Skip to content
Recorded in early 1985 during rehearsals for the band’s March show at the Lira Paulistana theater in São Paulo, Ensaio Para o Lira captures Ratos de Porão in a brief transitional period.
After their debut LP Crucificados Pelo Sistema in 1984, the hardcore scene in São Paulo (like the rest of the world) was in crisis: police and gang violence made shows nearly impossible, and many bands either dissolved or moved into metal or alternative rock. João Gordo left the band and began hanging out in the city’s early underground metal scene, while guitarist Mingau departed for post-punk.
In response, original members Jão and Jabá regrouped with drummer Betinho, returning to the 1981/82 lineup and the band’s earliest fast, direct hardcore. Jão handles guitar and vocals here. As on 1982’s legendary SUB compilation, he delivers a high, sharp, shouted vocal style distinct from Gordo’s heavier tone on Crucificados. The sound is raw, minimal, and unpolished — a clear document of the band rebuilding itself at home in Vila Piauí, before the return of Gordo and the development of RDP’s later hardcore–metal crossover era.
The EP also includes songs not present on their studio albums, including the blistering “Anos 80” and “Guerrear,” as well as an early version of “Condenado,” later re-recorded with Gordo for the Ataque Sonoro compilation.
Ensaio Para o Lira remains one of the most raw and honest representations of the early Brazilian hardcore sound that Ratos de Porão helped define.
Our take: Alongside an official reissue of the band’s landmark debut LP—1984’s Crucificados Pelo Sistema (which we also have in stock)—Morrer Discos brings us this lesser-known but killer slice of Ratos De Porão ephemera. It’s worth taking a moment to understand what this release is and how it fits into RDP’s (and hardcore’s story). After Ratos De Porão recorded Crucificados Pelo Sistema, the drummer and vocalist left the band. Original members Jão and Jabá—bass and guitar—reconnected with original drummer Betinho, with Jão taking over vocals, reconstituting the group’s 1981/82 lineup (the same iteration of the group that contributed six scorching tracks to 1983’s brilliant Sub compilation LP). What’s crazy isn’t so much that the original band got back together, but that they basically turned the clock back and picked up right where they left off. Thus, even though it says 1985 on the cover is this record, the music here is pure 1981/2 hardcore punk. I have always loved recordings that date right from the birth of hardcore, and that’s what this sounds like… moments remind me a lot of Bad Brains’ Black Dots tape, though what it really brings to mind is the earliest Riistetyt / Cadgers stuff. Of course there was a lot of cross-pollination between the Brazilian and Finnish scenes, and bands like Ratos and Cadgers just had to be working with a very similar set of inspirations. The recording here is very raw… I could be wrong, but it sounds to me like a rehearsal recording rather than a multi-track session, since there are bits of chatter and tuning between the actual songs. Nevertheless, it sounds fantastic. You can hear everything (well, maybe the bass gets kind of lost in places…), the guitar sound is brutal and powerful, and even though there are no overdubs that I can hear, there are backing vocals make the songs sound really dynamic. And the songs themselves are brilliant… trimmed-to-the-bone slices of minimalist hardcore punk with that infectious sense of excitement and discovery that you get from the first-wave classics.