Sangue de Bode: Black metal from the misty mountains of Rio

Author Flavia Andrade - 17.9.2022

Formed in 2017 in Rio de Janeiro state, Sangue de Bode (which translates as “Goat’s Blood”) is an extreme metal band inspired by the not so frigid mountains of Rio de Janeiro. Their first album “A Sombra que me acompanhava era a mesma do Diabo” (The Shadow that followed me was the same as the Devil’s) was released in 2020, and had praise both from the audience and the press. This led to invitations from important channels for livetreams, such as Showlivre and Scena.

In 2021, Verme (vocals/guitar), Sinuê (drums), Nekrose (guitar) and Zé (baixo) recorded and released their second effort, “Seja Bem-Vindo de Volta para a Cruz” (Welcome Back to the Cross). Their intention here was to mature their message, arrangements, and approach to music, with more concise and more crafted material, exploring new ways and new sensations through the horrendous 15 track-album. A partnership was established with Linda H. Syvertsen, renowned Norwegian artist, who was responsible for the aesthetics and imagery of this album.

Sangue de Bode’s music is characterized by a natural drift between all possible music genres of heavy music, including hardcore, but always keeping their black metal roots explicit through both their sound and image. Delivering thrilling live performances, which induced some of the craziest circle pits I have ever witnessed, they are definitely worth checking out.

Chaoszine had the opportunity to have a chat with Verme and Sinuê, who spoke about what inspires their particular brand of black metal. They also spoke of influences, how politics affects their lyrics and, of course, about corpse paint.

You can read the full interview below.

Hello and thank you for speaking to Chaoszine. How’s it going?

Verme: Thanks for the invite for this interview. Everything is fine, thanks.

How did you start the band?

Verme: It was Sinuê and me, just guitar and drums, at home, just jamming in our living rooms. Then, Nekrose joined us on bass and we had a trio, and that’s how the first album was recorded. So, we started our conversations back in 2017, but the actual activity started in 2019.

Your first release came out in 2020, right before the pandemic was declared by WHO, right?

Verme: Yes, it was in February 2020, as a trio. But the first single had been released as a duo. And now, for the second album, we are a quartet.

You are a black metal band, especially because of your thematic, but there are clearly elements of other genres in your sound, like hardcore-style vocals. What are your main influences?

Verme: A lot of things outside of metal… I try to see the band as more than an outlet for musical ideas. The titles of songs are very important. The album art, also.

Sinuê: We are very much influenced by movies.

Verme: And I agree when you say that we have a back metal thematic. Because the sound of black metal is very traditional, but also the imagery and thematic. So, our sound might not be 100% traditional black metal, but the thematic is.

Sinuê: I think we manage to keep the traditional black metal sound, but with a lot of influences from other genres, like hardcore, thrash metal – especially for the riffs.

Verme: I think everything we’ve been listening to since we were younger, it’s kind of there, somehow. But our sound is black metal-based, because it allows room to talk about these themes more explicitly and more comfortably. But I also keep a lot of traditional black metal vocals, and Maniac from Mayhem (the best of their vocalists in my opinion), is a major influence. But I have to tell you that I learned how to scream or growl trying to imitate Max Cavalera in the song “Attitude”. Of course, I am a great fan of his. We also have a very strong post-punk influence and we also listen to Deftones, because these have sadness as a theme. Sangue de Bode’s music is very angry, but also very sad; it’s not pure hatred.

What about your creative process? How does the magic happen?

Sinuê: The lyrics are mostly written by Verme, especially because of the whole experience he had with his father’s cancer diagnosis, and most of the riffs, he writes them, too. But the structure of the songs is always a more collective effort.

Verme: The lyrics have a very personal touch, but everyday Sinuê and I trade texts with words for songs, and brainstorming ideas… so, I would say that is another source of inspiration for us. And the other guys in the band also identify with the lyrics, even though these lyrics usually come from a very private space. I started writing songs in Portuguese about 7 years ago, and now there is a nice chemistry between the band, the words, the way we express ideas…

One of the most prominent themes in your music is politics. Your song “Messias de Merda” (Shitty Messiah) is a clear allusion to president Bolsonaro’s middle name. How important is politics in your music?

Verme: As the writer of most of our lyrics, I can say we are not a political band. But politics is a part of our music, because it is one of the things that fucks with our lives, especially for those in our population that can barely make a living. So, frustration also goes through politics, and the personal grudge that I have towards bad politicians ends up being representative of lots of people’s grudges. The instrumental for this song was actually written around 2015, but during the pandemic situation, this guy saying all those absurd things, denying science and all, that’s when we rescued this song, and put this all into words. We have other political songs, like “Dez Furos na Cabeça” (Ten holes to the head) and “Servo das Tênias” (Servant of Tapeworms), inevitable political moments in our music.

How is the audience’s response to your music?

Sinuê: It’s been great, people send us nice messages on social media, it’s really cool.

Verme: It’s gratifying, during the pandemic we couldn’t perform live, and people were there for us, supporting us. We made friends, established partnerships, it’s been great.

Sinuê: We made contact with people from São Paulo who are influential in the scene, like Igor Giroto of Kool Metal Festival, Nata of Canal Scena, so it was brilliant.

I have noticed that sometimes you wear a variant of corpse paint, but sometimes you get on stage without make up. What does it represent to you?

Verme: To be completely honest, it’s the little boy that never grows up, that wants to wear cool make up like KISS. We opted for wearing corpse paint for artistic reasons, a visual expression that brings the band into this universe of black metal: visuals are very important to cause impressions and sensations. But it’s not a dogmatic thing for us, therefore it’s random: sometimes we wear it, but sometimes we don’t.

Sinuê: I like it, too. We are such nerds…

Verme: It’s interesting, and just another way of expressing ourselves artistically. And not just black metal corpse paint but, as I said, KISS, also Robert Smith of The Cure. For the latter, I think that created an androgynous and schizophrenic look, essential for the band. And the culture of horror movies, make up brings the macabre into it.

And now that the pandemic is under control, how do you guys feel about the club scene for metal bands?

Sinuê: We haven’t got around the country yet, but São Paulo has a strong scene. And Rio de Janeiro has a scene that is very mixed up.

Verme: Yeah, there are events, especially the independent ones, we hear a doom metal band on the same night as a thrash metal band and a grindcore band. All our experiences have been great, we played nice venues alongside amazing bands. I’m a country boy, so going to these places makes these experiences all the more exciting for me. And I believe that most metal fans have a conscience and have taken their whole vaccination scheme, which makes metal concerts a safer place.

What Brazilian bands can you recommend to our readers?

Both: We would recommend Vazio, definitely, pure black metal. Cabra Negra, Surra. Bolor, it’s like a goregrind band with thematic of Brazilian serial killers, very creative. Guro, Manger Cadavre?, Hellway Patrol, and Crypta. The latter are great live.

Is there anything else you’d like to say?

Verme: I’d like to thank everyone who comes to our gigs, buys our merch, you know, people who are there for us as a band. And, just to let you all know, we’ve already started work on our next album.

That’s great news! Thank you for taking the time to talk to Chaoszine.

Both: Thank you for the opportunity to do this interview.