SWR BARROSELAS METALFEST – PORTUGAL
DAY 3 SATURDAY 02/05/09
First up today were Hacksaw who were the first and only band I saw (having missed We Are The Damned) who had a female member (bass) in the group. It should really be of little consequence but although the fairer sex was represented well in the audience, stage wise was a different matter. Brutality was not compromised in the slightest of course as ‘Bind Torture Kill’ proved. This was bolt thrown death, delivered without a shred of mercy and in the wretched heat of the smaller tent it must have literally been murder for the band on stage. The audience was not going to let it affect them either and they were instantly off on one. A guest singer did little to quell the enthusiasm either and although this is another band still at the demo stage they certainly have a rabid following at home.
Damn they had run out of festival shirts for those with the fuller figure, why did I leave it so late? Speaking of which I had seen a lot of shirts being worn for next band The Ransack and it was evident why as they seemed to be a head-bang heavy crew with a crunchy fluid sound and a good hint of that Gothenburg strum in their guitar chops. They went down as smooth as the first beer of the day (yes I had started late). I had not really expected to watch full sets of the earlier bands but again found myself pretty much captivated. This lots more than professional performance consisted of good songs with a nice modern edge to them. There were some good unknown talents to be explored here and walking off would have been rude. The shreddage was so well handled I found feet hammering a groove into the ground even after the songs were over. ‘The Curse Of God’ had a touch of Slayer about it to my ears and despite a slightly finer honed sound; brutality was not compromised with this lot. I’m not surprised to see they are signed to Recital Records in the slightest.
The next dish served up was the unappealingly named Dead Meat, would they be vegetarian friendly? With songs like ‘Fisting Open Ass’ (yep seriously) they were probably just a bit too friendly. Pig squealing vocals and grunts emphasized this barbaric butchery and if roadkill had a noise it would probably sound something like this. The vocals were actually hilarious and one wondered if the singer (for want of a better word) had a day job in an abattoir, it was like he had studied the sounds of the animal kingdom at length. ‘Flesh Rotting Fast’ luckily did not come with an accompanying scent and although this was a good old slab of gore grind 30 minutes was enough, I doubt I would accept a barbeque invite from them either.
The Firstborn were definitely one of the most interesting of the Portuguese bands, indeed of the entire festival. I am sure I have come across them before and was intrigued enough on the sound-check. Singer Bruno is bald and had painted his entire face and head gold, which was odd enough in itself but they had some more interesting nuances to offer and make them stand out the crowd too. Musically they were at first chaotic with plenty going on, there were some Mid Eastern type twists and turns to be heard as well and everything struck as very complex. The addition of a sitar player cross legged and going mental on some songs really added another dimension to their sonic assault too and this bordered on avant-garde Zen Buddhist metal with doom laden overtones if it had to be tagged in any fashion. ‘The Noble Search’ hit transcendental peaks which is something very few bands can claim and the singer got Happy Birthday sung to him by the crowd in Portuguese which just made everything even more surreal. ‘Ocean Of One Vehicle’ also saw a second singer join, I was told which band he was from but promptly forgot, all in all very interesting band.
A cold beer in the hot sun then in for Theriomorphic and if by name I was expecting anything like Therion I could forget it. The full throttled cleaving brutality kept the divers happy here but musically it was again a bit too samey for my tastes. The fact that they talked to the crowd in their own language did not help matters either, but as far as I gathered they were playing tracks from a new album here. Afraid after a few numbers I decided the warm sun and cold beer outside was a better draw and went and left them to it after ‘And The Sorrowy Night’.
That other highly anticipated French occultist black metal band Nehëmah were up next on the main stage. This black clad and corpse painted legion formed way back in 1992 and impressed me immediately by laying off the throttle and relying on slow torturous instrumentation and cadaverous vocal rasps courtesy of singer Corven. It was not all about playing slowly though and there were sudden sporadic and stellar bursts of havoc fired violence, still there was (and I hate to say it again a spark missing). Conversations later had others stating that this lot should never have graced the stage with daylight still blazing down outside, they lost some much needed atmosphere and looked a bit uncomfortable on stage; putting it frankly they had the presence of dead fish. They seemed to go out their way to ignore the audience between songs too, no announcements and not a hint of appreciation to the fans gathered; likewise the crowd stood and watched conveying abject indifference and misanthropy from both sides.
Perhaps it was siesta time as for the next few bands the audience really thinned out, at first I wondered if people were packing up and leaving but later this turned out not to be the case. I guess the sunshine was too tempting. In Tha Umbrahad a groove laden and progressive sound, despite the black and death tag their web information states and were to a point pretty laid back compared to most of the bestial bands witnessed today. There was even room here for a bit of virtuoso guitar noodling and it sounded impressive apart for one thing; I really did not like the vocals here. After a couple of numbers I came to the conclusion, like many others that it was time for a bit of a break to recharge the batteries.
I had been surprised earlier to bump into Ilia of Pantheist and Indesinence (the latter of whom had played this festival in the past) but it all made sense hearing he was standing in on guitar duties for Esoteric. I could go on forever about this lot as they are one of my favourite live bands and put on a terrifying performance of Lovecraftian induced doom. Today they were able to fit in no less than four numbers from newest double album ‘The Maniacal Vale.’ Again I was as interested in the crowd reaction as much as watching the band for the umpteenth time. As the sounds of nightmares were made flesh, despite the temperature I found myself shivering. Greg Chandler’s vocals with his trademark microphone headset sounded cavernous and the lurching instrumentation staggered as though from the pits of hell itself. The motionless audience did applaud at the end of the first number. The savage death laden bite of ‘Caucus Of Mind’ knocked us for six before the unhinged psychedelic fervour of the track took hold. The front rank of the band bent down manipulating effects controls on the floor further playing with our minds. One girl ran past looking like she was going to throw up around now and by the end of the set a few bemused faces and people walking out in a near stupor proved Esoteric had yet again unhinged more than a few minds.
Legionnaires Spearhead were a band I probably knew better than anyone else in the whole audience. With dry ice swirling they stood with backs to the audience with marching boots playing out the speakers. Then there was action! It was obvious that they had the audience to work on and again it was not rammed as ‘In The Face Of The Absolute’ pummelled out the speakers and the strobes went into overload. People moved forward but on brand new song ‘Empire Without Age’ there was a problem with the drums which needed a quick fix and the song needed starting again. The curse of Nero did not throw them off and by ‘Road To Austerlitz’ people had moved down and started rucking, so it was obvious the Brits had won over a few new converts here.
Time for true Norske BM over on the main stage for Urgehal and I could not help smiling as the amusing looking guitarist Enzifer with his trademark Pinhead get up came onto the stage. I had seen this lot before and been impressed by their brew of uncompromising and primitive, punked up, puked up torment. The photographers all seemed to want to get shots of this lot too and all of a sudden everyone was rammed down the front with everything from mobile phones to more professional equipment. A blitzkrieg of hate was flung back at them as a song announced as being from ‘Goatcraft Torment’ blared out the speakers. This was a display that worked, unlike some of the previously mentioned black metal displays of the weekend. Sure the sun had hidden at last which no doubt helped as did the filth ridden delivery of the songs. I saw one person get up on stage and singer Trondr Nefas looked far from happy and it was unlikely anyone else was going to be stupid enough to try. It was left for the pit to pretty much seethe and impact the hatred and it virtually collapsed in on itself during a track aired from soon to come album ‘Ikonoclast’, job done!
Next was the very last of the Portuguese bands Grog unfortunately temperature drop meant getting jacket from a tent that those pesky forest sprites had hidden in an invisibility cloak again. Needless to say I missed most of their set but was surprised that the unheard of (by me) unsigned band had the smaller stage packed to the rafters. This was more unadulterated grinding death and it was an uncouth display that sounded as shambolic as the name of the band suggested. After one number about a mortuary I decided to back off for the space of the main stage and await the next attack to come from it.
If there was a scale of 1-10 for ‘brutality’ Origin would hit 11 with no problems at all. The festival on the whole had been all about that very word but Origin were the fastest and fiercest here make no mistake. Singer James Lee is an imposing enough figure as it is and he was pretty much dominating the front of the stage for the entire set. Brave divers could not help themselves and approached him cautiously and I expected a beefy hand to swipe them like flies to the back of the tent but luckily, although he pushed stragglers off good naturedly, they seemed to survive. Numbers such as ‘Implosion Of Eternity and ‘The Aftermath’ were uncompromising tour-de-forces. Vocals went “splat grunt squeal” and the dextrous guitar peals were fantastic to stand and watch with jaws hitting the floor as they unfolded before our eyes. This seemed a lot more full on than when I saw them in London last but that could have been due to the fact that the crowd were really giving it back and going crazy to things here. As ‘Staring From The Abyss’ forged ahead, I wondered off for a breather and a shot of the murky mud brown coffee on sale outside to keep me awake for the next thrash attack.
The coffee may not have been Brazilian but Torture Squad were. Although I had given them a listen before I must have got my wires crossed expecting brutal death but finding full on thrash. With connections between Portugal and Brazil being obvious they were always going to get a good reaction, but in fact actually got the craziest one of the whole festival with the audience packed into the smaller stage area. This did prove to be a bit of a problem as the over enthusiastic stage invaders ended up falling all over monitors and the band and stopped them playing a couple of times. Taking your eyes off the game down at the front would have meant a boot in the face too; it was nuts! Not that the band seemed to mind the chaos and disruption at all. I have to admit that writing notes during this was near on impossible and it was a miracle that I managed to run in and get a few photos. All I can say in conclusion is I loved what I heard here and even those coming out of the melee with blood covering their faces seemed to have enjoyed themselves, they could no doubt reflect upon injuries next morning.
The thought of an hour with Sodom was not something I had been looking forward to. I have had quite enough of Uncle Tom on visits to Germany thanks, even if he has not played in England for years (although he is in November). As the first number finally started I was close to going and packing up (hell no I would have left it) the tent and seeing if I could get an early flight out the country. I have no idea what this ballad was but it can only really be described as sounding like ‘dad rock.’ Luckily I stood my ground and they picked up the ante with ‘Outbreak Of Evil,’ that’s more like it. Angelripper, Bernemann and Bobby were not the most exciting band in the world to watch but that did not stop the mad scrum for photos though and this was the most packed the large stage area had been the entire festival. After ‘The Saw Is The Law’ I realised to my horror I had left the crowd on completely the wrong side to the bar. “Sodomized”? Hell no I just want a beer. I was also surprised to realise how many of these songs I knew, I guess that is what going to Wacken seven years in a row does to a man. I even found myself banging my head along to 82 hit ‘Witching Metal’ and gave myself a pat on the back for having survived this with flying colours. That was until the band announced an extra 15 minutes to play despite having used up all their time. Oh well can’t win em all!
And so to the Irish and zombie carnage thrash from Gama Bomb who I had a quick chat with and were looking forward to their slot. It was amazing to find Irish men relatively sober at 1of the clock in the morning to be sure but they had a job to do. They did it well too after the John Carpenter intro and with ‘Evil Voices’ playing I stood back with a smug grin having quickly got pictures during the first number. Just as well it was chaos all around again. Not quite as nuts as Torture Squad admittedly but there was a healthy pit and many dodging the band on stage and diving off it. Oh how nice I thought the leprechaun must have smiled at me and I picked up a 10€ note off the floor and took it as an omen to get more beer, there is no better way to watch this band than with beer in hand after all. Philly Byrne really knows how to work a crowd and did a wicked job here, even if they had not managed to get the message the audience was up for being knocked for six by the good old ‘Hammer Slammer.’ They learned the words quick too and were rewarded with the microphone to join in on this one. Someone took it too much to heart though trying to steal the bands beer during ‘Zombi Brew’ needless to say the crazy fool was well and truly repelled! With 20 people on stage at the end all I could do was stagger out and go and watch the last band of the festival.
This was one who I had never seen before and with new self titled and excellent album and a new line-up expectations were high for Absu. They had meant to play the day before but had problems getting flights, though luckily it didn’t stop them getting here eventually. Proscriptor is ensconced behind the drum kit and shares vocals with bassist Ezezu on this new line up which I didn’t realise at first. They had promised us some songs from pretty much their entire history and not just the new ones and started the battle with ‘Highland Tyrant Attack’ a classic from The Third Storm of Cythraul. This sounded damn good and the blackened thrash coursed through our veins and got us grunting along. I did get the impression that the group were not fantastically prepped up as although the actual songs sounded great there were long pauses, with the rest of the group gathered around the drum kit before each song was played. Also it was not the ideal time to be watching them with exhaustion setting in. I didn’t stick around the whole set but caught the likes of ‘Of Celtic Fire We Are Born,’ ’13 Globes,’ and ‘Sword And Leather’ before it felt like my head was about to fall off. I am determined to catch them in London if and when they play and get a bit more detail on things.
So to sum up very quickly, fantastic festival and I am already looking forward to line up announcements for next year and could well make this an annual pilgrimage.
Links to all the bands that played can be found on the festival website if you want to check them out in more detail and give them a listen.
Pete Woods
Click here for photographs
www.swr-fest.com
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