SWR Barroselas Metalfest – Barroselas, Portugal – 23-26.04.2025 - Day 2

 Day 2 – In battle there is no law!!

So, the sun rose in the east, another Spring day was upon us, and we got out of our tents, and headed to our usual hunting ground!! There we met some fellow hunters and gathered in a feast of meat and fish, always with some beer and red wine to wash it down (there’s also some Coca-Cola (if I put the English term, people will have funny ideas) and water in there, we are not plain old alcoholics!!). After staying for around 3-hours (yes, we Portuguese people like to have our time when eating and drinking), we strolled back to the festival grounds for another evening of fun and ear-splitting music!!

Things started with Idle Hand, a young band from Porto, which we only saw a couple of songs because we stayed outside talking with some mates we hadn’t seen in a while. War stories were told about spending a lot of money to go see Ved Buens Ende far away from Portugal, and now, having them here!! As for the band, the songs we heard, looked ok but I need a next time to really hear them. Next came Dokuga, a veteran band from the Portuguese Punk scene, and even if I’m not a huge fan of Punk music, I like some of it, and they were really good!! Just the enough, “in your face” attitude, songs spitted in Portuguese and good old riffs. They felt just at home, and the crowd loved them!!! Then time to open the hostilities in the main stage, with a young French horde by the name of Profanation!! So young, they only have one EP out, but they showed no fear and delivered a set of a very furious and heavy Death Metal. They showcased the EP plus a couple of tracks which probably will be featured in a new record. A band to keep an eye on!! Back to the outside for some Doom/Stoner with Black Pyramid, which suited very well this end of afternoon in Barroselas!! Long-reptilian songs where the riff is master but also very well supported by the very thick bass lines and the pounding drums!! Time to roll one, if you are into that eheh!!! Things then went a bit faster, with the band that played more often in Barroselas, Portuguese Black Metal veterans Corpus Christii. They promised a very old-school set, and they delivered. From “Saeculum Domini” from 2000 to “Rising”, seven years and another three albums exist, and they played songs from all these five albums. The band is quite in a good shape, especially their frontman, and founding member, N.H., spewing furiously songs like “Throne of the Proud” and “The Fire God”. The sound didn’t help some times but it was a hell of a throw back in time, to a time where Black Metal was fearless and unapologetically. Then time to chow, so we had to skip a band, and we chose Nashgul as we have seen them a few times!! I saw the video from their performance later on, and as always it was bang on!!! Grind in your face!!! We were back in action to see the forefathers of Black/ Thrash Metal aka Aura Noir!! And were they fucking good or what?? “Black Thrash Attack” opened and just threw the hammer down, after that it was riff after riff and blasts like “Conqueror” or “Hell’s Fire”, ending in fire with “Condor”!! The riff godz were satisfied, and also the crowd in Barroselas, with plenty of mosh and stage dive!! Outside it was time for some technical brutality, more known as the Italians Vulvectomy!! Their Death Metal is freaking technical but also very brutal and slammy!! Not my favourite kind of music but they were tight and heavy as fuck!! People into it, seemed to have enjoyed it!! Back inside, and now it was time for some weirdness courtesy of Dødheimsgard!! Honestly, this is not my cup of tea, but they were enjoyable from time to time, although sometimes there was stuff happening, which was way over my head eheh!! Watching the show, you felt you were watching a theatrical performance, more than just a regular Metal show. I saw pretty much the entire show, and I think they did not finish their expected set!! There was only one cancellation in this year’s festival, and that was Escuela Grind, as they had some issues with their booking agency. They were replaced by the awesome Sijjin, which came to the rescue!! In the day they were releasing their second album “Helljjin Combat, the trio delivered one of the best shows in the festival!! An offering of barbaric, occult and fast Death/Thrash Metal, which violently possessed all those in the crowd!! They balanced the show between their two albums but it was the novelties like “Fear Not the Tormentor” or “Five Blades”, that for me had an extra flavour!! Decaying riffs, powerful drumming and hellish vocals made of this gig, one to remember!! I felt drained after Sijjin, so needed a bit of rest, and some more fuel (not just beer but also some food) and when we went inside Gut was grinding their way through Barroselas!! The mythical German band seemed to be in great form and delivered a fun set with tracks as “Anal Sushi”, “Anus Anubi” or “Sperminator”. So, you should know what to expect from them, if you are a fan of the more porno grind, you probably loved it, if you aren’t, you probably did not see it!! Final band of the day was the Belgians Bütcher and my Lord, what a freaking energetic bunch are these guys!! Especially the singer!! Yeah, they mix Judas Priest, Manowar, Iron Maiden and so on, but they do it with energy, catchy songs, good riffs and powerful drumming, so powerful that he broke his snare drum!! There were songs, lots of stage dive, mosh, Jack Daniels, man, they had everything and left everything in stage!!! Impossible not to enjoy these guys!!! The night wouldn’t end without two things: DJ set from Chaotic Steel, doing a set based on the 25 editions of SWR, so bands that played there, and although it seemed nice, I was a bit tired and left around 4.30am, and of course, Test, playing in some place in the festival ahah!! Like in 2017, they played every day of the festival!!!! Priceless!!! See you tomorrow!!!

