The rot is everywhere, and it’s time to tear it down to the sound of the pulverizing new EP by one of the must-see names of the current UK Death Metal scene.
“The Gospel Of Rot is both a warning and a weapon – a sonic rebellion against the forces that seek to silence and subjugate. De Profundis offers not salvation but a wake-up call…” – De Profundis
Celebrating 20 years of death dealing and devastation, London, England-based Death Metal horde De Profundis has returned with a rejuvenated lineup and a brand new EP of stunning power and intensity, entitled The Gospel Of Rot. Recorded at Barking Dog Studio, mixed and mastered by Matt Jones at CapsaArx Studios, and embraced by a darkly beautiful artwork by Pierre-Alain D. of 3mmi Design, the new EP by frontman Stefano Bassi, guitarists Shoi Sen and Paul Nazarkardeh, bassist Simon McAuliffe, and drummer Tom Atherton will most definitely please fans of bands the likes of Death, Morbid Angel, Immolation, and Nocturnus, bringing together four tracks of furious Death Metal and masterful musicianship into a manifesto of resistance against the empty vessels that rule us, dragging our civilization into a mire of degradation.
The band wastes no time and kicks off the EP with the Death Metal extravaganza I: Corruption, where newcomer Stefano already showcases his ruthless deep guttural for our total delight, and Tom crushes his drums with rage and dexterity in II: Deception accompanied by the visceral Death Metal riff attack by Shoi and Paul. Then the quintet shows no mercy for our putrid souls in III: Indoctrination, offering an overdose of harsh riffs and demonic vociferations, with once again Simon and Tom making the earth tremble with their evil kitchen. And lastly, we have their cover version for Sepultura’s IV: Subtraction, from their 1991 masterpiece Arise (you can enjoy the original one HERE). De Profundis take the vibe from those Brazilian thrash and death heroes and add their own twist to it, resulting in a lecture in modern-day Death Metal where Stefano sounds brutally violent on vocals until the very end.
From their early days of primeval Doom and Death Metal, then venturing through the Progressive Death and Black Metal realms of their latest albums The Blinding Light of Faith (2018) and The Corruption of Virtue (2022), to the full-on Death Metal attack in The Gospel Of Rot, the band keeps crushing our putrid souls with their undisputed aggressiveness, precise musicianship, and a deep passion for the extreme, and you can get to know more about one of the precious gems of the British Death Metal scene by following the band on Facebook and on Instagram, by subscribing to their YouTube channel, by listening to all of their demented tunes on Spotify, and by purchasing the excellent The Gospel of Rot from BandCamp or by clicking HERE. In a nutshell, De Profundis are back at the very top of their game with The Gospel of Rot. Because the rot is everywhere, and it’s time to tear it down.
Best moments of the album:I: Corruption and IV: Subtraction.
I personally do not trust any farewell tours, because let’s be honest, all bands that scheduled farewell tours kept touring for years and years after that, and some are still touring. Anyway, if this was the last time the city of Toronto ever saw Brazilian metal titans SEPULTURA on stage, alongside OBITUARY, AGNOSTIC FRONT and HARVEST during their CELEBRATING LIFE THROUGH DEATH NORTH AMERICAN FAREWELL TOUR 2024 at Rebel, let’s say they’re going down in style, as it was an amazing night celebrating their impressive 40 years of career. I just have zero idea if the concert by Minneapolis, Minnesota-based Hardcore outfit HARVEST was good or not as I couldn’t make it in time for that. Well, for most of the tour the opening act was Brazilian Death/Thrash Metal veterans Claustrofobia, which would have been a lot more appealing to me, but I’m pretty sure Harvest put on a very decent show this Wednesday night. I don’t know their setlist, nor their lineup, but if you want to know more about them you can find their music on Spotify and on BandCamp, and of course enjoy the nice shots Keith Ibbitson of Metal Paparazzi took of their performance.
I might have missed the entire show by Harvest, but I was lucky enough to get to Rebel a few minutes before New York City’s own Hardcore Punk legends AGNOSTIC FRONT hit the stage for a solid and electrifying concert, igniting some sick mosh pits led by the band’s iconic frontman Roger Miret. My brother and a few of his friends are huge fans of Agnostic Front, so it was a pleasure for me to watch them live for the first time ever, playing some classic punk songs like For My Family and Gotta Go, therefore keeping the action flowing frantically inside the circle pit. I don’t remember exactly which song this happened, but one of their guitarists got down to the floor section in the middle of the circle pit while fans kept running around him, which was a really nice touch to their show in my opinion. I also saw part of their show form the back as I was in line to grab a Sepultura shirt, and I gotta say the quality of the sound way back was excellent, just like in every single show at Rebel.
Setlist The Good, The Bad And The Ugly Theme
AF Stomp
The Eliminator
Dead to Me
New Jack
For My Family
Friend or Foe
Toxic Shock
Victim in Pain
All Is Not Forgotten
Peace
Gotta Go
Addiction
Band members Roger Miret – lead vocals
Vinnie Stigma – lead guitar, backing vocals
Craig Silverman – rhythm guitar, backing vocals
Mike Gallo – bass, backing vocals
Danny Lamagna – drums
One year and a few months after their demolishing headlining show in Toronto, Florida’s own Death Metal machine OBITUARY kicked the city in the ass again without a single drop of mercy with a killer performance as the more-than-special openers for Sepultura, and it felt almost like a headlining show because the band spearheaded by the Tardy Brothers had a lot of time to distill their undisputed blend of heavy music for the delight of their fans. All songs sounded extremely heavy, thunderous and ruthless, including The Wrong Time, War, and Dying of Everything, from their 2023 beast Dying of Everything, and when the band started playing their all-time classic Slowly We Rot it was absolute anarchy inside the circle pit. The guys from Obituary surely love Toronto from the bottom of their hearts, and I bet it won’t take long for John, Donald & Co. to attack us again with their redneck-infused Death Metal.
Setlist Snortin’ Whiskey (Pat Travers song)
Redneck Stomp
Threatening Skies
By the Light
The Wrong Time
Deadly Intentions
Chopped in Half / Turned Inside Out
Solid State
War
Circle of the Tyrants
Dying of Everything
Slowly We Rot
Band members John Tardy – vocals
Kenny Andrews – lead guitars
Trevor Peres – rhythm guitars
Terry Butler – bass
Donald Tardy – drums
In my humble opinion, there was a slight miscalculation in the time each band was going to start their show, because by the time the speakers started playing War Pigs, followed by Polícia, it was already close to 10pm, which means it was getting REALLY late for a full-bodied concert like the one we got from Brazil’s one and only Thrash/Groove Metal institution SEPULTURA. That wasn’t a big issue, though, because as soon as the band kicked off their metallic ceremony with the classics Refuse/Resist and Territory, everyone forgot it was a Wednesday night and decided to slam into the pit, jump up and down, raise their fists and scream the lyrics to all songs together with the band. Their setlist was a thing of beauty, including songs from pretty much all of their albums, therefore properly celebrating 40 years of existence. Songs like Attitude, Choke, Dead Embryonic Cells, Orgasmatron and Troops of Doom sounded perfect for some vigorous headbanging and circle pit action, plus of course the beauty of the tribal beats of Kaiowas.
