After one first successful night in Porto, the Lisbon concert arrived for the second act of the Swedish in Lusitanian lands this year. It was the second time they played in the Lisbon area, and the affluence to the gig was higher this time. In fact, we may consider Cult of Luna as the first European sludge, post-doom band to reach the top charts, with albums like “The Beyond” or “Salvation”. By now, three albums and nine years later, they show a consistent line-up and sound evolution that makes them one of the references of the sludge and post-doom/rock movement.
In Paradise Garage they had the honor of having Process of Guilt opening their show, with another strong performance. Preparing the end of the Faemin Tour for this summer, they presented once again the “Faemin” full set, following its original order. The room was already quite full, and the Portuguese doomsters presented again an intense show, ending with that super Faemin song, that naturally puts the stakes real high for the next artists. They’ve been touring for almost a year, presenting the same setlist, but the Faemin album is a natural monument and tracks like Blindfold, Harvest or Faemin definitely worth every second in front of their stage.
As for that night headliners, we weren’t expecting a concert as intense as it turned out to be. Presenting the new “Vertikal” album, the first two songs The One and I: The Weapon grabbed everyone instantaneously, before Ghost Trail and Finland remembered us how profound were also their last two albums. The light effects were amazing and the stage performance seemed quite consistent, with two drums and six men on stage, presenting a live sound stronger than the studio album appeared to transmit. And after Mute Departure, the Vicarious Redemption hymn proved us that “Vertikal” can reach another state of intensity once played live.
Despite the absurd price of beer at the venue, the ambience was already formed, and the final songs Owlwood, Passing Through, Disharmonia and In Awe Of concluded perfectly the performance, with no interludes and just one only final speech for the audience from frontman Johannes Persson, thanking the reception.
It was a pity that they didn’t play something of their heavier initial phase, from the first albums, but in fact no one seemed to care, given the intensity of this performance.
Photos by Cláudia Andrade.
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