SWR Barroselas Metalfest – Barroselas, Portugal – 23-26.04.2025 - Day 1

 Day 1 – And the battle lays before you!!!

After a well-deserved rest, we were up and ready to go to lunch to usual haunt, a Casa dos Rojões, with our usual crowd. We were also waiting for our friend Mauricio from London, which was debuting at SWR, and he was camping near us!! After a very decent meal, we went back to the festival grounds, to mingle some more, drink some more and await the festivities to start!!

As this is the actual first day of the festival, bands started at five pm and the first band to do the honours was travelling from very far away. Godless arrived from India and unleashed a whirlwind of Death Metal, that took many for surprise, yours narrator included!! I’d heard some of their stuff but wasn’t expecting the fearsome set these guys delivered. Old school style but with plenty of groove and chunkiness, and a hell of a growler. After them, and also debuting in the festival, was something very different, not just from the previous band, but pretty much from the rest of the fest. Our friends in Dolmen Gate, dwell in the world of traditional epic Heavy Metal, which is quite different from the extremer bands showing up in the fest. But they draw their swords and brought their epicness which conquered the ones that were already at the fest. Big riffs, plenty of lyrics, a very good female voice, and the stamp of quality these guys have been showing with their works. Hope, they conquered a few more souls!!! Then time to open the big tent and stage, and again the task was to a band which we consider friends!! Phenocryst, fronted by DS from Caverna Abismal Recs, unleashed a hell of a set, with a very cavernous (no pun intended) Dead Metal, in the vein of Dead Congregation and so on!! They brought to Barroselas “Cremation Pyre”, their debut album from last year, and they delivered the goods, with a wall of sound to make the village tremble!!! They have a bright future, that’s what I want to say!! We were still shaken from that storm, when we got to the outside stage and Razorvoid from Sweden was already agitating the place!! They have a very addictive Crust Punk which made the bodies move and fly!! Good d-beat, fast riffs, a blast of a vocalist and hearable bass lines!! First time seeing them and became a fan!! Had the chance to talk with quite a bit in the next few days and they are awesome people!! Next was one of my favourite bands: Ahab!! And the German quartet did not disappoint all that were present. Their sound has evolved from the early days of Funeral Doom to a Death/Doom, which has as much heaviness as melody. They played 4 songs in the 45 minutes they were in Barroselas and went through pretty much all their albums with exception of “The Giant” but my favourite piece was “The Maelstrom” from their latest record “The Coral Tombs”. What majestic riffs, the melody of the clean vocals, the thickness of the rhythm section, in one word: perfect!!! Next would be Malphas but we needed a space time to have dinner, so we chose them as we had seen them a few months back in London. So, when we got back to the venue it was time for the Kings of the Sidewalk: Gehennah!! And it was what I expected!! Debauchery and rock’n’roll from start to finish!! From “Hardrocker” to “Metal Police”, they delivered a set of Black/Thrash Metal that made the audience frenzy and mosh!! And has they say, “Piss Off, I’m Drinking”!!! Next from Greece arrived one of the bands I had quite high expectations to see, Kawir. And they delivered a very heartful, atmospheric and pace varied Black Metal. It’s one of those bands, that when you listen to the music, you say “they are from Greece”, especially in the mix between brutality and atmosphere. The only thing I missed was the live keyboards as it did seem to me they were sampled. Next was the living legend known as Repulsion, or how you create a band, disband, release a groundbreaking album and then just play it live once in a while. “Horrified” is as simple and primitive as original and ground breaking and it was excellent to see the duo Matt Olivo and Scott Carlson on stage going full speed ahead. They played a couple of covers from Slaughter and Venom, almost the entire Horrified album in order (I think they didn’t play “The Lurking Fear”, but can be wrong) and told stories about the old days, like for example, when they were both in Death in 1985 and wrote some of the stuff would be used in the album. Fucking legend!!! Next back to the outside stage and some more Black Metal, courtesy of the French horde Merrimack!! They leaned heavily on the new album “Of Grace and Gravity” but did not forget some old jewels like “Horns Defeat Thorns” from their debut album from 2002!! They brought to the table a fairly standard Black Metal with no gimmicks or bullshit!! Back to the main stage for a performance from the Steelharmonics, which is an orchestra playing some heavy tracks like “Fear of the Dark”, “War Pigs” or “Agent Orange”!! It was quite fun and nice to see the interaction between audience and the orchestra. There was singing, mosh pits and lots of cheering. They ended playing more than one hour which was a reward for their dedication and hard work. Last band of the day (at least playing on a stage) was the Italian Golpe!! Because of the encore on the Steelharmonics show, this one started a little later than expected. Then between that and the anti-fascist speech the frontman gave on stage, they ended only playing around twenty minutes of a very fast and chaotic Punk/Hardcore, just what the doctor had ordered for the end of the night!! A shame it was so short as their music is quite energetic!!! Then we moved to the SWR Café for the Rebellious Delirium after party and it was quite interesting 2/3 of the time with plenty of old school tunes and some good Hard Rock, unfortunately in the end there was some Hip Hop and shit, and you know what I think about that in Metal festivals!!! While the DJ set was happening the Brazilian Test played in the roof of the ticket booth but we didn’t see it as we were in the café!! Around 5am we departed to our mansion in the woods for a bit of rest!!!

