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Equaleft’s “We Defy” release party – Porto, Portugal

Posted in Gig, Live with tags Analepsy, Equaleft, Groove metal, Hard Club, Porto, Raising Legends, release party, Sotz', We Defy, Web on 3rd February 2019 by Pieni

Equaleft, Analepsy, Web, Sotz’
Hard Club (Sala 2), Porto (PT)
1st February 2019
Promoted by Raising Legends

equalwedefy0

Despite the ticket presale going on a steady run, Equaleft singer Miguel Inglês never believed he’d have a sold out venue. Now, he has this pet hate of sorts for Manowar and he promised to buy a Manowar album in case the tickets did sell out. Guess who’s adding “Sign Of The Hammer” to their CD collection?

sotzwedefy As I’ve mentioned before (read here), Sotz’ have been evolving so much and playing in so many events that I didn’t realize this was their first Hard Club show until singer Dan mentioned it. The room still wasn’t at its full capacity – Friday traffic was even more chaotic due to the storm and a couple of other events in the neighborhood – but it was crowded and supportive enough to leave no doubt about the genuineness of Dan’s “thank you for being here”. That gratitude also produced a new song, “The Return Of Kukulcan”, right before the last one “Tzak’ Sotz’”.

https://www.facebook.com/sotzband/

webwedefy 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.

https://www.facebook.com/web.bandofficial/

analepsywedefy 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.

https://www.facebook.com/analepsyofficial/

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 here). And its live presentation…. well, their gigs are always mind-blowing, I can assure you that didn’t change a bit now! “We Defy” was played in full, but with… is 5-year-old songs too young to be considered “classics”? Anyway, “New False Horizons”, “Tremble” and “Maniac” were performed among the new ones, while “Invigorate” wrapped it all up with a golden key – without the Star Wars lightsaber but with two special guests: Sotz’-Dan and Tales For The Unspoken-Marco. Gonçalinho came on stage to play the sax on the new version of “Uncover The Masks”, and while there are no guest singers on the album, Web-Nando was called to sing along “Endless”. By the way, he lied about the cookies, obviously – a few boxes of them were offered to those who survived the violent mosh circles up front. Also, guitarist Miguel had his birthday that night and Inglês got us all singing him the “Happy Birthday” song, but the candles he blew were sitting on a symbolic kind of cupcake, so no cake for us – we deserved the other traditional cookies!

equalwedefy2

The release of “We Defy” was a deserved tremendous success. Don’t know what’s next, but I really hope is something even bigger – maybe selling out Hard Club’s main room? -, worthy not of buying a Manowar album but playing a cover of said band…

Text & photos by Renata “Pieni” Lino

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Equaleft – We Defy

Posted in Uncategorized with tags Equaleft, groove, Metal, Raising Legends, We Defy on 27th January 2019 by Pieni

Equaleft
“We Defy”
Groove metal
Release: 1st February 2019
Via Raising Legends

wedefy

Equaleft are labelled – even by themselves – as “groove metal”, but their sound has always been too exquisite to be defined by just two words; but since we had to go for something, given the intense throb of said sound, “groovy” is a good broad definition as any. Now “We Defy” lives up to its name and keeps pushing the envelope, but I still won’t dare coming up with a new label.

I will say, though, that the somberness has reached a new level. The very first song on the album, for instance. If prog-doom isn’t a thing yet, “Before Sunrise” could be its genesis. But then again, there’s a certain… glow in its musicality, making it sound sad but not depressing, so I guess not so doom-ish after all.

In “Once Upon A Failure” there’s this heaviness and rawness that mingle oh-so-well with the ominous echoes of its melodic chorus, while the enthralling solo, by the hands of Sullen guitar player, André Ribeiro, gives off such a vibrant darkness. The title-track’s is even more mesmerizing, as the heaviness in “Fragments” is bolder – they all have something in common and something unique which, in the end, makes us recognize it as Equaleft.

There are two other guests but none of them performing vocal parts, even though in songs such as “Endless” or “Strive” you may wonder if it’s really Miguel Inglês singing. Trust me, it is. Many people don’t know, and those who do often forget, that Miguel used to sing in a gothic/doom band (Mysterium) and that this lower, deeper pitch is very much his and fits perfectly in the darker direction some parts of this new album have taken.

