Here I go again onto another trip, destination is the concrete jungle called Sao Paulo City but this time I decided to take the bus with a very good friend of mine called
Tiger Hell Death and blasting into our hears is the music of
OBITUARY which is by the way the band that we are going to see tonight. During the two hours trip we kept ourselves busy ingesting a few bottles of beers, well it is all about Metal!
OBITUARY is one of those bands that you have to see them live if you are into Metal, for me it was the first time I was going to see them, I remember back in 1994 when I was living in London and after awhile I was going overseas and they had a gig there just a day after my departure and I was so angry because I was going to miss them, that was on the "World Demise Tour", so after twenty years another chance had come up and I was not going to miss it and to make things even better they would perform songs from my favourite albums, "Slowly We Rot", "Cause Of Death" and "The End Complete".
Before hitting the main Metal city in Brazil; i.e. Sao Paulo OBITUARY did three other shows, one in Rio De Janeiro, Salvador and Recife so the boys were already acclimatized with the local culture and also what to expect from the crowd. Upon my arrival at the venue around 4pm I could see a horde of black t-shirts all waiting for the doors to be open which it would happen at 5pm on the spot.
Once inside and all ready to begin or not quite as yet, to warm up the crowd two local bands were in charge of making sure all hell would break loose, the first band to take on the stage was KROW a band from Uberlandia, State of Minas Gerais in South East Of Brazil, they were formed in 2007 and having been influenced by Thrash and Death Metal old school their set is pure anger, power and malevolence, despite not being around for long time KROW have already played few concerts in Europe and had their last EP entitled "Relentless Disease" recorded in Sweden at Garage Land Studios and they begun their onslaught with the same track , a great display of power, very fast song with double kicks and deep and guttural vocals, and the night had just begun. After that I was in "Despair" yet again fast tempo and pure Death/Thrash. The crowd was going mad and "Retaliated" was next, only the weak would perish and beg for forgiveness. A very good performance indeed from Guilherme Miranda on vocals and guitars, Jhoka Ribeiro on the drums, Lucas 'The Carcass' on guitars and Caue De Marinis on bass, for a band who have a song called "Outbreak Of A Maniac" what you can expect is just that, total mayhem.
Setlist:1. Relentless disease
2. Despair
3. Retaliated
4. Outbreak Of A Maniac
5. Eidolon
6. Whore Born
7. Before The Ashes
Next on the bill is GENOCIDIO an old band from eighties playing some brutal Death Metal with some touches of the holy ones BATHORY , CELTIC FROST and VENOM thus making it a very dirty with a rawer sounding with albums like: "Genocidio" 1988, "Depression" 1990, "Hoctaedrom" 1993, "Posthumous" 1996, "One Of Them" 1999, "Rebelliun" 2002, "The Clan" 2010 and "In Love With Hatred" 2013 I am not surprised with their unique sounding and once on stage Murilo Leite on vocals and guitars, Joao Gobo on the drums, W.Pena on the bass and Rafael Orsi on guitars unleash all their hate upon the nation making them witness the "Birth Of Chaos" and then more hate with "Kill Brazil" fast tempo, double kicks and twisted guitars solo, the crowd got the message, with all the bullshit politics issues and corruption that grows everyday in the country that was a perfect song to start the massacre, after that is time for "Cloister" if you can because "Encephalic Disturbance" is next, by this time I am already warmed up and excited about the main course and then all of sudden out of the blue they played "Welcome To The Sabbath" by MERCYFUL FATE a great song well performed with their own style.
GENOCIDIO were outstanding with a very tidy performance, professionalism and very good skills, there are lots of new bands coming up in Brazil but GENOCIDIO have proofed that if they have been around for over twenty years that is because they are doing everything right and they also remain as one of the pioneers in the Brazilian Metal scene, come in and join "The Clan".
Setlist:
1. Birth Of Chaos (Intro)
2. Kill Brazil
3. Cloister
4. Encephalic Disturbance
5. In Love With Hatred
6. Rebellion
7. The Grave
8. Come To The Sabbath
9. Uproar
10. The Clan
So time has come for OBITUARY and around 9pm they went on stage to deliver that so awaited classic set list which by the way was kept locked away with seven keys, nonetheless Trevor Peres, Donald Tardy, Terry Butler and Kenny Andrews were the ones to come on stage first and fired up Stinkupuss and then John Tardy stepped in with "Intoxicated" and that was the beginning of a memorable night, finally I was face to face with the demon and he was fierce until the very end, a such display of power, after twenty five years OBITUARY still on top of their game and one of the best Death Metal bands ever, Donald Tardy a monster on the drums so fast and tidy I could not believe in my eyes, Trevor Peres also he destroyed on the guitars with killer solos as well as the new guy Kenny Andrews, an amazing performance by both and then another monster on the bass Mr Butler this one needs no introduction with bands like DEATH, MASSACRE, DENIAL FIEND and SIX FEET UNDER on his curriculum the man showed no mercy for the weak, they played all the classics and John Tardy, I mean I ask myself the question: How many lungs does he have? Deep and guttural vocals singing like a maniac out of the madhouse, "The End Complete" "Chopped In Half" is it Armageddon? no, it is OBITUARY and they really know how entertain the crowd and they felt like "Turned Inside Out" lost in "Rotting Ways" man "I Am In Pain" now.
It was a very successful mini tour for
OBITUARY and they close their with a track that everyone was screaming and shouting for,
"Slowly We Rot" then all hell broke loose the fans went berserk a great song to close the set and say far well, at least for now.
Rock Brigade has organized another fine concert, congratulations to them, The Clash Club has done well also, the only criticism I have about The Clash Club is regarding the beer price, the Brazilians head bangers are paying European prices for a 350ml can of beer, around 2,60EU for the cheapest total reap off considering we are a third world country.