SWR Barroselas Metalfest – Barroselas, Portugal – 23-26.04.2025 - Day 0

 

Day 0 – Bring forth your weapons and swear allegiance to the kingdom!!

25 editions of SWR, what a freaking landmark!! And always with the spirit of “we are not the best or the worst, we are just different”!! Some other places call themselves the capital of Metal in Portugal, if you need to advertise that, then you are not but I’m not here for that!!!

So, day 0 and me, Inês, Diogo and Bea, gathered in Lisbon to do the always fun, but tiring journey to the North of Portugal for our beloved festival!! Fast forward to a few hours later, and there we were within sight of a place we so much love, the woods of Barroselas, which would be our home for the next four days!! This year, Inês, tired of sleeping in very close quarters with me, bought us a mansion, a freaking big tent which has enough space for us and for all our shit!! What a delight!!! After raising our quarters, we headed to the supermarket to get some money and some fuel aka as beer and this year some nice bottles of Sangria!!! Bad thing was, we didn’t have any ice!!

Then the usual meet and greet, hugs, kisses, with fellow friends, which since we moved to London, is sometimes the only time of the year that we see them, so there’s never enough time to talk!! For me, this is the biggest difference when compared with other festivals, is almost like returning home and to a place we feel comfortable and warm (only 5 minutes of rain this year, very sad!!).

Then the Wacken Metal Battle started and the first band to go on stage was Music In Low Frequencies!! They have a very strong visual set with a kind of gorish performance, where a girl is hoisted above the band by using hooks which are attached to her body, not for the faint hearted. The only thing not so positive for me, is that it takes a bit of attention from the music, and the band, as people are in shock or awe, watching that performance. And, I must say, music wise, they delivered quite a strong set, with emphasis on the excellent vocals of Mariana Faísca, and the atmosphere the band creates. It reminded me a bit of Wolvennest here and there, and that for me, is not a bad thing.  After the warm sangria and beers, it was nice to go to the bar and have some fresh Super Bock’s, it’s Portugal so don’t expect a lot of variety on the beer ahah!! And then it was time for the mighty Namek!! A veteran band, well known in the scene, they came to SWR, they saw, and they conquered (major spoiler: they won the battle and will be Portugal’s next contestant to perform on the Wacken Open Air. Always powered by the maniac vocals, and bassist skills of Simão, and the powerful drumming of Rolando, Namek showed that Grind/Death Metal is well represented in Portugal and will try to convince the Wacken jury, that maybe it is time for the old school sets to win, instead of Metalcore and shits like that. Last band to perform is also a veteran band in the Portuguese scene: Humanart, which has been spreading the wrath of Satan since 1998. They delivered a strong set of straight-forward Black Metal with no bullshit and no compromise. The riffs of founding member JJ pierced the calm night of Barroselas, like a thunderstorm of hail, always supported by the demonic vocals of Sathronus and the constant beating of the drums, courtesy of Noctvs!! Three excellent performances, that gave the jury (yours included) fruit for thought!! Unfortunately, due to those jury duties, I missed pretty much ¾ of Pitch Black performance, which was a shame as I haven’t seen them in a while. They are one of the most veteran Thrash Metal bands in Portugal and for the little I saw/heard it showed them in great form, with some thick Thrash Metal tunes. They ended the set with Slayer’s “Mandatory Suicide”, which can never be a bad thing!!!