It’s not even about maturity, as the previous “Adapt & Survive” was already a pretty seasoned work. It’s simply moving forward and achieving greatness once again.

[On an additional note, their former guitarist Nuno “Veggy” Cramês takes the lead on “Realign” while the third aforementioned guest is José Pedro Gonçalinho, who plays a killer sax on the revamped “Uncover The Masks” (originally featured on the 2010 EP “… The Truth Vnravels”).]

5/5

Renata “Pieni” Lino

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Projecto Sem Nome – Bulas Para Dedos E Coração

Posted in Uncategorized with tags Alternative rock, Bulas para dedos e coração, debut, Portuguese rock, Projecto Sem Nome, PSN, Raising Legends, Rock on 23rd April 2017 by Pieni

Projecto Sem Nome
“Bulas Para Dedos E Coração”
alternative rock
Released: 8th October 2016
Via Raising Legends Records

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Projecto Sem Nome is Portuguese for “nameless project”, and while some of you may see it as a tacky lack of imagination, I think it’s quite ingenious and liberating – “nameless” but it’s still the name they go by, so it’s a clever pun, and at the same time, having such an empty meaning, it’s up to you to give it one. Just like with their lyrical content, which is so full of metaphors that even if Portuguese is your mother tongue, you’ll be left wondering about what singer/lyricist Cristovão Siano really means with those words.

Musically, it’s not so hard to label them as “alternative rock” is probably the most comprehensive and vague genre ever. “Até Amanhã” (see you tomorrow), for instance, is a rough post-grunge piece seasoned with delicate acoustic guitar fragments. “Detalhes” (details) has a more upbeat and catchy main riff but eventually sounds somewhat heavier, and then the guitar solo is pretty dire, as if out of one of those eighties hard rock hits. The ballad “Identidade XXX” (identity XXX) features a xylophone and an intense vocalization, while “Havia Lá” (there was) is probably the fiercest track, a double bass drum backing up Cristóvão’s high-pitch lament towards the end. And the duet with Blame Zeus–Sandra in “Marcha Gole” (sip march) gives the song an extra refinement.

Is therefore safe to say that “Bulas Para Dedos E Coração” (leaflets for fingers and heart) offers a batch of rock songs written and performed on a basis of a myriad of styles and influences. One word: classy.

4 / 5

Renata “Pieni” Lino

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Porto Best Of – Porto, Portugal

Posted in Festival, Gig, Live with tags Câmara do Porto, Equaleft, Metal, Miguel Guedes, Porto, Porto Best Of, Porto City Hall, Raising Legends, Redemptus, Rivoli, Tarantula on 31st October 2016 by Pieni

Tarantula, Equaleft, Redemptus
Rivoli Theatre, Porto (PT)
19th October 2016
Promoted by Miguel Guedes and Porto City Hall

In a country with deep roots in metal but where such music is still much frowned at, having the City Hall backing up a metal event is a big thing. Even if we had to watch the concerts sitting down… I confess I was expecting the audience would eventually stand up, but that didn’t happen. Guess we wanted to prove the City Hall and the classy Rivoli theatre staff that we were all civilized, law-abiding citizens.
Calling it “Porto Best Of” is probably a tad pretentious, especially when there was only three bands on the bill, but then again, it showed respect for who was performing.

The first of those bands was Redemptus, a sludge/post-metal act that was formed two years ago in S. João da Madeira (yeah, the “Porto” part is also misleading). Why them and not some other with a longer career? Well, first, they’re good, and that’s reason enough; but there’s a second, which lies in their members having been around way longer and built quite a career in several different projects. Surrounded by smoke and dim-lit by red lights, the trio performed pieces featured in their debut “We All Die The Same”, released by Raging Planet Records early last year.

For Equaleft the darkness remained but now in shades of blue. At least now we had permission to shoot the first two songs in front of the stage (thanks for that, André). This was the second to last show promoting “Adapt & Survive” (review here) and, sadly, also the next-to-farewell performance of drummer Marcos – his personal life got to a point where playing in such an active band as Equaleft wasn’t possible anymore.
It was really weird watching Equaleft sitting down. While it’s easily manageable to headbang in that position to Redemptus’ sound, Equaleft’s groove makes your whole body pulse and the urge for movement is harder to control. But we did it, somehow. As for the band themselves, they didn’t stop and the floor literally throbbed to songs like “New False Horizons”, “Invigorate” (the light-saber song) or “When Ruin Becomes A Bliss”.

