Report: Artillery + Alpha Warhead + ThrashWall @ RCA Club

On a rainy Thursday night, Lisbon hosted a night of pure Thrash Metal with bands that rocked the audience from start to finish. To celebrate 40 years of career, the band Artillery presented in Lisbon, at RCA Club, the ‘Turn Up The Race Iberian Tour 2022’. As openers, Portuguese bands Alpha Warhead and ThrashWall warmed up the audience for the main show. After all the chaos of the pandemic, the city of Lisbon begins to return with international shows, and this time we were able to follow a wonderful night of thrash metal.

The event kicked off at 8:30 pm sharp, with Alpha Warhead on stage performing their debut show. The quartet from Seixal (Lisbon) has two demos out, “Code Red”, the most recent “Fuel To The Fire” and is currently preparing to release their debut album early this summer via the Miasma Of Barbarity Records label. For a first performance, the band was very tight and sure to rock RCA, performing an hour-long show and leaving the audience craving for more. With a very lively show, impeccable vocals, and sound based on old-school thrash metal, the boys proved that they are ready to make a name for themselves in the world thrash metal scene.

Continuing the evening, it’s time for ThrashWall to take the stage for another fervent performance – it was clear the recognition that the band has. Formed in 2015 and with the first steps taken on stage in 2016, the band is from Évora and has a self-titled album released, via Firecum Records.

ThrashWall designates itself as raw old-school thrash metal and it was already expected that the band would rock even more the night at RCA Club. It was satisfying to see the great moshpits that opened up between one song and another, the audience very adept at stage diving and intensely enjoying the ThrashWall sound, which presents speed, spectacular technique, and solos worthy of a great band of the genre. It was a worthy opening show for a band considered a reference in the Portuguese thrash metal scene, where even the singer joined the stage diving – it’s great when the band has fun together with the audience. ThrashWall proved that they did their homework very well and that the new generation of metal is well served.

The time had come for the long-awaited Artillery. The legendary thrash metal band formed in a Copenhagen suburb in the 80s has a considerable discography, with numerous live performances. With several sales and critical successes, such as the classics ‘Fear of Tomorrow’ (1985), ‘By Inheritance’ (1990), and the latest release ‘X’ (2021), Artillery returned to Lisbon, Portugal to celebrate with their fans all the years of their career.

The audience cheered when the band, which is made up of three original members Michael Stützer (guitar), Kraen Meier (guitar) and Peter Thorslund (bass) accompanied by Josua Madsen (drums) and Michael Bastholm Dahl (lead singer) took the stage. Artillery continues to maintain enviable longevity and has managed to keep a pure and unmistakable sound, always with lyrics that translate social injustice, the absurdity of life, or forbidden thoughts.

The enthusiasm and excitement of the audience were contagious, showing that in these 40 years of career, Artillery has won fans from the oldest to the youngest. With a discography that gives a real lesson in thrash metal, the band presented its great classics and played songs from the recently released album ‘X’, which due to the pandemic did not have a tour to promote. Artillery showed themselves charismatic, passionate, and happy to be on the road taking their music to the many fans around the world, who never tire of asking for an encore and singing all the songs.

It was another memorable night for the resumption of shows in the city of Lisbon, we thank the producer Metals Alliance for the opportunity and the bands for the great night they provided.

Text & photos courtesy of Jéssica Marinho/Headbangers News

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