One of the new “features” of a Sepultura show these days is the addition of the very young and insanely talented Greyson Nekrutman on drums. Known first and foremost as a jazz drummer from New York, he was recruited by Andreas Kisser himself to take care of some of the most iconic beats in the history of heavy music, and oh boy, he kicked some serious ass on stage, proving why he was the chosen one to be the band’s new drummer. And it felt like Derrick, Andreas, Paulo and Greyson got even more infuriated and sharp during the last part of the show, blasting our minds with the all-time classics Inner Self, Arise, Ratamahatta and Roots Bloody Roots, the last one of course inspiring everyone at the venue to jump and scream together like a true “Sepultribe”, putting a beyond climatic ending to their show. Let’s see what happens next with Sepultura, if they’ll call it quits for good, or if we’ll see a return to the stages in the next few years. Well, just like Slayer, hopefully we’ll see Sepultura back sooner than later because they still have a lot of fuel to burn, and the city of Toronto would definitely love to host “Sepultura do Brasil” again in the near future.
Setlist War Pigs (Black Sabbath song)
Polícia (Titãs song)
Refuse/Resist
Territory
Kairos
Phantom Self
Attitude
Means to an End
Choke
Guardians of Earth
Breed Apart
Escape to the Void
Kaiowas
Dead Embryonic Cells
Agony of Defeat
Orgasmatron
Troops of Doom
Inner Self
Arise
Ratamahatta
Roots Bloody Roots
Band members Derrick Green – lead vocals
Andreas Kisser – guitars, backing vocals
Paulo Jr. – bass
Greyson Nekrutman – drums
Savage Lands – Nonprofit featuring members of Megadeth, Sepultura, Obituary and other legends of metal to support forests in Costa Rica 🇨🇷
Artists occasionally support causes through donations to organizations. With SAVAGE LANDS, Megadeth drummer Dirk Verbeuren teamed up with his guitar-wielding friend Sylvain Demercastel to create their own US 501(c)3 non-profit.
Savage Lands raises money for reforestation & the creation of sanctuaries free of human destruction. Using their own royalties, donations and other fundraising efforts, the organization builds nature sanctuaries, establishes green zones and other land preservation projects. They partner with other non-profits, scientists and forest engineers, as well as Decibel Magazine and Season of Mist.
“If you want to make a difference, take action! Our greatest hope with Savage Lands is that it will inspire you to join us, and if you can, to start your own initiative to help preserve animals, forests, and our planet”, says Dirk.
Fittingly, “The Last Howl” is a howling tribute to the howler monkey, which are endangered in Costa Rica. The song features Savage Lands co-founders Sylvain Demercastel & Dirk Verbeuren, as well as support from John Tardy (Obituary), Andreas Kisser (Sepultura), Poun (Black Bomb A) & Etienne Treton (Black Bomb A).
100% of the song royalties will help fund nature sanctuaries, establish green zones and other land preservation projects in Costa Rica.
Lineup Dirk Verbeuren (Megadeth) – drums
Sylvain Demercastel – guitar
Andreas Kisser (Sepultura) – guitar
John Tardy (Obituary) – vocals
Poun (Black Bomb A) – vocals
Etienne Treton (Black Bomb A) – bass
Recording
Savage Lands / Adair Daufembach / John Tardy / Andreas Kisser / Steeven Corsini
The world is in flames and the people divided, but Kreator, Sepultura and their fans were united last night in Toronto to prove once again everything gets better with some first-class heavy music.
Insane traffic, heavy smoke from the wildfires in Northern Ontario and Quebec, and temperatures dropping below seasonal. If you think those “nice” factors would stop the metalheads in Toronto from setting The Danforth Music Hall on fire last night together with SPIRITWORLD, DEATH ANGEL, SEPULTURA and KREATOR as part of their Klash of the Titans North America 2023, another awesome event brought to the city by Embrace Presents, you’re absolutely wrong. It seems that Torontonian metallers fear nothing when it comes to enduring several external threats to attend metal concerts in the city, and when they’re inside the venue, oh boy, it’s fuckin’ madness! It was a sold out night of mosh pits, walls of death, bodies emerging from the pit, horns and fists in the air, a lot of screaming and jumping, and above all that, seeing our metalhead friends once again to celebrate music and life. What else can we ask for, right? And on a side note, it looks like a few concert goers got injured inside the pit during one of the bands, with one guy bleeding real bad (I think he landed on his head); however, the venue security was on it fast and even had their own trained medical staff. That’s a huge display of professionalism, so kudos to security for being so fast and effective.
Due to traffic (and hunger, as I spent hours driving before being able to eat anything, which had to happen outside The Danforth Music Hall because they don’t sell any food inside the venue), this guy here had to unfortunately miss the opening band, Las Vegas, Nevada-based Death/Thrash Metal/Hardcore act SPIRITWORLD, but at least my friend Keith Ibbitson of Lower Eastside Photography was here to capture some amazing shots of the band and tell me a little about their performance, saying it was very energetic and fun to watch. The doors opened at 5pm, and the band played from 6:30pm to around 7pm, just to give you an idea of how bad traffic was. Anyway, if you know nothing about the band, go check their BandCamp and Spotify, in special their 2022 album Deathwestern, which is quite entertaining in my opinion.
Setlist Comancheria
Lujuria Satanica
The Bringer of Light
Committee of Buzzards
Unholy Passages
U L C E R
Relic of Damnation
Pagan Rhythms
Band members
Stu Folsom – vocals
Justin Fornof – vocals, sampling
Randy Moore – lead guitars
Matt Schrum – rhythm guitars
Nick Brundy – bass
Preston Harper – drums
It was precisely 7:20pm when San Francisco, California’s own Thrash Metal institution DEATH ANGEL hit the stage with a flawless performance, igniting some intense mosh pits for the delight of all fans present at the venue. Still promoting their 2019 album Humanicide, the band spearheaded by the unstoppable frontman Mark Osegueda, who by the way had a superb vocal performance last night reaching some really high notes in great fashion, put on a solid and vibrant show, albeit a bit short in duration. The songs The Dream Calls for Blood, The Moth and Thrown to the Wolves sounded absolutely fantastic last night, with the razor-edged guitars by Rob Cavestany and Ted Aguilar piercing our souls mercilessly. Closer to the end of the show, Mark took a moment to tell Toronto how much he loves the city, saying he remembers playing at El Mocambo (a very, very small underground venue) twice on the same day during their first ever visit to Toronto back in 1987, and saying that they might have been prohibited to play their album The Ultra-Violence (in special the song Voracious Souls) back then in their homeland, but that Canada received them with open arms. Well, we’ll always receive Death Angel with open arms (and open circle pits) in Toronto.