Tarantula is one of the biggest names in our heavy metal history so even though they haven’t been playing much and their latest record dates from 2010, it made sense to have them headlining this event. Their career hits the 35-year mark, if we count the four years going by Mac Zac. In 1990 they would release what’s considered their most significant album, “Kingdom Of Lusitania”, and that’s the album they celebrated that night. Among the big hits of the rest of their discography, that is, such as “You Can Always Touch The Sky”, “Freedom’s Call” or “Face The Mirror”. No “Power Tower”, though a few fans asked for it… Still, in the end, I didn’t see any disappointment in the almost sold out theatre except for that – that it had ended. After more than three decades, Tarantula still know how to pull a great heavy metal show and make you sing along and raise your fists like there’s no tomorrow.

I believe bands and audience proved that metal is something worth supporting and that more events like this will follow. I just hope they reconsider the chairs…

Text & photos by Renata “Pieni” Lino

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Heavenwood w/ support – Porto, Portugal

Posted in Gig, Live with tags Blame Zeus, Gates Of Hell, Hard Club, Heavenwood, Porto, Raising Legends, release party, Tarot Of The Bohemians, The Temple on 1st April 2016 by Pieni

Heavenwood, The Temple, Blame Zeus, Gates Of Hell
Hard Club, Porto (PT)
26th March 2016
Promoted by Raising Legends

In late February, Heavenwood released their fifth record “The Tarot Of The Bohemians” (review here) and the first release party took place about a month later, in a full-enough Hard Club. Other three top-notch bands from the national scene were on the bill, all of them so different from each other, making this a diverse event, even more interesting than “just” a release show.

First band on stage was Gates Of Hell, delivering their thrash-death-’core like they owned the place. I guess one can still call Márlon “the new guy”, as he was introduced as the new singer only last December (report here), but to me it feels like he’s been there all along.
There was a couple of missteps but I believe it wasn’t entirely their fault – trust me, I’ve seen them over a dozen times by now; the sound was a bit messy at first, so my guess is that they were having trouble listening to each other. Whatever or whoever was to blame, they went on so passionately that no one cared about such slips.
The show had begun at nine, half an hour later than scheduled, but still Márlon thanked the crowd for getting there so early to see them (20:30 is pretty early for a gig here in Portugal). The title-track of their debut (and so far only) album “Critical Obsession” closed their set.

www.facebook.com/gatesofhellband

Things cooled down considerably with Blame Zeus, as their more progressive approach is spirited but much less aggressive. They’re about to go through some major line-up changes – both guitarists and the bassist still played the show but have already announced their departure – which Sandra called “a new cycle”. And with the beginning of that cycle, she introduced a new song, “Queen”, about her career and what she had done to get that far and how it meant having to be mean sometimes… The new song has pretty much the same vibe, so the fans don’t need to worry about these changes, as Blame Zeus will continue the path of their usual sound.
Speaking of fans, there were plenty there that night and one in particular was celebrating his birthday. Sandra spared us from singing the happy birthday theme, dedicating him his favorite song instead, “Incarnate”.

www.facebook.com/BlameZeus

Then veterans The Temple brought down the house with their fiery alternative rock. Personally, it was the band I was most eager to see, since it had been eleven years (yes, eleven!) since I’d last seen them. And they didn’t let me down, nor the public in general. I believe they’ve made a lot of new fans. And spicing up their own great music with a cover of Mão Morta’s “Budapeste” (yeah, I know this won’t say anything to people outside of our country, but to us, it does a lot) and a tribal drum solo to which singer João and guitarist Marcelo gave both of their helping hands, their performance was a 5-star one.