Then we headed to the SWR Café for the after hours brought to us by Drunks on Drugs, and in the beginning, it was ok with some interesting choices but midway turned into a dance/electro party, which I have to say, is not the way I like to close a night!! Luckily, there was beer, there was new and old friends, and the night lasted way over 5am!! Then, me and Inês, fuelled by alcohol got lost trying to find our new tent, which was an adventure that could be narrated by Sir David Attenborough ehehe!!! And finally, rest!!!

Paganfest – Elvenking / Heidevolk / Tyr / Ensiferum / Alestorm – O2 Academy Brixton – 19.01.2025

 

Sunday afternoon a bit different as we went out to go and see the London leg of the Paganfest!! I’m not usually too much into this sub-genre but there were a couple of bands I wanted to re-watch and after not having a great impression of Alestorm’s music, I wanted to see their show!!

So we got to Brixton (me, Ines and the rest of the warrior sisters), had a beer in the box park and then headed to the Academy, which I have to say, I missed going there as the place usually is quite good (more on that ahead)!! Queue was huge, so when we got inside, Elvenking was already playing!! They were, besides Alestorm the only band I hadn’t seen before, so I was curious to see what they were all about. With a new album coming out in April (they played at least one song from it: “Luna”) the Italian sextet showed plenty of energy in stage with the singer running quite a lot but never losing his breath. They brought a mix of Power and Folk Metal, with some crazy solos, heavy riffing and a damn good violinist!! They ended the show with “Elvenlegions”, which I’m assuming it’s their gathering song, and they were fun to watch and opened the day quite good!!

Next, would be one of the bands I really wanted to see: Heidevolk!! I had seen them in Sheffield on the HRH Vikings and they left me with a good impression!! And again, they were really good to watch!! This time I knew a couple of more songs from them, so identified some like “A Wolf in my Heart”, “Winter Woede”, plus the enormous, and fun, to try to sing, “Vulgaris Magistralis”!!! They released their seventh album in 2023, so there was no surprise that half of the songs in the set were from “Wederkeer”!! They are a very well oiled machine, with every riff hitting the spot, and a bunch of different vocals, as besides the two main vocalists (great harmonies coming from them), Rowan, the bassist, also shows up to growl in quite a few songs!! The fact they sing most songs in Dutch for me is even a plus as I think the harshness of that language fits very well their music!! Top-notch and for me it would be the show of the night!!!

We had time for a couple of more beers and now time for me to complain about the venue!! It was so cold inside the place, that at some point I thought we were watching an outdoor show in freezing cold London!! Don’t know what happened but man I think for the first time in an indoor concert, I didn’t take my jacket off!!

Used to the cold must be Tyr, the next band in stage, as they are from the Faroe Islands, and after seeing them opening for Sabaton in 2014 in Portugal, I was looking forward to see them again!! Some people said they looked a bit tired but I must say it was quite enjoyable to see them and sing songs like “By the Sword in my Hand” (opening things in a high note), “Hail to the Hammer” (many Manowar fans were doing the sign of the hammer eheh) and closing with “Hold the Heathen Hammer High (again some Manowar influence with a lot of songs about axes, hammers (their newest guitarist surname is Hammer so better than that, impossible!!) and swords eheh)!! They also played a couple of songs from their newest album “Battle Ballads”, which contrary to the title is quite fast/mid-tempo!! They have a lot of melody in their music (something very noticeable this evening, with exception of the last band) with some very gripping riffs, a very dynamic rhythm section and vocals very well balanced between grit and melody. Very good show!!!

Ensiferum was next, and the only time I’ve seen them was in 2010 in a Portuguese festival where they played in the same day as My Dying Bride (got love the internet to remind you of these things ahah)!! So 15 years later, they showed up, played a hell of a concert and left with the feeling of a job well done. Another band with a very recent album, so no surprise to listen to a couple of songs from it and they weren’t that bad!! Opener “Fatherland” can become a song which will stay in their set lists in the future!! They surprised me when the guy playing keyboards all of the sudden delivers some Rob Halford type of vocals which I wasn’t expecting that much!! I’m still as of today deciding if I liked them or not ahah!! It sounds weird in their music but well, they just trying something different, maybe it’s just a phase ahah!! Things got interesting when they delivered some of their old material like “Victory Song”, “Iron” or “Lai Lai Hei” (a song with a bit of Finnish Iskelma) which made some heat return to the Academy. Good show although for me a couple of notches below the previous bands!!