Setlist Lord of Hate
Voracious Souls
The Dream Calls for Blood
The Moth
Humanicide
The Ultra-Violence / Thrown to the Wolves
Band members
Mark Osegueda – vocals
Rob Cavestany – guitar
Ted Aguilar – guitar
Damien Sisson – bass
Will Carroll – drums
It was still bright ay 8:30pm outside the venue (well, not that bright due to the smoke, but it wasn’t dark yet) when Teutonic Thrash Metal titans KREATOR took the city of Toronto by storm with a beyond pulverizing performance, and when I say pulverizing I’m not kidding, it was insane from the very first second until the last notes of Pleasure to Kill. Also, despite the fact they released what’s in my opinion the best album of 2022, the superb Hate Über Alles, they’re only playing the title-track during this current tour, but that’s just a minor detail compared to the endless energy, rage and violence happening on and off stage. The iconic Mille Petrozza led the Torontonian hordes of chaos brilliantly throughout their entire set, resulting in some of the sickest circle pits of all shows in the city this year.
Mille interacted a lot with the crowd, always asking for more circle pits, crowd surfing and walls of death, but he didn’t actually need to ask for that as everyone inside the pit went nuts as soon as the first notes of Hate Über Alles hit. Some of the songs sounded so brutal, such as Enemy of God, Flag of Hate and Hordes of Chaos (A Necrologue for the Elite), that the whole pit looked like one of those insane Royal Rumble moments where it’s everyone against everyone, and the band simply loved to witness that while delivering a lecture in German thrash on stage. The giant inflatable devil on stage (from the artwork from their latest album) was a very nice touch to their performance, in special when Satan is Real was played, whereas Mille declaiming the chorus to the rebellious single 666 – World Divided before starting the song itself was another beautiful moment for the entire crowd. Of course, as expected, the most demented circle pit and wall of death of the night happened during their all-time classic Pleasure to Kill, leaving everyone at the venue eager for more Kreator in the city anytime they wish to return. As a matter of fact, I would be extremely happy if they somehow played in Toronto once a week or even more than that if they wanted to.
Setlist Sergio Corbucci Is Dead Hate Über Alles
Awakening of the Gods (Intro)
Enemy of God
People of the Lie
Betrayer
Satan Is Real
Hordes of Chaos (A Necrologue for the Elite)
666 – World Divided
Flag of Hate The Patriarch Violent Revolution
Pleasure to Kill Apocalypticon
Band members Miland “Mille” Petrozza – vocals, guitar
Sami Yli-Sirniö – guitar
Frédéric Leclercq – bass
Jürgen “Ventor” Reil – drums
I honestly thought Kreator were going to be the headliners during the entire tour, but it looks like they adopted the “alternating headline mode” that so many bands are using these days, just like Gojira and Mastodon are doing now in North America. Having said that, Toronto had the pleasure of having as the closing act of the night the unparalleled Brazilian Groove/Thrash Metal beast SEPULTURA, who brought a lot of heaviness and groove to our avid ears during their solid performance. Derrick Green, Paulo Jr. and Eloy Casagrande were precise as usual, but it was Andreas Kisser who stole the show with another distinct performance on the guitars. I just think the band would benefit a lot from having a second guitarist to provide Andreas with some background support during his solos, filling out the empty spaces left, but that’s just an idea and nothing that would make their show less fun.
Still promoting their 2020 album Quadra, the band played a mix of new songs with old school Sepultura, as roared by Derrick right at the beginning of their concert, and while new songs like Isolation and Kairos worked amazingly live, others like Guardians of Earth and Agony of Defeat cooled down the atmosphere a bit, despite being sensational and very detailed compositions. Needless to say, it was when they played their classics including Territory, Refuse/Resist, Arise and Ratamahatta that the crowd jumped up and down nonstop, slammed into the pit, and raised their horns screaming, with one of the most rebellious metal songs ever, the unique Roots Bloody Roots, being the icing on the cake of their show. Andreas also took a moment to say how much the guys from Sepultura love Toronto, and I guess it won’t take long for them to return. After all was said and done, the traffic to get out of the city was brutal even after midnight, but who cares? After witnessing Kreator and Sepultura destroying everything and everyone last night in Toronto, nothing could erase the smile on the faces of the Torontonian metalheads.
Setlist Polícia (Titãs song) Isolation
Territory
Means to an End
Kairos
Propaganda
Guardians of Earth
Ali
Agony of Defeat
Refuse/Resist
Arise
Ratamahatta
Roots Bloody Roots
Band members
Derrick Green – lead vocals
Andreas Kisser – guitars, backing vocals
Paulo Jr. – bass
Eloy Casagrande – drums
Born and raised in the city of Brasília, inaugurated as Brazil’s capital in 1960, but currently residing in the charming city of Montreal, in the province of Quebec, in Canada, our metal lady of the month of April is here on The Headbanging Moose to embellish the airwaves with her distinguished music, bringing us the joy of the spring that has just started while still sounding as metal as she can be. If you’re a fan of progressiveness, groove and experimentations in Rock N’ Roll and Heavy Metal, get ready to be stunned by the multi-talented Bruna Wanderley, a songwriter, vocalist and cellist who’s taking the world of heavy music by storm with her brand new project, entitled Kapitur. You’ll certainly fall in love for the thunderous sound of her cello, placing her among the most interesting new names of the independent scene in Canada. Having said that, are you ready to rock together with Bruna and her incendiary cello?
Drawing from a young life in Brazil, living in an environment of violence, fear and contrasting beauty, artist and multi-instrumentalist Bruna Wanderley grew up in a conservative Evangelical milieu, which has led her to tease her family’s most beloved boundaries and, since her solo arrival to infamously libertine Montreal in 2015, she has actively performed and recorded as a cellist in a wide array of contexts. For instance, until the beginning of 2019 she was part of an Art Punk Rock band from Montreal named Spectroom, before the band called it quits in February that year. Bruna played cello with Spectroom together with vocalist and bassist Angelo Carocci, guitarists Branco De Souza and Raya Traboulsi, and drummers Matisse Chan and Emixam Maxime Gaboriault, having recorded with them the 2018 five-song EP Kissing Garbage, available for a full listen on Spotify. Although not being metal at all, the music by Spectroom can indeed provide you with very nice and relaxing moments while listening to it, and of course you can enjoy each note played by Bruna on her stylish cello.
Apart from her time with Spectroom, Bruna can be seen playing live with Canadian Death Metal band Infección as their bassist (not cellist) together with vocalist and guitarist Diego, drummer Andrés, and also guest guitarist Jean Bélanger, since 2021. She might not have recorded anything yet with the band, but if you want to have a taste of their fury and aggressiveness you can enjoy their debut demo on their BandCamp page. Furthermore, Bruna was also a guest vocalist for Canadian Progressive Death Metal band Messora on their 2019 album The Door, recording additional vocals for the songs The Veil and The Tide. And if you want to see Bruna Wanderley “multiplied” by four, you can enjoy Bruna’s cover video of Making a Murderer’s full theme by composer Gustavo Santaolalla, who’s largely known for his original score for The Last of Us, with all effects on the electric cello achieved with Line 6’s Helix LT.