www.facebook.com/thetempleband

I’m having mixed feelings about Heavenwood’s gig. Maybe I had set my expectations too high, maybe I was still in an adrenaline rush from The Temple show, but the truth is that I felt something was missing. The setlist was perfect; they’d promised to revisit their whole discography and so they did, and not just one song from each previous album, as some people had joked. However they tweaked the synths of the older ones to the point that I didn’t even recognize them at first. It seems the idea was to make them sound heavier, but at least “Emotional Wound”, my all-time favorite, sounded anything but. I already didn’t like its softer version in “Diva”, as the original, while they still went by Disgorged, was way heavier; and somehow they managed to tone it down even more that night. That might have helped with my mild disappointment.
The new live musicians made an impression – drummer Eduardo is quite skillful; guitarist Victor smiled and headbanged all the time; there isn’t a spot on stage that bassist André didn’t cover. Frontman Ricardo also looked to be “feeling it” deeper than usual, but his voice went out of tune a few times. As for Ernesto, it was the other way around: his voice sounded better than ever, but his mind seemed somewhere else. Something missing, I keep saying. Me and a few others, but luckily, the majority of the fans left with a smile on their face, after the “Frithiof’s Saga” and “Suicidal Letters” encore. And I won’t let one less good gig destroy my belief in them. Plus, at some point Ricardo said that “stopping is dying”, referring to the band’s sound evolution. I’ve been keeping tabs on that evolution since the first album, I definitely won’t stop now.

www.facebook.com/HeavenwoodOfficial

Text & photos by Renata “Pieni” Lino

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Wrath Sins – Contempt Over The Stormfall

Posted in Review, Uncategorized with tags contempt over the stormfall, Debut album, Metal, Raising Legends, Thrash metal, Wrath Sins on 6th January 2016 by Pieni

Wrath Sins
“Contempt Over The Stormfall”
Thrash metal
Released: 26th September 2015
Via Raising Legends Records

Wrath Sins picked up the classic thrash metal, filtered the edginess with some prog and “Contempt Over The Stormfall” was born. It’s not exactly modern thrash metal; it’s thrash metal with a polished twist.

In the mix there’s also a graver tone of vocals, unlike the high pitches this genre has gotten us used to. It’s still clean and aggressive, like Bobby Blitz or Chuck Billy’s, but a notch lower than theirs. And then there’s the growling backing vocals, functioning as a spicy seasoning. Still they invited some “legends” of their hometown underground to enrich the outcome – Fernando Martins of Web sings in the straightforward “Textured Vengeance” while Miguel Inglês of Equaleft helps out in the groovy (what else?) “Solipsism”.

Musically/instrumentally speaking, “Contempt Over The Stormfall” is a pretty consistent, solid album, featuring beefy riffs (the title-track, ”To Where The Waves Break”) and classy guitar pieces (my favorite “Watching Time Collapse”, or “Paradox”). Well done, boys.

3,5/5

Renata “Pieni” Lino

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Raising Legends Xmas Special – Porto, Portugal

Posted in Festival, Live with tags Equaleft, Gates Of Hell, Hard Club, metal fest, Porto, Raising Legends, tales for the unspoken, Wrath Sins, Xmas fest on 24th December 2015 by Pieni

Equaleft, Gates Of Hell, Tales For The Unspoken, Wrath Sins
Hard Club, Porto (PT)
19th December 2015
Promoted by Raising Legends

Raising Legends Records, by the hands of its CEO André Matos, gathered its finest bands and put up a 2-day festival, naming it after the current season – after all, Christmas is about love and joy and family, and Raising Legends Xmas Special was full of those, along with the top-notch music.
Sadly, I couldn’t attend the first night, where the alternative/more-rock-oriented bands played. Would have loved to witness Cristovão Siano’s (PROJECTO SEM NOME) on-stage reveries, as well as EQUALEFT-Malone debut as the new BLAME ZEUS bassist, but I had already confirmed my presence at another gig.

People here are used to underground events starting late but forgot that Hard Club is an on-time venue (especially when it has other shows taking place afterwards). Such neglect resulted in WRATH SINS being welcomed by a far smaller audience than they deserved, but their performance didn’t suffer from it – they still thrashed away like there was no tomorrow. Which is where they got most of their popularity, actually – their debut album, “Contempt Over The Stormfall”, was released late September (review on the way) but they already had a solid fan base due to their heated live shows, the aggression of Miguel’s main vocals backed up by the graver tone of bass player Ricardo’s working pretty swell. That and the medley of cartoon themes, thrash metal style, which pumped the mosh squad that night as well. Promoting the aforementioned album, the rest of the set was comprised of songs from it, like the title-track and “Watching Time Collapse”.

