Although it would ultimately fall well short of commercial expectations and barely forestall
Mutilator's ignominious demise just a few months later, at the time of its release 1989's
Into the Strange arguably held the distinction of being Brazilian heavy metal's most professional domestic production yet. Recorded and mixed in 16 tracks at Belo Horizonte's J.G. Studios,
Into the Strange certainly sounded as clean and punchy as any of the previous year's biggest thrash releases (e.g.,
Metallica's
...And Justice for All,
Anthrax's
State of Euphoria, etc.), but creatively, it made the mistake of placing way too much importance on complex musicianship, to the detriment of easily memorable songs. It was still more memorable -- if less spontaneous -- than
Mutilator's debut, though, and career-best efforts like "Greetings (To the Deads)" [sic], "Lost Words" (whose intro sounds suspiciously similar to "(Welcome Home) Sanitarium"), and the title track offered excellent showcases for both the chunky rhythm and fluid lead guitars of new member
C.M. and bandleader
Magoo. Having recently turned away his pals in
Sepultura, who courted him to replace departed guitarist
Jairo T.,
Magoo was clearly risking nothing to chance here, penning all of the lyrics and much of the music for
Into the Strange -- then assuming lead vocals from bassist Kleber, while he was at it. Sure, it's questionable whether his tuneful croak (you might call it
Lemmy-esque) signified any real improvement, but a pair of instrumentals (opener "Raise the Strange" and "Five Minutes Beyond the Walls") and plenty of soloing helped relieve some of the pressure on that count. And remember, it was the elaborate, often overwrought, music -- nothing vocal -- that the band was focusing on here, so in that sense,
Mutilator's imminent date with failure was no more inevitable than that which befell most of the other thrash metal bands who followed this stylistic route. Little did they know, they were over-thinking themselves into oblivion.