Before we talk about Bruna’s brand new endeavor Kapitur, it’s important to mention that, besides her career in the Arts and Culture industry working mainly as a cello instructor and performer in Montreal, where she currently resides as already mentioned, she also studied Sociology and Anthropology at UnB – Universidade de Brasília in Brazil from 2010 to 2015, Music at Escola de Música de Brasília from 2007 to 2013, and Music at Vanier College in Canada from 2016 to 2018, and has not only obtained several certifications in web programming and development such as Programming in HTML5 with JavaScript and CSS3, Regex and jQuery, but she also has experience working to some companies in Montreal in that segment, as well as volunteering experience as a barista and also running art workshops for Coop Le Milieu, also in Montreal.
However, as this is an underground metal webzine let’s focus on what really matters, and that’s the fusion of extreme music with the whimsical, thunderous sound of her cello in her new project, entitled Kapitur, formed in 2020. Under the up-and-coming Montreal, Canada-based Kapitur she composes, sings, performs guttural vocals and plays the cello, while Sam Neumann’s unyielding drumming presents a strong contrast with the her unbound vocal and cello lines, also supported by guitarist Zach Dean and bassist Bruno Coe. The music is filled with soundscapes and hammering repetitions with bleak cacophony followed by heavenly melodies, being therefore highly recommended for fans of the music by Opeth, modern Swans, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Saltland, and Tina Guo, among others. Bruna and her Kapitur will release an EP of original songs in the upcoming months, and while we wait for such distinguished experiment let’s stay in touch with the band on Facebook, on Instagram, on BandCamp, and on Spotify, where by the way you can find her first-ever releases, those being the demo song Decay, and the cover version for Sepultura’s all-time classic Roots Bloody Roots (or click HERE for all locations where you can buy or stream the song).
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“Twenty-six years ago, Roots Bloody Roots pleaded for the preservation of Brazilian cultural diversity. Today, Kapitur’s distinctive revisit of the song revolves around the historical alienation of common people regarded as different, the Bloody Roots of us outsiders. It grips on the struggle of finding oneself estranged from one’s original and adoptive cultures, to the ongoing murder and colonization suffered by many people in a land that was theirs for centuries; from immigrant, racial, religious intolerance to the global, modern alien anxiety suffered by African descendants and their relationship to an inaccessible homeland. Roots Bloody Roots is about you, or someone you know and care for,” commented Bruna about her newborn beast. Recorded and mixed by Jonathan Lefrançois Leduc, Kapitur’s rendition for such undisputed metal classic will surely put a huge smile on the faces of Max and Igor Cavalera, Andreas Kisser and Paulo Jr., not just because of its rawness and aggressiveness, but also because Bruna is proudly carrying the flag of Brazilian metal to the four corners of the earth with her talent and hard work.
There are a few fun facts about Kapitur and the recording of Roots Bloody Roots that are definitely worth sharing with everyone reading this tribute to Bruna. First of all, when Kapitur’s music video for the song was still unpublished, someone Bruna knows sent a private link to it to Sepultura, and they loved it so much that Derrick Green himself contacted her to say it’s very creative, that it sounds incredible and that he looked forward to meeting her in person, which happened during their concert in Montreal on March 17 this year. In addition, Bruna mentioned that shooting the music video for the song was one of the most demanding and fun experiences the band has had so far. “It was a very cold Fall day, we set up a tent on the sandpits and unexpectedly spent 13 hours outdoors on the first day. As soon as we got there, one of the cars got stuck in the mud, and only after greatly shoving, did a guy on a tractor appear to tow the car in a few seconds. The photographer was buried naked in the sand at 5°C – he did say he liked it. For the entire time, I was cold from shooting in a thin dress and being barefoot on the sand. At night, we had to beware of the coyote sounds coming our way – it was so reassuring to have combustible material available, just in case. Finally, all the team left the site at 3 a.m., with our gear frosted by the dew and fake blood stains on our clothes and shoes. That whole night felt really special though. Will do it again next year, once we get rid of all the sand stuck in our stuff,” said our skillful cellist.
In summary, the multi-talented Bruna Wanderley can sing, play cello and bass, compose, write lyrics, act, and so on, which proves how focused and talented she is and, at the same time, showcases all her passion for music in general. I won’t be surprised if in a not-so-distant future we start seeing partnerships between Bruna and both underground and mainstream rock and metal bands, and I would love to see what she could do together with renowned bands the likes of Cradle of Filth, Triptykon and Tristania, adding her own touch of darkness, doom and heaviness to their already venomous music. Having said all that, let’s raise our horns to the “Cello Metal” blasted by Bruna Wanderley, resting assured she’ll always remain loyal to heavy music and to her roots, bloody roots.
“It’s uncommon to hear a classical instrument like the cello in heavy music that isn’t Melodic or Symphonic Metal. My intent is to explore creative ways of using my instrument in heavier contexts.” – Bruna Wanderley
“Rock stars come and go. Musicians play until they die.” – Eddie Van Halen
What can I say about the year of 2020? No words can describe all the pain, fear, anxiety, losses and struggles we all had to endure during what’s going to be sadly remembered as the worst year of our modern times. We saw the rise of coronavirus, which had a huge negative impact on pretty much everything and everyone we know, with millions of hardworking people unfortunately losing their jobs, concerts being cancelled, restaurants and other businesses being shut down, people getting stuck in their homes and having to deal with psychological issues like depression, and more important than that, with countless lives, and in some cases people really close to us, people we love, losing their battle against such horrible disease. We also witnessed a gut-wrenching surge in racism against black people all over the world, and the importance of the Black Lives Matter movement in the never-ending fight for freedom and justice, trying to make our world a better place for everyone. And last but not least, we lost so many iconic figures it’s hard to list everyone without crying a little. We lost sports titans such as Kobe Bryant, Diego Maradona and Paolo Rossi, amazing, talented actors and actresses including our beloved “Black Panther” Chadwick Boseman, the original “Darth Vader” David Prowse and the unstoppable Mad Max’s villain “Immortal Joe” Hugh Keays-Byrne, and music geniuses like Rush’s unparalleled Neil Peart and one of the best and most revolutionary guitarists of all time, the one and only Eddie Van Halen. May their souls rest in peace.