www.facebook.com/Wrathsins

When TALES FOR THE UNSPOKEN got on stage, the crowd had considerably grown bigger, but it wasn’t at its full yet. The absentee’s loss – TFTU are always great live but there was something about this gig that made it better than the several others I’ve seen of them.
2015 saw the release of the band’s sophomore album, “CO2” (review here), which features EQUALEFT-Miguel Inglês – who went by “Jedi Mig” that night… – in the song “I, Claudius”. He was obviously called on stage and singer Marco Fresco told the crowd that later it would be EQUALEFT’s last show with drummer Marcos, as the band had already found a replacement named Miguel. It was a joke, of course, regarding the recent announcement of new guitarist Miguel, making him the third member in the band with the same name. The singer called it the “Miguelification process”. Fresco, the everlasting amuser.
Other recent songs included “Taken” and “Soul For A Soul” (introduced as “soul for a fucking soul”…) but also oldies, from “Alchemy”, like “Say My Name” or “N’Takuba Wena”, had a major role in this party.

www.facebook.com/talesfortheunspoken

GATES OF HELL’s show was highly anticipated – not just because they’d been away for a while, but also because they would finally reveal the identity of their new singer. A new song/single, “My Path”, from the band’s upcoming second album, had been made available about a week before, but the name of the singer remained a secret. We were teased to guess, but no one could, since he indeed has some name in the underground scene but for his work behind the drumkit! The new GATES OF HELL singer is no other than Diogo Márlon, the WRATH SINS drummer. And boy, can he sing! Also, if he was any nervous – I can only imagine the difference between holding the mic instead of the drumsticks – one couldn’t tell. He just belonged there – in that role, in that band. Without any kind of disregard for the previous singers, but I feel like Márlon is the best fit in GOH so far – third is the charm indeed.
“My Path” was the only new song performed, everything else came from the debut “Critical Obsession” – the title-track finishing the set – but they also played “happy birthday” to a fan named Jessica. What a great comeback!

www.facebook.com/gatesofhellband

It wasn’t Marcos last show with EQUALEFT but it was Veggy’s. We told you about the guitarist’s departure (read article here) but since he had come to visit family and friends for Christmas, he took this chance to say a proper goodbye to the fans. EQUALEFT is one of those bands that never lets you down, but given the significance and emotional level of such show, it’s impossible to put into words just how intense their performance was. And the matching response of the crowd.
Near the end of the show, for “Hymns Of Obedience” and “Invigorate”, Veggy gave place to Miguel Martins, making this also a welcome party and official introduction of “the new guy”. And while Jedi Mig was wielding his lightsabre in the last song, Veggy stagedived and crowdsurfed.
But there was still one minute and half left, and they wanted to make the best of every second; so they went back to the EP “… The Truth Vnravels” and played “Uncover The Masks” – a song that originally lasts 2:11. Not sure if they simply played it faster or improvised some tweaks – the whole night had been a bliss for me to notice – but whatever it was, it worked wonders.
Before the group pic with the fans in the back, Jedi Mig gave away cookies to the fans in the front. He gives a whole new meaning to “Come to the Dark Side – we have cookies”…

www.facebook.com/equaleft

Text & photos by Renata “Pieni” Lino

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Tales For The Unspoken – CO2

Posted in Uncategorized with tags CO2, Death Metal, Metal, Raising Legends, second album, tales for the unspoken, TFTU, Thrash metal on 11th November 2015 by Pieni

Tales For The Unspoken
“CO2”
Thrash / Death Metal
Release: 11th April 2015
Via Raising Legends Records

“CO2” is one of those albums you need to listen to more than once before you form a solid opinion about it. Not in the way that it will take a couple of times for the music to sink in, no; it’s just that there’s so much to it that you won’t be able to grasp it all at first. Tales For The Unspoken are not reinventing the wheel either, or even merging several opposite genres into a new one. They do draw influences from other styles – hence the creativity and richness of their sound – but the outcome is that dear ol’ mixture of thrash and death metal. And there lies the beauty of it: they stay within the boundaries of their genre and yet manage to stay original. Saying that the opening track, “Burned Alive”, has its aggression shaved off by the melody of its chorus may not appear that much of an originality nowadays, but once you hear how exquisitely refined it sounds, with guitarist Nuno Khan’s clean vocals, without compromising the aforementioned aggression, you’ll understand what I’m talking about. Or the fluid guitar solo in “Soul For A Soul”. The groovy bass line of “World’s Biggest Lie” (which features Equaleft-Malone on lead guitar). And speaking of guests, there’s the stout participation of Miguel Inglês, also from Equaleft, in “I, Claudius”; the sharpness of Terror Empire-Ricardo Martins’ contribution to “Crossroads”; and the seduction of Joana Vieira in “Resilient Winter”. All of it immersed under an avalanche of riffs, spiced up with meticulous breakdowns. Never a dull moment with this “CO2”.

