A warm Holiday was the day for the Canadian Raid on Rio De Janeiro lands, and again Teatro Odisséia opened its doors to a great Metal event: the Canadian bands KATAKLYSM and VOIVOD were on the city, and as the opening act, the Thrashers of HATEFULMURDER (from the home city).
 

Exactly at 7:30 o'clock, with a good public inside the venue, HATEFULMURDER entered the stage, and showed what they're about, and mind this: they're really impressive.

Besides the stage was minor to them due another band's equipment, they really made a very good show, showing that their mix between Thrash Metal with Death aspects is mature. Felipe Lameira is a fine vocalist and a great frontman, knowing how to get the audience on fire and have good communication, as Renan Campos shows that his guitar playing is very inspired. Felipe Modesto is a fine bassist as he bangs his head and moves on the stage without fear, and Thomás Martin on drums is one of the greatest names from the new Brazilian drummers' generation.
 

The greater part of their set is from their own songs, as the thundering "Wartrail" and their most known track, "Scars to God", but one of their greatest moment was when they played a personalized version for the eternal classic "N.I.B.", of BLACK SABBATH.

Ol' Big Daddy here just can't wait for their first album to come out this year.
 

Setlist:
1. Intro
2. The War Trail
3. Caught by the Arms of Death
4. Gates of Despair
5. Black Chapter
6. Fear my Wrath
7. N.I.B.
8. Extreme Level
9. Scars to God

And then, only a little after the crew takes HATEFULMURDER equipment out from the stage, it was time for the legendary Canadian quartet VOIVOD to enter the stage and make some diehard Metal fans have heart attacks.
 

Making their first tour on Brazil, (this was the second show, counting the Sao Paulo's show on the day before this), they started their show with "Kluskap O'Kom" and "Target Earth", from their latest album, "Target Earth", but as well they played great classics from the bands, as the excellent "Tribal Convinctions" and "Nothingface".

For those who were waiting for a bunch of tired old men, they really got a surprise: the guys were very energetic, moving, setting the audience on flames and the energy on the venue as so high that slamdancing started on many tracks. Denis "Snake" Bélanger is a very fine vocalist, knowing how to move and communicate with the public always with sympathy, as he sings as we hear on the band's albums, as Daniel "Chewy" Mongrain is a great guitarist (for those who doubted that he could do Piggy's riffs, sorry to say, but he plays as good as his predecessor, and sometimes better. A friend of mine stated that "Piggy reincarnated in him", so you can have the clear idea of how Chewy is a fine 6-strings axeman). Jean-Yves "Blacky" Thériault is not only a great bassist, but moves on the stage along with Chewy, playing his bass guitar as distorted and high as Hell, and Michel "Away" Langevin is the forefather of the great drummers who you broken tempos and tons of adrenaline on their playing. If there's a so called Progressive Metal, is due to VOIVOD!
 

Tiring? Never, they wanted more and more, so played some classics from their earlier albums as "Ripping Headaches" (from 1986's "Rrröööaaarrr"), "Overreaction" and "Forgotten in Space" (from 1987's "Killing Technology"), making the public get on ecstasy. And after playing "Mechanical Mind", many thought that they ended their show, and called for the band, so they got back and unleashed their fury on their most outstanding track, "Voivod" (with all the public singing the chorus), and closed their show with their personalized version for PINK FLOYD's "Astronome Domine", from their album "Nothingface". And the public applauded them for many time,

My neck is aching since that excellent and perfect show…
 

Setlist:
1. Kluskap O'Kom
2. Tribal Convictions
3. Target Earth
4. Nothingface
5. Corps Étranger
6. Chaosmöngers
7. Overreaction
8. Psychic Vacuum
9. Ripping Headaches
10. Warchaic
11. Forgotten in Space
12. The Unknown Knows
13. Mechanical Mind
14. Voivod
15. Astronomy Domine

Closing the night, apocalypse made its presence clear on KATAKLYSM show.
 

This show was awaited for so long, unfortunately there were some technical problems just a little after they started to play: Maurizio's microphone started to mute sometimes during "Push the Venom", and became totally mute on "Like Angels Weeping (The Dark)", so the band left the stage after Maurizio spoke and asked for public patience and excuse. Even very tired, the public called the band back, and just minutes after the problem was solved, they got back, as make the venue's structures tremble.

A pity for some people who left the house (the old school fans, who only wanted to see VOIVOD's show. I'll never understand this kind of pattern, but be their way), and the public seemed very tired. Maruzio Iacomo is not only a great vocalist (his extreme guttural vocal is very particular), but has good communication with public and bangs his head a lot. Jean-François Dagenais is one of the greatest extreme Metal guitarists, he plays better than we hear on the album, and is a hurricane of hair on the stage, moving from side to side always smiling and greeting everyone, as well as Stéphane Barbe is a fine bassist and do as Jean-François on the stage, smiling and greeting all public. And by the Metal Gods, Olivier Beaudoin is not human, for playing in such velocity and without losing the tempos, as well as his left hand do the grind alone! A monster, a great drummer!
 

This quartet is not just a Metal band, but an extreme Metal war machine, as precise as killing. "Prevail" and "As I Slither" were sung by many fans, and they played on and on, shooting heavy bullets as "Fire", the classic "Iron Will", the supreme mass killing "Elevate" and they ended their set with "Blood in Heaven".

The band was very praised by the public as they really deserve.
 

Setlist
1. Prevail
2. Push the Venom
3. Like Angels Weeping (The Dark)
4. Like Animals
5. As I Slither
6. At the Edge of the World
7. Taking the World by Storm
8. Fire
9. Iron Will
10. Elevate
11. In Shadows And Dust
12. Crippled & Broken
13. The Road to Devastation
14. Blood in Heaven
 

But even with the problems, it was a excellent event, and we must thanks to Teatro "Metal" Odisséia, to Blog'n'Roll Produções for another fine Metal event and to Damar Productions for bringing both Canadian bands to Brazil.

And please, give me a little more of your attention: the Metal people in Rio De Janeiro complains a lot about little things and expresses with no education at all on internet, but let me leave the testimony of my Metal generation: there were many of my comrades on 80's Metal scene back then (and that are not here anymore, but with the Metal Gods in the afterlife) that, if we had some of the problems people are complaining (using the freedom of speech as a shield for their lack of understanding and education), we would face the troubles and said to the producers "thank you very much" with tears of joy and gratitude in our eyes.

*Photography by Pedro Arantes