However, although we might be living such difficult and stressful times, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel with the development of effective vaccines that will certainly put our society back on track sooner than later, giving us all some hope and pointing to a much better future for all of us. In the meantime, I guess one thing that we metalheads have been doing (and will always do) throughout such shitty year is using the music we love to face all of our problems and fears with our heads and horns high in the sky, never giving up nor giving in. Having said that, I’ll leave you with The Headbanging Moose’s Top 10 Hard Rock/Heavy Metal Albums of 2020, excluding EP’s, best of’s and live albums, showing to us all that it doesn’t matter what happens with the world, heavy music will always stand strong. From the most primeval form of Black Metal to fast and electrifying Power Metal, from a beyond amazing soaring numbers of women kicking ass in an array of styles such as Doom, Symphonic and Death Metal to the most underground Atmospheric Black Metal entities you can think of, from our good old Rock N’ Roll to modern-day Alternative Metal, music prevailed above darkness, pain and hate, and that’s how it will be forever and ever. Enjoy our list of top metal albums for this (terrible) year that’s coming to an end, and let’s keep raising our horns and banging our heads together in 2021!
1. Primal Fear – Metal Commando (REVIEW)
Join Primal Fear’s undisputed rock brigade and become a true metal commando to the sound of their breathtaking new album.
Best song of the album: Infinity
2. Trivium – What The Dead Men Say (REVIEW) It’s time to listen to what these four (un)dead men from Orlando, Florida have to say in their thrilling new opus.
Best song of the album: Amongst the Shadows & the Stones
3. Testament – Titans Of Creation (REVIEW) The titans of Thrash Metal are back in action with another technical, melodic and absolutely pulverizing album of extreme music.
Best song of the album: Night of the Witch
4. Lamb of God – Lamb of God (REVIEW) Re-energized and unrelenting, Lamb of God are finally back after five years with their pulverizing eighth studio album.
Best song of the album: Gears
5. Sepultura – Quadra (REVIEW) A sensational concept album based on Quadrivium embraced by a fusion of Thrash, Groove and Progressive Metal.
Best song of the album: Guardians of Earth
6. Onslaught – Generation Antichrist (REVIEW) These UK veterans are ready to set the world on fire once again with one of the most ferocious Thrash Metal albums of the year.
Best song of the album: Religiousuicide
7. Ecclesia – De Ecclesiæ Universalis (REVIEW) This army of French inquisitors stands strong on their crusade against every doom heretic with their incendiary debut album.
Best song of the album: Antichristus
8. Eleine – Dancing In Hell (REVIEW) Time for us all to dance in the fires of hell to the sound of the striking new opus by this unstoppable Swedish Symphonic Metal group.
Best song of the album: Where Your Rotting Corpse Lie (W.Y.R.C.L.)
9. Grave Digger – Fields of Blood (REVIEW) Grave Digger celebrate 40 years of their undisputed Heavy Metal on a journey back to the vastness of the Scottish Highlands.
Best song of the album: Freedom
10. Konvent – Puritan Masochism (REVIEW) A dark, primeval and stunning fusion of Death and Doom Metal masterfully crafted by four unrelenting women hailing from Denmark.
Best song of the album: Puritan Masochism
And here we have the runner-ups, completing the top 20 for the year:
11. Genus Ordinis Dei – Glare of Deliverance (REVIEW)
12. Paradise Lost – Obsidian (REVIEW)
13. Axel Rudi Pell – Sign of the Times (REVIEW)
14. Raventale – Planetarium II (REVIEW)
15. Hellsmoke – 2020 (REVIEW)
16. My Dying Bride – The Ghost Of Orion (REVIEW)
17. Burning Witches – Dance with the Devil (REVIEW)
18. Naglfar – Cerecloth (REVIEW)
19. Scarlet Aura – Stormbreaker (REVIEW)
20. Thundermother – Heat Wave (REVIEW)
And how about we also pay a tribute to the bands that released short and sweet albums that condensed pretty much the same amount of electricity, rage and intricacy than any of the full-length albums from the list above? That’s why we’re also going to provide you as usual our Top 10 EP’s of 2020 for you to see that size doesn’t really matter.
1. Front – Antichrist Militia (REVIEW)
2. Malfested – Shallow Graves (REVIEW)
3. Tøronto – Under Siege (REVIEW)
4. Soul Dissolution – Winter Contemplations (REVIEW)
5. Lutharö – Wings of Agony (REVIEW)
6. Póstuma – Moralis (REVIEW)
7. Black Sun – Silent Enemy (REVIEW)
8. MĀRA – Self-Destruct. Survive. Thrive! (REVIEW)
9. Serocs – Vore (REVIEW)
10. Invocation – Attunement to Death (REVIEW)
Do you agree with our list? What are your top 10 albums of 2020? Also, don’t forget to tune in every Tuesday at 10pm BRT on Rádio Coringão to enjoy the best of classic and underground metal with Jorge Diaz and his Timão Metal, and every Thursday at 8pm UTC+2 on Midnight Madness Metal e-Radio for the best of underground metal with The Headbanging Moose Show! And if you lost some or most of our special editions of The Headbanging Moose Show, including our Top 20 Underground Albums of 2020 – Parts I and II, go to our Mixcloud page and there you have hours and hours of the best of the independent scene, sounds good?
Metal Xmas and a Headbanging New Year! See you in 2021!
And before we go, let’s bang our heads one last time in 2020 with a classic Christmas song by an amazing Romanian band that loves Heavy Metal from the bottom of their hearts, pointing to much better times ahead for all of us! Enjoy!
A sensational concept album based on Quadrivium embraced by a fusion of Thrash, Groove and Progressive Metal, masterfully crafted by the best Brazilian metal band of all time.
In case you’re form another dimension and haven’t listened to Quadrayet, let me tell you that the fifteenth studio effort by Brazilian Thrash/Groove Metal titans Sepultura is much more than just another metal album. With a concept based on Quadrivium, which are the four subjects or arts (namely arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy), taught after teaching the trivium, Quadra, meaning “four ways” from Latin, is a 12-track album divided into four sections of three songs each. The first being Thrash Metal songs based on the classic Sepultura sound; the second section is inspired by the groove-percussion oriented sound the band explored in Roots; the third part has more progressive songs inspired by the track Iceberg Dancesfrom Machine Messiah, albeit not all are instrumental tracks; and side four features slow-paced and melodic tracks similar to the song Machine Messiah. Add to that the undeniable talent by the band’s four horsemen Derrick Green on vocals, Andreas Kisser on the guitars, Paulo Jr. on bass and Eloy Casagrande on drums, and there you have the band’s most successful record since 1998’s Against.
Recorded and produced by Jens Bogren at Fascination Street Studios in Örebro, Sweden, and featuring a bold artwork by Christiano Menezes from Darkside Books revolving around the meaning of the number four, Quadra is also the Portuguese term for sports court. “We all come from different Quadras. The countries, all nations with their borders and traditions; culture, religions, laws, education and a set of rules where life takes place. Our personalities, what we believe, how we live, how we build societies and relationships, all depends on these set of rules that we grew up with. Concepts of creation, gods, death and ethics. Money, we are enslaved by this concept. Who’s poor and who’s rich, that’s how we measure people and material goods. Regardless of your Quadra you need money to survive, the prime rule to play this game called life. Hence the coin. The coin is forged with the senator skull, who represents the set of rules and laws we live by; the world map on his head delimiting the borders of all nations, imaginary lines separating people by concepts of race and the sacred,” explained Andreas about the concept behind the album art.
