In the late '70s,
punk
and
metal
audiences were about as friendly as the Hatfields and McCoys or, to use '90s references,
Suge Knight
Puff Daddy
. Headbangers, as a rule, detested
-- and few punks would have been caught dead in a
Kiss
or
Van Halen
t-shirt. But it was a totally different ballgame in the '80s and '90s, when the
crowds were good friends, and the
/
hybrid known as
thrash
combined elements of the two styles. Different
bands got different things from
;
R.D.P.
, a
foursome from Brazil, got their heaviness from
and their speed and political anger from
. Unlike many of the
releases that came out in 1991,
Anarkophobia
doesn't get into fantasy lyrics or the occult.
is strictly a political band, and the South Americans bring an anarchist perspective to nihilistic offerings like
"(All I Need Is) Hatred,"
"Death of the King,"
"Mad Society."
All of the tunes are
originals except
the Ramones
'
"Commando,"
which offers some comic relief on what is generally a very angry and pessimistic album. Singer
Gordo
's lyrics (all of which are in English instead of Portuguese) tend to be cliched and rhetorical -- the thrashers don't have anything to say that one didn't hear from
the Sex Pistols
,
the Dead Kennedys
, or
Black Flag
during
's early years. But what
(the Brazilians' only U.S. release) lacks in imagination, it usually makes up for with passion and intensity. ~ Alex Henderson