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.
As I’ve mentioned before (read 
From a national popularity point of view, it didn’t make much sense to see the legendary Web get on stage next, but Analepsy had to drive about 200 miles to get to the venue – and Web just don’t care about that playing-first BS. Singer/bassist Nando was mourning a relative, who had passed just two days before, but no one could tell – he was his usual self, giving it all, and joking about Filipe’s white guitar and how the cookies Equaleft had brought were all gone by now, eaten in the backstage, so if that was why we were there, then we could go home. He also didn’t flinch when introducing the new song, ironically called “A Grave To Be Dug”. An awesome new song, by the way, bearing a sound you easily recognize as theirs. The chorus to “Mortal Sound” and “(In)Sanity” were sung along by pretty much everybody in the room.
Brutal death metal Analepsy, living up to the “brutal” part. Hair running in all directions on stage, while bodies did more or less the same on the floor. And that’s pretty much all I can say about it – as usual – and trust me, it is NOT a derogative report on their performance. I hate writing something as basic as “it was a great show” but in this case it will have to do. At some point there was a kind of a joke involving a rock band who was actually playing next door but it’s a Portuguese thing that even I can’t explain the fun in it, so… nope, nothing more to add.
Equaleft’s second full length album was featured in my expectations for 2018 but its release was held for a couple of months more and here it is, in the beginning of 2019. It’s okay, as the waiting was more than worthy (read the review 
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.
It was the closing of a chapter in Equaleft’s book, marking the last gig promoting “Adapt & Survive”. If memory serves me well, they’d said that already a few months ago, but just like Marquito, they couldn’t say no to Sepultura. I believe this time it was really the last one, though, as I know a new record is taking a solid shape, with a new drummer who will be announced soon. But that night was still just for what are already considered classics among the national underground – the intrepid “Invigorate” (featuring the mandatory Star Wars lightsabre), the groovy “Tremble”, the eccentric “Maniac” or the classy “Uncover The Masks”. And in the end, “their trademark” box of cookies was distributed among the fans.
There were a lot of Equaleft t-shirts in the crowd, but when Derrick Green himself goes on stage wearing one… damn, even I felt proud – hence the need of mentioning this little detail. Regarding what really matters: when you’ve been in a band for over 30 years and “big” for almost as long, one hour and a half always seems awfully short, especially after the release of another album. The trick is finding the right balance between new and old and, of course, performing both like there was no tomorrow. Guess who were able to do just that? (Okay, I confess I’d rather watch them play “Troops Of Doom” than “Inner Self”, but we can’t always have our way, and the near sold-out venue went bananas screaming along “nonconformity in my inner self / only I guide my inner self”, so who am I to complain?). Also, if you’ve read my live reports before, you probably know how I disapprove of solos; Sepultura seem to share this opinion as Andreas Kisser proved his skills – as if he still needed to – by playing the instrumental “Iceberg Dances”, out of the latest “Machine Messiah” the band’s currently promoting.
“I Am The Enemy” kicked it off, “Roots Bloody Roots” (what else?) finished it up, in-between Derrick told us “this is your fucking territory” and that he wanted to see us all arise, and Andreas dedicated “Sepultura Under My Skin” to Moonspell and F.C.Porto – the first for being good friends and representing Portugal’s metal throughout the world, the same way Sepultura do with Brazil’s; the latter… well, we all know how football is big in Brazil.
Back to its original 2-day format, I sadly could only attend the second day. From what I’ve heard, Dark Oath did pretty well as the opening act. Not in front of the biggest crowd, but everybody knows how unfair playing first can be; still, it seems that a fair share of people enjoyed the symphonic/melodic death metal the national band had to offer, introducing the debut full-length “When Fire Engulfs The Earth”.
Now the second day, that I actually witnessed. I arrived around 15:20, the “Blackhearts” documentary was still playing on the video walls. There were a few people watching it but not many – I’ve mentioned the heat already, haven’t I?
Equaleft was up next and the national underground could hardly be better represented. I can’t find the right words to express how proud I am for them and their achievements in these past years. After opening for Gojira last month (see 
The promo pic of Schammasch on the festival page shows us four guys in bare upper-bodies. I bet they regretted deeply not going on stage like that – 34ᵒC is “a bit” too much to wear long robes. Singer/guitarist C.S.R., with black paint on his face and hands and whose robe included a hood, was probably who suffered the most, even if he barely moved throughout the whole gig. He even admitted at some point that it was “boiling” up there. So kudos for their resistance.
It’s always hard to distinguish a solo artist from a band when the latter is named after said artist – and even so when most of the setlist is comprised of songs the artist played with previous projects. That’s what happened with Abbath. With a 75-minute slot, I understand that even if he/they had played the only released album in full, there would still be plenty of time to kill. But playing four Abbath songs among one of I and six of Immortal… I know they’re not seen exactly as covers by the fans, especially when they were thrilled to listen to “Nebular Ravens Winter” (this one’s even recorded in “Abbath”, the album) and “Tyrants” and “All Shall Fall”, but it still felt weird. Apart from the weirdness, it was super. Black metal lovers were offered a great show of the genre – even if the sun was still high up – and those who didn’t like it particularly could always enjoy Abbath and bassist King’s “evil” faces.
As aforementioned, Paradise Lost made my day. Nick Holmes acknowledged the “beautiful new venue” of the fest and said how good it was to be back. And with such a rich and diverse setlist, I doubt someone didn’t feel the same way about their return. From recent songs like “No Hope In Sight” to tracks from “a time when most of you weren’t even born” like “Rapture”, we revisited some of Paradise Lost’s highlights through time.
When entering the photo-pit for Kreator we were advised to stay somewhat away from the stage during the first song – “Enemy Of God”, as it turned out – so we were hoping for some fireworks. Imagine our disappointment when it was just confetti… Oh well. On the other hand, I’m glad it wasn’t anything dangerous, as staying away meant closer to the barriers and that was nearly impossible – the mosh and crowdsurf began with practically the first riff and the security guys needed space to attend to all of them enthusiastic metalheads. Mille Petrozza did ask more than once for circles and screams “Portuguese style” but he really didn’t need to – he was already getting that from the start.
Valkyrian Music 