4 / 5

Renata “Pieni” Lino

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Web – Everything Ends

Posted in Uncategorized with tags Doom metal, Everything Ends, Heavy Metal, Raising Legends, Thrash metal, Web on 19th July 2015 by Paul Macmillan

Web
Everything Ends
Released 23rd May 2015
Thrash metal
Released via Raising Legends Records

Web - Everything Ends

Within the first note of Web’s Everything Ends I’m dragged back to my teenage years of the late 90s. There’s an immediate vibe of The Haunted’s first two albums, mixed with Face Down, but there’s more to it than the sneaking suspicion that Marco Aro may have had a hand in the proceedings. If anyone else remembers one certain disbanded UK metal group going by the name Dearly Beheaded as fondly as I do, there’s plenty contained herein to tickle your fancy. There’s even a hint of the creepy, musically narrative atmospherics of Rage’s Black In Mind.

Where this release excels in comparison to those mentioned above, is in production values. It doesn’t suffer from the testing ground that was late 20^th century mixing and mastering experimentation, but has stepped beyond the bounds of the early stages of studio digitisation. The result is that it has both the chops from an era when individuality was celebrated rather than scorned, and the vibrancy of modern refinement in extreme music sound engineering. And it’s a rather pleasant result indeed.

Web have actually been around since the mid-80s, so this is no contrived attempt to instigate a new phase of looking backwards in metal. These guys are the genuine article. They just happen to have not received the global recognition that some of their contemporaries have enjoyed. Unafraid to move through various changes of tempo,- including, but not limited to, mid-paced, double-pedal stomping – Web have a pretty wide palette to choose from within a tightly defined character.

Comparisons are pretty easy in listening to this, but they are all good ones; influences worn with pride, perhaps, rather than stale carbon copying. This album is a human one, and shuns the pull and sway of current trends. Dark and energising at the same time, it is exactly the sort of music I couldn’t get enough of when I first got into anything heavier than Iron Maiden, but pumped up and turbo charged for the modern age.

4/5

Paul Macmillan

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Equaleft – Adapt & Survive

Posted in Uncategorized with tags Equaleft, groove, Portuguese underground, progressive, Raging Planet, Raising Legends on 12th June 2014 by Paul Macmillan

Equaleft
Adapt & Survive
Released 31st May 2014
Metal/Groove/Progressive
Released via Raising Legends/Raging Planet

Equaleft - Adapt & Survive

I thoroughly love it when a band brings together seemingly unrelated influences into a consistent amalgam of riffery. Gojira are a prime example, drifting the tremolo arm of black metal across a valley of doomy chords, all the while casting the sensibilities of modern metal hook creation around them as they go. It invariably results in something more than the average; something juicy to get your teeth into which delivers a full palette of flavour into every hungry bite.

Not that they sound much like the French overlords of all things thunderous and addictive, Portugal’s Equaleft seem to have attended some of the same seminars on genre-busting. Adapt & Survive’s intro piece, We Are, is more reminiscent of the soundtrack to a tense political sci-fi thriller movie than the kick-off of your everyday metal album – and with good reason. This is a band who genuinely likes to challenge, but not at the expense of great metal, and this is not your average metal album.

Slamming into the first track proper (…The Chameleons), the yaw of the music is meaty, but there’s a hint of old school tech hovering in the background: a whiff from the oceans of sewage continual drifting from under the running boards. The Meshuggah influence seems to be worn with pride throughout, but there is more of a natural flow to these songs. As much as I love the Shug, being one of the freaky few who can disco dance to most of their back-catalogue, it’s nice to hear this style taken in a new direction, embracing movements of pure rocking out. To put it another way, it’s great to be in possession of such a mighty array of weaponry, but sometimes you only need your knuckles to get the job done.

