty effective, powerful, and also relatively varied tracks, and that´s the greatest asset of "Funeral Serenade". The playing is a bit sloppy/amaturish and the sound production lacks power and also belongs in the slightly amaturish end of the scale, but it´s not worse than the sound productions on many other Brazilian death- and thrash metal releases from that time. Had the performances been stronger and the sound production been sharp, detailed, and powerful, "Funeral Serenade" could have been a high quality release. As it is now it may hold some interest for fans of late 80s Sepultura and similar death/thrash artists, but you shouldn´t expect anything of the same quality as the output of their more famous countrymen. A 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.
