Valkyrian Music

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