Without losing its unique character, Adapt & Survive, travels from the dredging doom of New False Horizons’ intro, through the Swede-esque sway and churn of Heroes Of Nothing and over the chuntering death-thrash in Invigorate (re-recorded from a previous demo version), struggling to contain a seeping energy rare in similar circles.

By looking the Devil in the eye and shunting him a middle-finger of non-compliance, Equaleft have come up with something a little special. The lift of emotional song-writing. The satisfaction of technical proficiency. A unique personality. It is 100% an album to take home and own, and digest slowly.

This will be going on the old MP4 player, the computer, and CDs being left both in the bedroom and any automobile that I can get it in, because I can see myself being in the mood for this on many, many occasions. There will no longer be a gap in the music when I’ve overplayed my Meshuggah, Agonyst and Man Must Die collections. Or is that my old In Flames, Pissing Razors and Arch Enemy CDs. I’m not sure. It’s somewhere in the wasteland between and it’s really good stuff!

4.5/5

Paul Macmillan

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“Adapt & Survive” release party @ Metalpoint, Porto (PT)

Posted in Gig, Live with tags adapt & survive, colosso, Equaleft, forbidden to fly, groove, Metalpoint, new album, Raising Legends, release party, tales for the unspoken on 1st June 2014 by Pieni

Equaleft, Colosso, Tales For The Unspoken, Forbidden To Fly
Metalpoint, Porto
31st May 2014

“Adapt & Survive” was the album we were celebrating last night, but it could have well been the motto of the event. The main reason I avoid gigs at Metalpoint is safety – unless you stay in the back (which I’m not fond of at all) or you lean against one of the side walls, you have nothing to hold on to when the mosh circles start rolling. The second reason is the sauna-like heat the venue generates with just a half-full house. Now Equaleft’s debut release party managed to sell out the place a few days prior to the event – a record in Metalpoint’s 6 years of existence, by the way. You think you can imagine how hot it must have been, but trust me – you just can’t.

Equaleft invited three bands to join the party. The first one was metalcore act Forbidden To Fly. They’re currently preparing their upcoming debut album, meaning not only writing songs but also gathering the financial means for it. And since they’re young students, that may take a while. There’s a 2-track demo and a single on bandcamp already though, and I saw a few people singing along.
They were pretty comfortable on stage, although singer Ricardo seemed a little nervous at first. But soon he loosened up and was moving around the little free space the stage offered. Around the third song or so the power went down. Still not sure what the hell happened, but luckily the blackout didn’t last long, people even joked screaming stuff like “take your hand off my wallet!”, and it didn’t happen again.
MP Marcelo from the band Monolyth joined in for the last song, but I honestly didn’t hear the title. In fact, I only took notice of “Reflections” and “The Tides”, and that was early in the gig. One way or another, those kids did very good. (4 / 5)

www.facebook.com/forbiddentofly

I really enjoyed Tales For The Unspoken at Moita Metal Fest a couple of months ago (read report here) but for some reason, and despite the heat and smaller venue, I liked this gig more. Nothing much has changed since that gig – bass player Nuno is still very expressive, singer Marco still curses like a mf (sorry, couldn’t help it)… Marco dedicated “Soul For A Soul” (which he announced “Soul For A Fucking Soul”) to Hugo Gama, drummer in Spectral Flood, who’s recently passed away, and for “I, Claudios”, a song to be featured in the next album, he called on stage “someone who’s not very famous” – which obviously turned out untrue, as it was Miguel Inglês, the singer in the band hosting the event.
The crowd singing the tribal chanting in the last song “N’Takuba Wena” was stronger and the moshing more intense, so maybe that’s what made the difference – the empathy between band and audience. Whatever it was, it was great. (5 / 5)

www.facebook.com/talesfortheunspoken

Colosso‘s sound was way too loud – so much that a shrill feedback was heard at some point. But no one seemed to mind – the intricate patterns still pleased the prog and experimental fans, while the brutality was all the mosh horde really cared about. Personally, I’m not a fan of experimental death metal and everything sounded too much of the same. Singer/guitarist Max didn’t speak much either – and one time when he did the mike wasn’t working – , nor did they have a setlist that I could take a look at, so I really don’t have much technical details to give you. I can say though that in the three years they’ve been around, a full-length CD (“Abrasive Peace”) and an EP (“Thallium”) were released and highly acclaimed, and a new EP, “Foregone Semblances”, is on its way (25th June). So given the proximity between the three release dates, I’m quite sure the setlist had a little bit of them all.
Despite my slight boredom, that was obviously on me, as the majority was thrilled with the performance. And even if sometimes doesn’t feel like it, this is still a democracy and so the majority wins – therefore, Colosso were awesome. (4,5/5)

