Portugal, like many countries, had a small black metal scene in the 1980s. Black Cross--from the city of Barreiro--was one band that made waves with their Venom-like black metal in the mid 1980s, and black/doom band Bactherion (later Filii Nigrantium Infernalium) also helped forge a path. But it was Lisbon's DECAYED that really put Portuguese black metal on the map.
Starting out as Decay in 1990, they drew upon such extreme 1980s bands as Venom, Sodom, Kreator, Possessed, and Slayer as intial inspiration for their style. With the intention of creating a lasting presence in the extreme metal underground (as opposed to a band that was around for only a short while), Decay immediately got to work recording material. The result was an unnamed 1990 promo tape.
This is Decay's 1990 promo tape in full
The initial sound was raw, vicious, fast. You can definitely hear the debt that is owed to bands like Venom and Possessed. Decay continued in this more thrash-like vein for a while, getting darker and more evil with time. By the time of late 1991's Dark Rehearsal and early 1992's Thus Revealed demos (by which point they had changed their name to Decayed), the sound had evolved to an eerie, death-metal influenced sound that had an occultic atmosphere to it. One can even hear the influence of old-school death metal (think early Death, for example).
This is the Thus Revealed demo in full
Shortly after this, Decayed participated in the legendary metal compilation The Birth of Tragedy (along with other Portuguese luminaries like Filli Nigrantium Infernalium and Moonspell), and then put out such seminal releases as The Seven Seals 7" and then the full-length album The Conjuration of the Southern Circle (both released in 1993). By this time, their sound had matured to a very definite black metal style. The influence of death and thrash metal were clearly present, but this bore little resemblance to the trebly, necro style of Norway, or the melodic riffing of the Swedish scene.
Off of their first full-length, this is "Immortal's Entreaty"
Since its inception in 1990, Decayed has never tried to follow any trends. They have always been about making their own unique mark on world black metal. With releases such as 1996's Resurrectionem Mortuorum and 1999's The Book of Darkness, they continue to push forward their old-school influenced black metal. They have never been afraid to incorporate keyboards (without sacrificing quality), nor have they been afraid to use differing tempos to convey an evil atmosphere.
From Resurrectionem Mortuorem, here is "Archdemon"
This is "The Beast Ascendeth" from 2003's The Beast Has Risen
Portugal's black metal scene has grown quite a bit since the late 1980s and early 1990s, but Decayed still remains at the head of the pack. Their innovation and ground-breaking work paved the way for such crucial modern-day acts as Corpus Christii, Sirius, Morte Incandescente, and Daemonarch.
Select Discography
Dark Rehearsal (demo) (1991)
Thus Revealed (demo) (1992)
The Seven Seals EP (1993)
The Conjuration of the Southern Circle (full-length) (1993)
Resurrectionem Mortuorum (full-length) (1996)
The Book of Darkness (full-length) (1999)
Nockthurnaal (full-length) (2001)
The Beast Has Risen (full-length) (2003)
Next time: BARATHRUM
