STRESS

Last November when the CONQUEST FOR DEATH tour ended in Belém, Brasil, we had a few days to explore the city (the tourist books say it's a dump, punks in São Paulo told us not to bother, and of course our time there was fukkn great). On one of those days we cruised the open air markets that surrounded out hostel with a few local punks who hosted us, and came upon a record stall. Nothing interesting looking, but it was a nice day and the stall butted up to a park so it was a good place to hang out for a while...and then the dude pulled out the metal records. Fortunately Devon had already given up (he would be my only real competition in this department) so I got first crack, and pulled out a few sick looking Brasilian gems, including a double LP comp with a sinister title like Death Noise Assault Party or something like that. Well, the comp was full of really shitty pop punk (I can only imagine how sad the teenage death metal skulls on the cover must be having to spend their entire existence with third rate NOFX clones) and the metal records were all crap - I lose. But one of our hosts suggested I blast this STRESS album, claiming that not only were they the first Heavy Metal band from Brasil, but that they hailed from Belém, the town we were busy touristing the shit out of. The needle dropped, and I was sold. Pure, primal and primitive Heavy Metal with '70s prog undertones hiding beneath DEEP PURPLE meets MOTORHEAD riffs. The keyboards that kick in on "2031" are essential to the driving fury of the record, as much as the ALICE COOPER rip off "Oraculo Do Judas" makes me wish that my favorite right wing Arizonan spoke Portuguese. The price was a little steep, so I passed on this slab, but then the stall steward flipped this self titled debut and I reached into my pocket for what was likely the last of my cut of our meager earnings. I had no choice, STRESS is that good. Listen to "Stressencefalodrama" and tell me you would have done different. 

I came home and shared this gem with Aesop (I had to tape it and rip it - a little backwards, but it allows for inclusion on The Escape), who is kinda the reason I started sharing music here in the first place and who liked it as much as I thought he would, and he disseminated it on Cosmic Hearse a couple of weeks back, which seemed appropriate considering the make-up of our two blogs and their respective followers. Now, I share it with you. Apparently, this was the first speed metal record from Brasil, and somehow Pepsi appears to have been involved in it's release...not really sure how that worked out, but I'm glad that it did.

STRESS