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.
https://www.facebook.com/equaleft
by Renata “Pieni” Lino
No “alternative metal” band had played yet so Legacy Of Cynthia had the pleasure of doing so, kicking off the third and last day of Laurus with their brilliant “Rats And Rattlesnakes”. Their sound is too exquisite to describe but that exquisiteness is also unique, and it works perfectly live – especially in an open air festival. Their vitality spread out to the crowd, and even when bass player Caesar made a “small” thank-you speech – he himself recognized he was a pain in the ass and that those who’ve been to Legacy Of Cynthia gigs before were surely sick of listening to him – everyone applauded, clearly amused. I admit dancing to “Cabaret”, which wrapped up their set.
Getting Tarantula to play between Crisix and Dark Tranquillity wasn’t the best of options – unless the idea was for the crowd to recharge batteries. Their old school heavy/power metal is legendary around these parts, but even with the crowd echoing loudly the choruses to “Face The Mirror”, “You Can Always Touch The Sky” or “End Of The Rainbow”, something felt amiss. It’s been less than two years since I’ve last seen them live and they were in pretty good shape. Now it seemed like the spark was gone, or at least dimmed. It was a bit disappointing. And I’ll never understand why, despite someone always screams for “Power Tower”, they still refuse to play it…
This year’s festival finished with a local band, that came back together after almost a decade-long hiatus (I think it was an actual split-up, but whatever it was, it’s over). The Godiva was the first band I’ve shot with a digital camera, back in 2005, and for me it was enthralling to see this new version of them, all re-vamped and full of life – despite their “deadly” make-up, ha ha. And those who only knew them from the brand new single “Empty Coil”, or didn’t know them at all before this show, seemed to enjoy the old songs such as “Spiral”, “Fallen” or “Oblivion”. A great new era for the band, closing what represents a new era as well for this great festival. See you in 2019, Laurus Nobilis!
The second day started at mid-afternoon, with Sotz’ doing the honors. Here’s a band that’s been improving their performance at every show, and consequently winning over more fans – 4:30 p.m. and a large number of people ready to shout out and mosh around their support. Without any kind of disrespect for previous line-ups, I believe the current one is the most efficient in living up to the aggressive impact the band yearns for their sound.
Another band that’s grown a lot since the first time I’ve seen them a couple of years ago is In Vein. Raising Legends has been doing a hell of a job managing them, getting them to play practically everywhere, to the point where I confess I rolled my eyes when seeing their name on this bill. My sincere apologies – it was well deserved. Songs such as “S.A.T.A.N.”, “Paranoia” or “Infinite Night” fueled the headbanging and the horns in the air – singer António Rocha tried to convince the firemen to join the latter at some point, but they just smiled.
Last year the organization had already set a second stage for big bands still climbing the popularity ladder (calling them “smaller bands” wouldn’t be fair or accurate at all). This year that stage was a bit larger and endorsed, hence named after, the Spanish beer Estrella Galicia – Galicia being the community where the first band Atreides came from as well. The opening day served as a warm-up, with only the Estrella Galicia stage active and four acts on the bill, so the melodic heavy metal of Atreides started echoing around eight-thirty in the evening. The crowd wasn’t big, true, but I confess it was much bigger than I’d expected – and also more responsive towards a band clearly unknown to them, despite their two studio albums. Songs like “Frágiles” or “Laberintos” caused quite an impression – including in some little kids who were tagging along their parents but having a ball on their own.
Things got a bit more hardcore with Booby Trap’s crossover. The most veteran band on that day’s bill got a more aggressive feedback, just like their sound, but still they tried to convince the people in the back to get closer to the stage and join the party – unsuccessful, not even after guitarist Wild Bull provoked them by calling them something like “pussies”. Anyway, “Survive”, “Overloaded”, “Drunkenstein” (my favorite) or Motörhead’s “Ace Of Spades” (which they covered long before Lemmy’s death) kept the audience pretty hyped.
Cruz de Ferro is Portuguese for “iron cross”, so that alone gives you an idea what kind of metal they play and what they sing about – yep, traditional heavy metal about Portuguese battles and history in general. They had a handful of devoted fans in the front row, raising their fists and singing along loudly. To those, singer/guitarist Ricardo Pombo exclusively dedicated “Ritual da Cruz” (ritual of the cross), apologizing to the rest of the people attending the festival. But since they’ve played for the very first time a new song called “Soldado Desconhecido” (unknown soldier) – in memory of all Portuguese soldiers who lost their lives in the second Great War – I guess no one minded to be left out of the aforementioned dedicatory.
But it was Infraktor’s “ferocious metal” that got the most out of the crowd, proving the promoters right when they chose such a young band to headline the first day. Well, young as Infraktor, who released their debut album “Exhaust” early this year – the members are all old-school ambassadors of the national underground, as I’ve told you when I reviewed said debut 
Valkyrian Music 