Tribal beats and futuristic sounds ignite the brutal and groovy Isolation, an old school Thrash Metal chant with Sepultura’s unique twist, where Derrick already tells us all this album is going to be fantastic through his enraged roars, whereas Means to an End is another ass-kicking, trademark creation by the quartet with the talented Eloy bringing tons of progressiveness and fury to the musicality, while Paulo continues to be precise and groovy as usual on bass. And there’s no sign of slowing down in Last Time, where Derrick and Eloy represent the brutality in the music while Andreas showcases his infinite talent as a shredder as well as with his fantastic solos; and adding primeval elements and beats from the band’s cultural background it’s time for one more round of savagery and groove united in the name of metal in Capital Enslavement, with Andreas slashing his strings beautifully accompanied by the unstoppable Eloy on drums. Back to a more traditional sound blending Thrash, Groove and Progressive Metal, Andreas, Paulo and Eloy generate a bold and reverberating atmosphere in Ali, sounding beyond perfect for Derrick to fire his beastly growls.
Raging Void is a mid-tempo, neck-breaking tune led by Eloy and his pounding drums where Derrick is effectively supported by all backing vocals, while Andreas keep stunning us all with his whimsical guitar. Then a sensational acoustic intro by Andreas sets the stage for an austere and multi-layered metal feast entitled Guardians of Earth (which has one of the best and most touching official videos of the past decade), with all choirs and orchestrations making the whole song even more impactful and thrilling; followed by The Pentagram, bringing to our ears a classic Death Metal sonority infused with endless progressiveness and rage. Furthermore, Andreas is superb on the guitars as usual, while Paulo brings the groove with his minimalist but precise bass jabs, resulting in an excellent instrumental composition. After that we have Autem, uniting the past, present and perhaps the future of Sepultura by alternating between old school thrashing moments and the obscurity and hatred from Death and even Black Metal. Needless to say, Eloy and Andreas are in absolute sync throughout the entire song, and after the brief but beautiful acoustic intermission Quadra, it’s time for a darker, more introspective side of Derek in Agony of Defeat, where once again all background choirs and orchestrations bring a touch of finesse to the overall result, albeit not as majestic as the rest of the album, though. And last but not least, the delicate, sexy vocals by guest Emmily Barreto make a superb paradox with the raspy growls by Derrick in Fear, Pain, Chaos, Suffering, with the music sounding grim, melodic and vibrant form start to finish, or in other words, a great composition showcasing the band’s endless creativity and passion for heavy music.
After all is said and done, it’s more than fair to give such amazing album of heavy music four of our rating skulls, especially as the album revolves around the various meaning of the number four, right? In addition, in case you haven’t done so yet, I recommend you follow the best and most influential band of the Brazilian metal scene of all time on Facebook and on Instagram, subscribe to their official YouTube channel for more of their unique and heavy-as-hell songs and videos, and of course purchase or stream Quadra by clicking HERE. When Derrick was asked during an interview with BraveWords “Which Sepultura album are you most proud of?”, he replied, “Definitely Quadra. It’s the latest album, and we really worked so hard on it. We have so many different elements from the past that have helped us get to here – where we are at right now. So, without a doubt in my mind, this is the strongest album that we’ve done together. And I’m extremely proud of it.” I guess we must all agree with Derrick that Quadra is hands down the most detailed, diverse and electrifying album of his era fronting Sepultura, raising the flag of Brazilian metal higher and higher for the delight of all of their loyal and diehard fans.
Best moments of the album: Isolation, Capital Enslavement, Guardians of Earth and Fear and Pain, Chaos, Suffering.
Worst moments of the album:Agony of Defeat.
Released in 2020 Nuclear Blast
Track listing 1. Isolation 4:56
2. Means to an End 4:39
3. Last Time 4:27
4. Capital Enslavement 3:40
5. Ali 4:12
6. Raging Void 3:57
7. Guardians of Earth 5:11
8. The Pentagram 5:20
9. Autem 4:06
10. Quadra 0:46
11. Agony of Defeat 5:51
12. Fear, Pain, Chaos, Suffering 4:09
Alive in Brazil Digipack and Earbook bonus disc (recorded live at “Audio” in São Paulo, Brazil on June 20, 2015) 1. Choke 3:46
2. Convicted in Life 3:31
3. Sepulnation 4:41
4. Apes of God 3:22
5. Sepultura Under My Skin 3:45
6. Manipulation of Tragedy 4:19
7. The Vatican 6:34
8. Cut-Throat 2:55
Band members Derrick Green – lead vocals
Andreas Kisser – guitars
Paulo Jr. – bass
Eloy Casagrande – drums, percussion
Guest musicians Bruna Zenti – violin
Kadu Fernandes – percussion on “Capital Enslavement”
Renato Zanuto – keyboards, orchestrations on “Isolation”, “Means to an End”, “Capital Enslavement” and “Guardians of Earth”, choir arrangements
Francesco Ferrini – orchestrations on “Last Time” and “Fear, Pain, Chaos, Suffering”
Robertinho Rodrigues – acoustic bass
Chorus Mysticus – choir vocals
Jens Bogren – backing vocals
Paulo Cyrino – effects on “Ali”
Gunnar Misgeld – choir arrangements on “Isolation”, “Last Time”, “Guardians of Earth” and “Agony of Defeat”
Emmily Barreto – female vocals on “Fear, Pain, Chaos, Suffering”
As much as I enjoy the Phoenix Concert Theatre and obviously the bands that were going to play last night, I truly and deeply hate the weekdays rush hour traffic to get from my town, the suburban Oakville, to Toronto whenever there’s a good metal concert I want to attend. At least the weather was fantastic (even with a short storm that happened at around 7pm), with the temperature being above 20 degrees, which means no one had to carry their burdensome jackets like what always happens when a concert is in the middle of the winter.
Anyway, due to traffic (and because I had to eat something before heading to the venue), I completely missed the performance by American Crossover Thrash power trio PRONG. I have absolutely no idea if it was a good concert or not. Well, probably yes as the group spearheaded by Tommy Victor has all it takes to deliver great music to the audience, but unfortunately I can’t say a word about what they did last night, not even write down their setlist.