 Ok so let’s go to the last band!! I wasn’t a fan before their show and didn’t become one now, but honestly, this wasn’t the worst concert that I’ve ever seen!! But come on man, they had three huge, inflated ducks on stage, and then no songs about ducks?? Not even Drunk Duck, Zombie Duck or Pirate Duck? Was too much to ask for a song about ducks when they had those three yellow monsters on stage? Pretty lame if you ask me!! Am I not being serious?? Well don’t blame me, Alestorm started it!! There are songs about drinking, pirates, zombies, more drinking, geography (it seems there were songs about “Mexico” and “Uzbekistan” (a country that deserved a song long ago), some guys trying to steel a beer (at the price you pay for them at the O2, I promise you, there’ll be a big fight for it) and some sexual gratification with an anchor (don’t ask me why)!! The songs are funny, people were having fun and singing, so I’m not going to rain on their parade!! Kudos for Patty Gurdy, with the Hurdy Gurdy (I promise I’m not making it up), which was very fun to watch and she has a hell of a voice, let her sing more for drunks sake!!!

Night came to an end, it was interesting, it was also a Sunday, so it was time to take the tube and get back home because as Alestorm said, their fans have no jobs, but unfortunately I’m no fan, so I needed to work Monday morning!!!

Retribution Alive – Lethal Evil / Drones / Die Kur / Kill II This – The Underworld, London – 18.01.2025

 

January started slowly for us, a good way to recover from the holiday season and also a way to gather some energy for what comes ahead!! So, our first night out with concerts was on the 18^th when Alan delivered one more night of Retribution Alive!! This time it was in the Underworld and there were new and old names to see and revisit.

We lost a bit of time on shenanigans so when we got to the venue Lethal Evil was already thrashing their way around. Before heading to the floor, we stop by the bar because you need to keep hydrated and this time, I chose Deya as my choice of beverage for the night!!! The London trio have a sound that drinks from the Thrash godz like Kreator or Sepultura and opened with a lot of energy this evening. We only caught a couple of songs from them included their new single “We Fight” and must say we will keep an eye for future appearances in the city by these guys!!

Next was Drones from Margate, Kent, a young quartet that delivered an interesting alternative Metal sound with plenty of different influences very well mashed!! They brought a ton of positive energy to the Underworld, which I think infected everyone present!! Great vocals (excellent range and a great stage presence), some excellent riffs, and a thick sound on the rhythm section, makes of this new horde, one to watch out for the future!! A couple of songs got stuck in my head like “Glass Houses”, “I’m Dying to Survive” or the very catchy “Love Me/Hate Me”, so that’s always a good sign!!!

Back to the bar for one more Deya, and next on stage was Die Kur, a veteran band from the London scene, which we had the chance to see already a couple of times!! Their music is quite challenging with a lot happening in stage, from the theremin and keyboards played by the singer, to the violin pieces or the very technical bass lines, they have a very unique sound. I can’t say is my usual choice of music but being honest, it was quite a good performance with some strong songs, and you can see the band was enjoying themselves on stage, which then usually transmits to the audience.

Back up to the bar, toilet and then another beer (honestly sometimes I don’t know why I work as the intermediary for the beer as it always ends in the same place but well, still looking for the meaning of life)!!! And last band to go on stage was Kill II This, a quartet which delivers a Thrash Metal with plenty of modern influences (in the 00’s that is). My history with these guys goes around almost 30 years earlier, when I saw them opening for Megadeth in Cascais, Portugal, on the Cryptic Writings tour!!! At the time, they only had one demo and their debut album, and it was cool that on this night they played pretty much the entire demo with songs like “Crucified” or “The Flood” sounding very catchy after those three decades. They also have a new album (which is their first with the new singer) and of course they had to show some of those songs like “Deus” or “ComaKarma”, which must say, sounded very good. Very tight sound, great stage presence, good riffs (courtesy of the man which has been always there, Mark Mynett) and again one other band which seemed to be enjoying the evening very much. I think this concert also marked the return of Caroline Campbell on bass (she spent a couple of years in the band in the late 90’s) and it seemed she’s been there all her life!! Our friend Trigger was ecstatic with their show, so it had to be great!!! An excellent way to end this night!! As we had another concert the next day, we did an early exit, with a mandatory stop at Woody's for a nice meat and chips!!

So congratz to Alan for one more Retribution Alive, and to a million more to happen in the future!!!