www.facebook.com/colossometal

But not as awesome as Equaleft. True, it was their night, that certainly was hard to compete with, but I’ve been seeing these guys live for the past 5 years and the stage is definitely their element – release party or not, everybody knew what a blast that show would be.
They played “Adapt & Survive” in full, by the same order of its track list, and you know the expression “all hell broke loose”? Well, even in the temperature those were the accurate words to describe what was going on. Miguel is usually the one who joins the mosh pit and goes crowdsurfing while performing – this time was no exception – but even bass player Mike stepped off the stage to play among the first rows and guitarist Malone jumped into the hands of the fans (although he put aside the guitar first – he wasn’t that reckless in his crowdsurf adventure).
Since none of the three guest musicians that are featured in “Adapt & Survive” could be there that night, Equaleft decided to invite some other friends over for the older songs, which were played after the official presentation of the album. “Cynical Plague” was the first one, having Danny from Forbidden To Fly playing a third guitar. Then as Marco from Tales For The Unspoken was called, what I feared would happen to me, ended up happening to drummer Marcos – he got sick from the heat and had to leave for fresh air, before he passed out. Miguel, always the entertainer, tested the vocal skills of the crowd. Then he himself went behind the drums and did a very basic act, that the audience still cheered enthusiastically. So Sérgio, drummer also in Tales For The Unspoken, took his place and jammed a bit with Equaleft. Until Miguel had the idea of changing the order of the setlist and call the next guest Filipe from Gates Of Hell (who was their previous bass player) and his drummer Afonso, since the latter helped them out in the past and so he knew how to play the drums in their older songs. They played “Denial”, and as Marcos was still recovering, Afonso stayed for “Erased” as well. Even though he claims – as usual – that he sucked because it had been a long time and he was unprepared, he did a hell of a job – also as usual.
Marcos came back, not exactly good as new but close enough, and so Marco was called back to sing along “Alone In Emptiness”. At some point Miguel left him alone on stage, to mosh a little.
In order to spare Marcos, they wanted to cut the set one song short and so “Sleep When I’m Dead” – a song that “means a lot to me”, said Miguel – would be the last. But Marcos was determined to give it all and so “Uncover The Masks” was performed as originally planned, even if not in that order.
They later said there were no words to describe what they felt that night and I must say the same, as “brilliant” doesn’t quite cover it. One thing is accurate though – it was unforgettable. (5/5)

www.facebook.com/equaleft

Text & photos by Renata “Pieni” Lino

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Equaleft: details on upcoming debut album revealed

Posted in News with tags adapt & survive, Equaleft, groove, Pedro Teixeira, Raging Planet, Raising Legends on 11th April 2014 by Pieni

Portuguese groove metal act Equaleft has chosen a mirror cube for the cover of their upcoming debut album “Adapt & Survive” (see trailer here):

It has now been announced that the mixing and mastering process will be made by Pedro Teixeira (Bury Tomorrow, Heart In Hand) and the release party, set for 31st May at Metalpoint, in their hometown Porto, will have Colosso, Tales For The Unspoken and Forbidden To Fly as special guests.

The track-list for “Adapt & Survive” is as follows:

1. We are…
2. …the Chameleons
3. Maniac
4. Tremble (feat. Nuno Pereira from Tek Analogy)
5. New False Horizons (feat. Filipe Correia from Concealment)
6. Human
7. Heroes of Nothing
8. Hymns of Obedience
9. Invigorate
10. When Ruin Becomes a Bliss
11. Step (feat. Paulo from EAK)

Equaleft’s MySpace
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Equaleft reveal title for upcoming debut album

Posted in News with tags Equaleft, Groove metal, Raging Planet, Raising Legends on 25th December 2013 by Pieni

In a 33-second teaser, Equaleft have revealed on this Christmas day the title of their upcoming debutl album (a “kind of” studio report can be seen here). “Adapt & Survive” will be released through Raising Legends and Raging Planet in the Spring of 2014.