Band members Tommy Victor – lead vocals, guitar
Jason Christopher – bass guitar, backing vocals
Art Cruz – drums
Fortunately, I got to the Phoenix Concert Theatre just in time to see the always amazing show by Brazilian Thrash/Groove Metal masters SEPULTURA, who are currently promoting their latest album, the very experimental and exciting Machine Messiah. Derrick Green, Andreas Kisser, Paulo Jr. and Eloy Casagrande put on an electrified performance on stage from start to finish, blending several songs of their new album like the excellent Phantom Self and Sworn Oath with all-time classics such as Desperate Cry, Inner Self (my favorite of the night) and Refuse/Resist, and of course the song most fans at the venue wanted to hear, their ritualistic hymn Roots Bloody Roots. The sound was very clear, cohesive and powerful, just like what the band offers us in their studio albums, proving Sepultura are a band that always provides their fans the same high level of quality found in their studio versions when they transport those compositions to the stage. As usual, the highlights of their performance were the insane riffs, solos and other awesome tricks done by Andreas with his guitar. That guy is one of the most gifted guitarists in the history of heavy music, which means if you’ve never seen him playing live, don’t miss that chance the next time “Sepultura do Brasil” visit your city.
Setlist I Am the Enemy
Phantom Self
Choke
Desperate Cry
Sworn Oath
Inner Self
Alethea
Resistant Parasites
Refuse/Resist
Ratamahatta
Roots Bloody Roots
Band members Derrick Green – lead vocals
Andreas Kisser – guitars
Paulo Jr. – bass
Eloy Casagrande – drums, percussion
After a short bathroom and beer break, it was time for American Thrash Metal behemoths TESTAMENT to create a sonic Armageddon in Toronto with their unparalleled aggression and refined technique. I guess I always say the same thing about Testament, but all band members are extremely talented and way above average, in special the guitar virtuoso Alex Skolnick and the human earthquake Gene Hoglan. Those two are not simple musicians, they’re demonic beasts when armed with their instruments, delivering the best of the best when it comes to heavy music.
Blasting some of their newest creations from the best metal album of 2016, the superb Brotherhood Of The Snake, especially the kick-ass tunes Brotherhood of the Snake, The Pale King and Stronghold, with old school songs and newer classics, they delivered a flawless performance for the delight of all metalheads at the venue. A few songs from their setlist deserve some special attention, like the brutal and sensational Rise Up for its enhanced mighty power when played live, the high-octane Centuries of Suffering for the insanely intricate magic Gene does behind his drums, and Electric Crown for the amount of groove and feeling flowing from the band’s instruments.
My only complaint about the concert was the excessive amount of solos, one for each band member. As much as I love each guy from the band, I personally prefer regular songs than solos. If they replaced those solos with newer songs like “The Number Game” or “Native Blood”, or with classic like “D.N.R. (Do Not Resuscitate)” or “Burnt Offerings”, it would have been just perfect, but that’s just my opinion. The whole concert was fuckin’ awesome anyway; not even all those solos were able to cool down the audience, mainly because whenever there was a solo there was also a demolishing classic right after it, like when they played the circle pit-generator First Strike Is Deadly after Gene’s drum solo.
Before playing the encore, the iconic Chuck Billy, who by the way is singing better and better as time goes by, therefore being able to perfectly replicate his sensational deep growls live without making any extra effort, told the fans a story about when they were in Texas hanging out with the guys from one of the most respected, energized and violent bands of all time, the one and only Pantera, drinking Jack Daniel’s (and probably taking other stuff as well) with them. Can you imagine that? Testament and Pantera together? The 90’s were definitely the best period for Thrash Metal, no doubt about that. Chuck said that after a lot of drinking, something hit his head (maybe a bottle of Jack Daniel’s, or maybe it was the alcohol itself) and he told the other guys he had the name for their new album. It was going to be called Practice What you Preach, one of their biggest hits, and one of the best of the night as well.
There was still time for one last sick mosh pit with Over the Wall, and after all was said and done you could see how happy all fans of Testament were with their amazing performance. As Chuck said, I hope all promoters in Canada turn their eyes to Testament more often aiming at having more concerts all over the country, not only two or three cities. Let’s hope that those promoters listen to the deep voice by Chuck and we have more of the brotherhood of Thrash Metal in our currently not-so-cold country, because after such brilliant performance last night I’m sure all Torontonian fans of Testament are eager for more of their music.
Setlist Brotherhood of the Snake
Rise Up
The Pale King
Centuries of Suffering
Alex Skolnick’s Guitar Solo
Electric Crown
Into the Pit
Low
Throne of Thorns
Stronghold
Eric Peterson’s Guitar Solo
Eyes of Wrath
Gene Hoglan’s Drum Solo
First Strike Is Deadly
Steve DiGiorgio’s Bass Solo
Urotsukidôji
Souls of Black
Seven Seals
The New Order
Encore: Practice What You Preach
Over the Wall
Band members Chuck Billy – vocals
Eric Peterson – guitar
Alex Skolnick – guitar
Steve Di Giorgio – bass
Gene Hoglan – drums
“Sepultura do Brasil” are back with an exciting, multilayered journey through countless music genres and styles, proving there’s still room for innovation in heavy music.
If you’re one of those diehard fans of Brazilian Thrash/Groove Metal icons Sepultura that doesn’t accept anything the band has done after the departure of Max Cavalera, you can stop reading this review right now as that version of Sepultura is long gone. Machine Messiah, the fourteenth studio album by the most important band in the history of Brazilian Metal, is not only their best release since their 1998 album Against, but also (and more important than that) their most experimental album since their 1996 classic Roots, completely different from that basic Thrash Metal formula from their early days, therefore offering admirers of innovative music an exciting, multilayered journey through countless music genres and styles.
Machine Messiah, which features a stylish artwork designed by visual artist Camille Della Rosa that feels like a play with the cover art from their 1991 cult album Arise, is also the band’s first studio album in over three years since The Mediator Between Head and Hands Must Be the Heart, from 2013, marking the longest gap between two studio albums in their career. In addition, this is the second album with Eloy Casagrande on drums, who’s definitely a lot more comfortable now with the band and, consequently, he ends up adding a lot more intricacy, electricity and groove to the music by Sepultura. And regarding Mr. Andreas Kisser, well, nothing I write in this review will be enough to describe what he did in Machine Messiah with his superb technique.
Venturing on new lands never before explored by Sepultura, the title-track Machine Messiah is a dark, slow and atmospheric tune where we have Derrick’s clean and somber vocals complemented by Andreas’ unique riffs and soulful solos, showcasing elements from Doom and Stoner Metal that increase the song’s obscurity; whereas I Am the Enemy, with its rebellious lyrics (“Powered by thoughts of revolution / Building all bridges of error / Search and destroy my sick innerself / To realize I’m not a fraud”), gets closer to the brutal Hardcore found in albums like Against, with Eloy smashing his drums while Andreas and Derrick emanate sheer violence in this excellent high-octane hymn. And in Phantom Self, an experimental Groove Metal composition with hints of Alternative Metal, regional elements from the Brazilian and Middle-Eastern cultures are nicely added to the musicality, enhanced by the song’s thoughtful lyrics (“The crash. Flash backs. Carnage the blood keeps on flowing / Killing me. Trapped inside this tragedy / Can’t see the road in front of me / Replay this nightmare over and over”).
