Recorded at Cameratti Studio in 16 tracks between February - March 1988 (Santo André/SP). The Brazilian underground was full of minor bands that in some ways contributed to the growth of the genre in that country, but they never reached a good level of famousness. MX is another small cult band in this field and now we are going to analyse the debut album, Simoniacal. Their style as you can imagine is a brutal and raw thrash/death. At the time, the biggest influences could come from Schizophrenia album by Sepultura and few from Sarcofago. It’s normal, being two of the most representative bands in this field at the time. So, we begin with “Dirty Bitch” and its long series of galloping riffs. The band is truly compact and goes ahead without fears, destroying everything on its way. The riffs are fucking good and there’s no time to relax. The vocals are in pure Max Cavalera style on Schizophrenia and that is just great. The following “Fighting for the Bastards” has a more mid-paced beginning but soon the lead lines create a dramatic atmosphere, followed by the fast paced parts. They are extreme, heavy and really nasty thanks also to a production that is powerful enough without being that clear. Here it’s all about the guitars and their crunchy, scratchy distortion. The drumming is essential to sustain quite simple but extremely catchy structures. Even the more mid-paced parts are just obliterating in intensity as “Satanic Noises” confirms, at least during the first parts and the few breaks. The guitars solos are simple, impulsive and made of tremolo pickings. The atmosphere is darker during these sections because the whistles and the nastiness create the right gloominess these compositions deserve. However, the rhythmic riffs are the most important thing on this little jewel. “Inquisition” has more of those fantastic galloping riffs and they sustain really impulsive and catchy section in order to make mosh everybody till death. Once again, the calmer, slower and longer lead lines are great to create a perfect atmosphere for this track.“Dead World” has weird and again obscure guitars lines while the tempo remains always fast. The drumming is furious and the vocals are here once again to vomit all their hate towards religion, society, invoking a nuclear disaster. “Jason” is definitely darker and it has to be so, due to the content. Once again the story of the famous killer is an example on which you can build music and even this time is good. The murky atmosphere is again for the lead lines while the fast restarts are brutal and the up tempo sections are quite long. “Restless Souls” is an instrumental, dark track. The riffs are slower in several sections and you can hear the hammering bass behind. However, some more dynamic restart is welcome and soon it can turn to be a pure up tempo attack. The last “Dark Dream” is the perfect, sheer assault to end this album. The beginning is far more melodic but the great drums solo section introduces us to a massive dosage of speed and brutality. The vocals are again there to fill the atmosphere with despise and violence, following the precise and hammering work of the other instruments. All in all, I consider this album another very good surprise from Brazil and I recommend this album to every death/thrash fan. There’s nothing new but who cares when it’s always good music.
