Alongside the world-conquering Sepultura and lesser-known bands like Mutilator, Sarcófago, and Holocausto, Chakal emerged from the surprisingly fertile extreme metal breeding grounds of Belo Horizonte, Brazil, in the mid-'80s. Formed in early 1985, to be exact, Chakal (which is the Portuguese word for jackal) barely had any time to write and rehearse their songs before being asked to perform at the Metal BH II Festival (also featuring Sarcófago, Sagrado Inferno, Armageddon, Sepultura, and, from São Paulo, Minotauro), where they essentially just thrashed away at borrowed instruments until their allotted time was up. But the group's technique would thankfully improve in leaps and bounds over the course of 1986, which saw them playing frequent local gigs, recording their first demo, and contributing two tracks to Cogumelo Records' Warfare Noise compilation. The band had also rounded up an especially well-tuned lineup consisting of vocalist Vladimir Korg, guitarists Mark and Pepeu, bassist Marcelo Laranja, and drummer Willian Wiz when the time came to record their debut album, Abominable Anno Domini. Much to the surprise of many heavy metal fans and critics, this turned out to be one of the most vicious, extreme but accomplished Brazilian thrash/black metal records released in the landmark year of 1987. Unfortunately, the magic wouldn't last and Pepeu had already exited the group by the following year's Living with the Pigs single, inaugurating a maddening sequence of constantly changing personnel that kept Chakal from putting their best foot forward on their 1990 sophomore LP, The Man Is His Own Jackal, and then left them in limbo for months at a time leading up to 1991's swan song, Death Is a Lonely Business. The band was inactive for over a decade, but eventually reunited to perform a few shows in 2002, after which they wound up recording a pair of new albums: Deadland in 2003 and Demon King in 2004. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia