Firsttime I’ve ever heard about Casa do Artista Amador (Home of The Amateur Artist), in Famalicão, was back in 2015 when, along with Ecos Culturais do Louro, they promoted the Laurus Nobilis festival (see here). Can’t remember if that first edition already had the intent to raise funds for a new base of Casa do Artista, but it became so at some point. A setback here, a pandemic there… but it’s finally up and running! It turned out so fancy and cozy, with a couple of couches and a few tables near the bar, that I fell in love with the place the minute I walked in. The lights over the stage were pretty good too, which, for the photographer in me, is also a plus.
This wasn’t the first concert of the venue, not even the first metal concert to take place there, but it was my maiden voyage, as Wrath Sins and Equaleft are way much more my cup of tea than the previous gigs. It had been a while since I’d last seen Wrath Sins – precisely at Laurus Nobilis Music Festival, in 2019 – but I don’t remember singer/guitarist Miguel Silva being so amusing. “So, you want one or two more? No, three can’t do – I’ve been fighting a flu this past week, two is the most I can offer” or “The next one asks for movement. Who’s going to open the circle? You, right? (pointing to a guy in the front) Come on, you know you want it!”. If he wanted it or not, he couldn’t deny a direct request from the frontman and so a 3-person mosh pit took place during “Fear Of The Unseen”. On a more serious note, among the songs off “Contempt Over The Stormfall” and “The Wakening”, they also performed “Origins”, a track which will be featured on the upcoming third album.
https://www.facebook.com/Wrathsins
When my generation was in their teens, there used to be a lot of underground gigs in the afternoon, like this one; one of the first things Equaleft-Miguel Inglês mentioned when he got on stage was how playing at that hour brought back such wonderful memories of those matinées “back in the day”. From the crowd, Captain Aguiar – the main man behind this venture – promised many more to come.
Songs from both their full-length albums “Adapt & Survive” and “We Defy”, plus the most recent track “And It Will Thrive” made everybody happy, but “Tremble” (“a song we haven’t played in a while”) and “Maniac” stirred a special feeling over the oldest fans, as Nuno “Veggy” Cramês, co-founder and former guitarist, joined them on stage. He was more than a guest, he’s family, but still he thought the current members should be the ones under the spotlight and remained humbly behind them.
When “Strive” wrapped up the gig, the cookies – that are already Equaleft’s trademark – were given away.
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by Renata “Pieni” Lino
When Equaleft got on stage the place was already packed. After their concert in November 2021, they were supposed to stay off the road and work on the successor to “We Defy”, but this is already their second show (and more are to follow) without any news of the 3rd full length album; I guess the “call of the live” is just too strong to these groovers, and given the response they get every time, I can say we all love them for that. Even if it’s been quite a while since they’ve played “Invigorate”, with singer Miguel Inglês commanding the mosh circles with a Star Wars lightsaber (got the hint, lads?). Now that command is done more directly, with him and bassist André Matos jumping into the crowd and moshing around with them.
Shiraz Lane, on the other hand, had a lot of enthusiastic fans waiting for them. What a roar exploded at Sala Caracol when they hit the stage! They haven’t released a full-length album since “Carnival Days”, back in 2018, but its follow-up should be out soon, as a few new songs are already rolling on YouTube. One of them, “Disconnect From The Matrix”, was posted two days after this show but the Finns already graced us with it. Such a fiery performance from all members, but it was obviously singer Hannes Kett who had the chance to dance and jump around more, as well as bond with the audience with heartfelt speeches. When announcing the last song – which got a loud “NO!” in response, especially when Hannes said they had to play the following night for “your friends in Barcelona” (I wonder if there’s any country with no rivalry between its major cities…) – he said we must remember that love is the most important thing, more than ever. Then their own version of Savage Garden’s “To The Moon And Back” was on and in the last moments of it, Hannes went into the crowd to sing among us.
I believe Gabriel Keyes was somewhat sick, or at least tired. Wait, let me rephrase it – his voice might have been tired, ‘cause the way he rocked that stage through and through was evidence of a powerful energy. It was the first time I was seeing him live, but I’d seen videos – including the Quarantine Thrills – so I know what his voice is capable of outside a recording studio. Changing the higher pitches into lower ones in order to not go out of tune was a bit disappointing at first, but eventually I got used to it and had to appreciate the effort (one CrashDïet gig cancelled was enough in my book). I’m still bummed that they didn’t play “Shine On”, though, as it’s probably my favorite song out of “Automaton” and I know they had played it in the previous dates of the tour. But listening to so many “oldies” such as “Tikket”, “It’s A Miracle” (dedicated to all of us, for being there after all the world’s been through in the past couple of years), “Breakin’ The Chainz” and “Queen Of Obscene” (yes, and “Riot In Everyone”, of course, but that one is mandatory) certainly made up for the absence of my most recent fav track. Curiously enough, despite being the “Automaton Tour”, they’ve only played two songs off it – “Together Whatever”,which opened the show and made everyone go wild right from the start, and later on “No Man’s Land”. And from “Rust”, the first album featuring Gabriel, only “Reptile” came up. It’s great to see he feels so comfortable singing all those songs he didn’t originally record – they’re CrashDïet songs and he’s their current (hopefully last!) lead singer. Period!
Valkyrian Music 