Report: X EXTREME Metal Attack @ Side B

The Underground is not dead! That could be the main idea retained from last weekend double dose of Extreme Metal Attack, at Side B, Benavente.

On their 10^th anniversary the Portuguese festival putted out a considerable quality bill for this year edition, joining some established well known underground bands to other new out coming acts.  In a time where Europe, and Portugal in particular, are struggling with strong financial limitations, organizing a event like this should make every organization proud. And the audience corresponded with a considerable adherence and total support.

DAY 1

Friday night started with young nationals WANDERER playing speed/heavy metal that warmed-up the room for the next shows. It was one of the first live appearances from this collective that performs a rather rare type of metal in our locations. They are soon to release their first demo-tape entitled “Will of Steel”, and we will be waiting to confirm their evolution.

Next, ALCHEMIST returned to live stages playing an impressive set, choosing their best tracks, namely the hymn “The Unbearable Void”, to summon everyone to their dark and rotten black metal. There were no doubts about these guys good taste, but ending with a perfect Celtic Frost cover of “Procreation of the Wicked” was their major touch for the first top concert of this festival.

Setlist: Jnana; Decadence of Light; Torn; The Unbearable Void; Liberation; Procreation of the Wicked (Celtic Frost cover)

Dutch black metal act DOOD was the next band to go on stage. After the intense prior performance by Alchemist, the stake turned out to be a little more high than expected. And so this young collective didn’t left their mark in their first stop in Portugal, as their black metal didn’t seem to grab the audience, and the stage performance could be more attractive as well. Even the cover that they choose to play (Satyricon’s “Black Crow on a Tombstone”) was several steps behind the original track.

SATANIZE was the last confirmed band for this year Extreme Metal Attack, but the level of their performance reached the top of the event. Playing their usual war black metal sound, the aggressive and total underground Portuguese act didn’t leave anyone indifferent to their concert. 40 minutes of unchained blasphemy and satanic chaos.

 

GOAT TORMENT Belgian horde closed the night with an intense performance in their first Lusitanian experience. Obscure black / death metal played fast in a concert that had J (Alchemist, Corpus Christii) on one guitar and a song appearance of N.H. (Corpus Christii). The night was high, the livers full and the caprine Belgian tormentors seemed to fit perfectly in that environment.

Just one thing that could have been better: all the bands suffered with a sometimes poor sound, maybe because the sound technician was not the resident one.

Set list:

1.  My Hands Reach
2.  OutTitan Fire
3.  Warmongers of Satan
4.  Onwards To Judecca
5.  Dominande Tenebrae
6.  Angelwhore Dominator
7.  Abusing The Weak
8.  Impure Blessings (Demoncy cover)
9.  King of Locusts
10.  Acta Non Verba

DAY 2

Saturday. Concerts started around 18:00 h, instead of the announced 16:00 h, following the Portuguese good old tradition. But in fact, Friday night after party ended past 5:00 AM so no one could expect the organizers and venue older to be there on time. At least we weren’t.

The first concert had crust/D-beat DISTHRONE on stage, presenting a different sound line at this event. After one first succeful appearance at Side B in October 2012, this time the performance seemed to deal  with some technical problems here an then. Nevertheless the punk attitude was there and Darkthrone’s cover “I Am the Grave of the 80’s” is always welcome.

HEXECUTOR came from France playing traditional thrash metal, in the veins of old Kreator, that seemed to please the audience;

MUERT is a Spanish new black metal project, featuring Ebola (ex. Cryfemal) on vocals. They don’t intend to be pretentious and so their black metal is direct to your bone, with a somewhat archaic but guerrilla sound orientation, involved in dark atmospheres. It turned out to be the drums work that impressed the most.

Set list: Asphyxia on the Gravestone; Blasphemy in Lastenia; Holocaust in Christian Tombs; Hordes in Battle; In the Graveyard my Perdition; Burial in the Forest; A Night with no Mercy.

INQUISITOR was the last band to perform before the dinner pause. They presented their usual speed/thrash metal in a moment where our angry was transformed into gigantic hunger, and the need to eat won the duel.

 

And for dessert nothing better than WELTBRAND’s genocide black metal. Strong presence, with explicit outfits and explicit strong lyrics for this Dutch first Portuguese appearance. Even though they seem to be more aggressive on studio album, they showed a quite sober spectacle with leading songs as “Biological Cleansing” or Carnivore’s cover “Angry Neurotic Catholics”. Let’s see how they will continue, now that RSD Xul (vocals) is taking command of French Hell Militia vocals. Nice show.

Set list: Ignite (Burn the Earth); Steel Storms; Control; Day of Wrath; Casus Belli; Commando G Machina; Biological Cleansing; Angry Neurotic Catholics (Carnivore cover).

Well, as the bands were finishing, the time between each one was increasing, into a point that most of the intervals lasted at least 40 minutes, making everyone a little more tired than expected. And so we watched Spanish black metal act PRIMIGENIUM firstly form a distant, seated point. It was in fact our first contact with this band, one of the first black metal bands to appear in our neighbor country. But their accurate technique and blasting sound execution made us approach the front of the stage, and we must say that they showed quite an impressive sound that certainly will make them more awaited at their next Portuguese show, at the mythic SWR Barroselas.

Mighty SETHERIAL were this year’s headliners and they played like that. Top performance, with a good set list choice, where “Shades Over Universe”, “Enemy of Creation” and “Into Everlasting Fire”, led a concert that offered us still a “Nord” (1996) track. They made one encore and eventually ended their show knowing that they had accomplished the main purpose: best show of the festival, improving what they already had done in their SWR appearance a couple of years ago.

This was the best event of the year till now, and we sincerely wish to be there again on the 20^th anniversary.

Photos by João Ouro and Nélia Olival.

Primigenium : Satanic Thruth