V/A – Oi! Um Grito De União! Vol. 4
Rotten Records / Zerowork Records / Spirit Of St. George Records
Volume one to three of Rotten Records’ “Oi! Um Grito De União!” compilations followed each other up in quite a rapid pace in the second half of the 90’s with releases in 1995, 1996 and the year 2000. But things started to slow down in the ‘new millennium’ and for several years the Brazilians didn’t even release a single record… Luckily the pressing plants started to roll out Rotten-releases again three or four years ago and now, 17 years after the last volume in the “Oi! Um Grito De União!”-series, the fourth volume of this classic is out – in collaboration with Zerowork Records and Spirit Of St. George Records.
Where the first three volumes mainly consisted out of Brazilian bands, the fourth volume is a mix of bands out of two countries. Because they don’t only speak Portuguese in Brazil now, nope – they happen to speak Portuguese in Portugal as well, so volume four of “Oi! Um Grito De União!” is a mix of both Brazilian and Portuguese bands. Ironically the first band that is up sings in French though, but as it is the almighty powerhouse Atlantes they’re forgiven… Unfortunately no new or unreleased tracks, but both title-tracks of their vinyl releases for Bigorna Records and Spirit Of The Streets Records. Still amazing of course.
This is the case with a few more bands, like Grito!, Doc 21, Falcata and Facção Opposta – but there is also plenty of both new and unreleased work to find on this compilation. Half of the CD actually, as there are ten bands on it (with two songs each), there is still plenty of unheard and/or undiscovered noise on here. In all honesty, I hardly (ever) heard any work from bands such as Skazuais Oi!, Sindicato Oi! or Bota Gasta (plus Grito! and Doc 21) before, because no – you can’t be up to date on every single band and release out there, so it’s always a pleasure to hear some new tunes that don’t disappoint! Speaking of which, Asas Da Vingança and last, but certainly not least – the Brazilian legends of Virus 27 – never seem to disappoint, with the latter nearly taking nine minutes to complete their two tracks “Overdose” and “Pobre De Nós”. Superb as always though!
Now I am not 100% sure if all the bands I have mentioned with their new/unreleased tracks are indeed, still unreleased (excluding this compilation of course) – because who knows how complete the internet is! But either way, the fourth volume of “Oi! Um Grito De União!” is still excellent value for your money though with a whole range of excellent tracks both previously released and unreleased!