SWR Barroselas Metalfest - Barroselas, Portugal - 23-26.04.2025 - Day 3

Day 3- The night of the Screaming Warriors!!! And bands, don’t forget the bands!!!

Final day of Barroselas, and this year, with a bit more responsibility on our shoulders, as the guys from the fest asked us to close the night with a DJ set, something we never had done before. But we will get there!! The day started with the usual SWR/Metal Horde quiz hosted by Ines and with a great adherence by the crowd, we had 10 teams (the most we have ever had) inclusive one team with the guys from Hellripper in it (I helped on the translation of the few questions in Portuguese and gave they some hints on the Portuguese bands eheh)!! Lots of fun and always a highlight from the festival's last day!! We were running a tight ship because the first band to hit the stages was our friends in Jade, and we didn't want to miss that!! We only missed the first track and then were there to witness their powerful Death/Doom Metal. They had in the backpack their newest album "Mysteries of a Flowery Dream" (so new that it wasn't yet out by the label, although J. had some copies and we bought one, alongside a copy of their split release with Sanctuarium)!! After them came Utopium, a band which returned to the stages after a very big hiatus!! I think we hadn't seen them since 2013, when they won the WOA Metal Battle here in Barroselas!! They returned with almost their original line-up and for half an hour destroyed Barroselas!! First band to open the inside stage was the veterans Sacred Sin, back to Barroselas after a long absence. They are still one of the most ferocious Portuguese bands and the fact they have a career with more than 3 decades says it all!! They brought newer tracks but also classic ones like “Darkside” or “Eye M God” and delivered a powerful Death/Thrash session to us all!! Then back to the outside and we were hit by this massive wall of sound which was coming out with the compliments of Spain's heaviest trio Totengott!!! Their influences of Celtic Frost are still very raw, especially when things get slower, but I don’t see that as a bad thing!! Black Curse continued the ravage on the inside, with a set which had as much of chaos as of destruction. What a freaking racket these guys deliver. For me, it’s a bit of too chaotic but maybe the three days of festival was showing up!! D-Beat, Grind and Punk met all together for the next band on stage: Industrial Puke from Sweden. They were showcasing their second album: “Alive To No Avail”, and did an excellent job on that, bringing some heavy riffing and fast d-Beat to the festival. Things went on a weirder path when Norwegians Ved Buens Ende arrived in Barroselas!! Their only album "Written in Waters" is a cult album for all those into no-borders, groundbreaking music, but I have to say, it hurts my brain when I listen to too much of it!! Nevertheless, I spoke with some friends which are fans, and they freaking loved it!! A more primitive, but also more to my taste, sound invaded the outside stage!! Veterans Avulsed (they were the headliners of the first ever Steel Warriors Rebellion festival) came out swinging in full force with founding member, and the only remaining one, Dave Rotten, showing why he is one of the most powerful growlers out there!! They drove through their career not forgetting a couple of songs from “Phoenix Cryptobiosis”, their newest album and the first with this new line-up!! All hail the goat!! That's the saying when Hellripper goes on stage and man, did they bring even more energy into the fest!!! Mosh pits, stage diving and lots of headbanging, were the main ingredient, all very spiced by the great music coming out of the stage!! It’s a pleasure to see these guys on stage, and the way they connect with the audience!! They went back in time with songs like “Hells Rock’n’Roll” or “Nekroslut” but also played stuff from later albums, so a good mix!! More destruction, chaos and savagery arrived when the Finns Concrete Winds took over the outside stage!! Would love to know how much is planned and how much is improvisation, and even if they know in what song they are, among all that cacophony. Next was time for a legend of the Death Metal scene: Unleashed!! And the Swedes did not disappoint all that gathered in hall of the gods (ok, maybe not a hall but still a big place, and it was packed!)!! They arrived on the long-ships, pillaged the village, sworn allegiance to the gods and brought victory to Death Metal. And finished with “Before the Creation of Time”, nothing more needs to be said!! Test finally had the chance to play in a normal stage on this last day, as they had the pleasure of closing the fest. I only saw a little bit as we had to prepare everything for our DJ set which would happen just after they were finished. We didn't think we would make it after four days of partying, 40 bands, more than 40 hours of music but all that vanished when we started putting out the first tunes!! We were the screaming warriors and we brought to Barroselas a night of Heavy Metal!! Starter was "Emergency" on the Motorhead version, although we had some Girlschooll later on!!  Then it was hit after hit from Judas Priest to High Spirits, Motorhead to Witch Hazel, Manowar to Enforcer, Manilla Road to Danzig. We also dabbled a bit in Thrash, Death, Punk, and traditional Rock, in a night that lasted until 7.30am. Five and half hours of fun and tunes!!! We ended with "White Rabbit" on the original Jefferson Airplane version, which was bold, but it felt as the right thing to play at that time!!!  And with that, another SWR Barroselas came to end!! A blast as always and we will see you all again next year!!!! Stay safe!!!

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!!!