Report: Primordial + Basalto + Aura @ Hard Club, Porto

On the Autumn Equinox eve, the mighty Primordial brought us an unforgettable night of great music. Almost twenty years have passed since they played in Portugal for the first time, and their connection with the country keeps on growing. This was one of the two shows in Portugal, both of them warm up events for this year’s edition of the festival Under The Doom. The festival will take place on the 7th and 8th of December at RCA Club, Lisbon.

The opening act of this evening was Aura, a fairly new band. Their sound consists of a sublime blend of black and doom metal. They are currently presenting their debut EP “Hamartia”, released earlier this year. The EP consists on three tracks and was performed in its entirety during their thirty minute performance. With a room at its half-capacity, this was an intense and great start for the night.

Next up was the doom/stoner group Basalto, which were extremely thrilled to be there! Their instrumental tracks with heavy stoner riffs were able to drawn the crowd’s attention, who kept filling up the venue. They presented us some of the tracks from their most recent album, “Doença”, which was released in February. During some moments of their performance, it felt that their music was a bit repetitive despite their lively performance. However, it was in overall a good warm up for what was about to come up next.

The most awaited moment of the night had arrived! Primordial is one of those bands that is pure emotion. Their music is transcending making their live performances an incredible voyage. This was no exception, with around two hours of incredible music, that felt like passing by too fast, we reached the end still eager for more. Everything went as it should, smoothly, technically perfect and providing a soul grabbing musical experience. The main focus falls on the charismatic vocalist and frontman Nemtheanga, but it should be mentioned that all band members are remarkable professional musicians whose performance was noteworthy.

Primordial are currently promoting “Exile Amongst The Ruins”, their most recent work and 9^th album of their 25 years as a band. Nonetheless, the setlist went beyond presenting their latest album and covered most of the more well-known and classic tracks. Moments like “Hell or the Hangman” – with theatricals decorating a song that is by itself attention grabbing, the unison choir of the crowd on “Rome Burns” – goosebumps trigger, or their closing song “Empire Falls” were the highlights of an unforgettable show for a sold out room. Until next time!

Special thanks to Notredame Productions

Text and photos by Rita Limede
Managing editor: Elsa Marques

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