Alethea is another distinct composition in such diverse album, albeit not as crisp and exciting as the previous songs despite its progressiveness and experimentations. Once again, it’s Andreas who delivers the best pieces of the song with his flammable guitar, which also happens in Iceberg Dances, a kick-ass instrumental extravaganza where Andreas, Paulo and Eloy are in perfect sync, firing powerful riffs, thunderous bass lines and groovy beats. It reminds me a lot of the music by Mastodon, which means it’s at the same time insane and harmonious, with its Deep Purple-inspired keyboards and Flamenco acoustic guitar lines bringing even more awesomeness to the overall result. The symphonic and sometimes epic Sworn Oath, the longest of all songs, is not just another good surprise in Machine Messiah, but also in my humble opinion the best sonority for Derrick’s voice when he’s not singing fast-paced Hardcore. Moreover, if played live with a proper orchestra, it should sound simply astounding.
In the dark Resistant Parasites, Paulo delivers sheer heaviness with his bass lines, taking the song’s modern Groove Metal to the extreme, exhibiting a powerful and innovative vibe without losing the band’s characteristic aggressiveness, followed by Silent Violence, another track that reminds me of the craziness blasted by Mastodon. It’s fuckin’ heavy and complex at the same time, a tune to break your neck where Derrick fires madness and anger with his growls while Andreas continues to deliver pure creativity and feeling through his riffs and solos. Eloy and Andreas speed things up in the thrilling mosh pit-generator hymn Vandals Nest, bringing forward tons of creativity, complexity and groove (needless to say, I can’t wait to feel this song played live), before Cyber God gets back to the doomed sonority found in many parts of the album. This is a beautiful, somber ending to the regular version of the album, displaying low-tuned bass punches and piercing guitars, and blending elements from several styles such as Industrial, Groove, Gothic and Doom Metal, among many others, being extremely hard to define its style. And of course, if you go for the special edition of Machine Messiah, you’ll be treated to two top-notch bonus tracks, in special their cover version for Ultraseven no Uta from the cult tokusatsu science fiction TV series Ultra Seven, originally recorded by The Echoes & Misuzu Children’s Choral Group, not to mention the version that comes with a DVD with the making of Machine Messiah available at the Nuclear Blast webstore.
After Machine Messiah, I wonder where Andreas, Paulo, Derrick and Eloy will go next with their music. It’s such an experimental, intense and elaborate album it’s hard to imagine those four guys will be able to top it in terms of complexity with their future releases. But who am I to doubt what the iconic Sepultura will offer the world in the future? Andreas keeps getting better and better in what he does, putting his heart and soul into his music and uniting with his guitar in the most perfect way imaginable, with the other band members supporting him with precision and stamina. Sepultura are and will always be Brazil’s most prominent metal band no matter what, and with Machine Messiah they’re sending a solid message to the world there’s still room for innovation in heavy music, always keeping their core essence heavy and electrifying.
Best moments of the album: I Am the Enemy, Iceberg Dances and Vandals Nest.
Take a shot at this fun interview with Hateful Warfare to have a very good depiction of the everyday life, experiences and dreams of a true underground Death Metal band from Brazil.
The Headbanging Moose: As you’re a brand new Death Metal act, I guess we need to start by presenting you to our readers. In other words, who are Hateful Warfare? Can you please share with us some details on how the band got together, why and how you chose the name “Hateful Warfare”, where each band member comes from, and what your main goals are for the future?
Hateful Warfare: The band is comprised of Andrei (bass/vocals), Norba (guitar) and Denis (drums), a traditional Death Metal power trio. The band is a reformation of another project we had in the past, which didn’t end up working well and so the three of us decided to remain together and focus our common ideas on our songwriting and composing. The name of the band came in a moment of anger (laughs), as we were searching for a name that was impactful and that at the same time matched with our personalities on stage. Our goals for the future are recording our first full-length album, shooting a video clip, and then going on a tour of the album across Brazil.
THM: The band might be new, but there has already been a significant change to your music when one of the guitarists left and Hateful Warfare became a power trio. How has that influenced your music and the dynamism among the three band members left? What are the positive outcomes of this important change?
HW: His time with the band was short mainly due to his geographic location/distance to the rest of the band, which was a huge hassle for our rehearsals. It was decided that we would go on as a power trio, and our dynamism only tends to grow because when you’re a power trio you have more freedom in terms of composition, improvisation, harmony, acquaintanceship, among other positive points. In addition to that, Andrei and Norba are father and son, which already helps a lot. We are all comfortable in what we’ve been doing so far and this is very significant for a band to move on.
THM: I had the pleasure of reviewing your short but extremely heavy debut EP, entitled Scenarios Of Execution. If I had to describe the album in just a few words, I would say it’s old school Death Metal exactly the way it’s supposed to be. How was the songwriting and composition period of the album? How long did it take to finalize everything, and what were the highlights of the entire process to you?
HW: Thank you for your kind words, this is very gratifying for us. The creative process was very demanding, rehearsing two or three times a week, always composing riffs and with focus on creating something new everyday. We all thought about something during the week, wrote something, created the riffs, recorded at home and then presented that during the rehearsal in order to always capitalize on something. The recording was done at the Audio Goblin studio with the local producer and musician Fábio Gorresen (Flesh Grinder/Zombie Cookbook). It took one month to finalize the recording, mixing and mastering, and after that we released a few physical copies of the EP. We believe that the impact of the EP has been very positive, making us even more excited to record our full-length album as soon as possible.
THM: I would like to know more details about my favorite songs of the EP, starting with the excellent Welcome to my Nightmare. As mentioned in our review for the EP, the vocals sound inspired by the early days of the iconic Max Cavalera. Is he one of your main influences in music? How do you prepare your voice for the thunderous Death Metal by Hateful Warfare? In addition, although the riffs are extremely dirty, the overall result of the song is very melodic. How did you manage to reach that amazing level of balance between brutality and harmony?
HW: There is no secret, it’s just a matter of keeping the throat always moist and sing with hatred (laughs). Regarding you mentioning the song being dirty and melodic, I believe that actually comes from our influences, as this song was inspired by classic Death Metal the likes of Scream Bloody Gore (Death) to the Thrash Metal from the album Extreme Aggression (Kreator). There’s always aggressiveness followed by something harmonious that matches perfectly with the style.
THM: My other favorite tune, Bloody Night, brings lots of awesome elements from different subgenres of extreme music, such as Black and Doom Metal. Was that something you planned on doing, or did it come up naturally during the writing process? How does the audience react to songs that are not purely Death Metal like this one?
HW: It was something natural, we don’t write our music trying to remain 100% loyal to Death Metal. We have an infinitude of influences inside each of our heads and that was what best suited the music, lyrics thrown to the imaginary with an aggressive theme and several variations in the instrumental, stressing the heaviness and the speed at different times.
THM: Brazil might not be considered the most metal country in the world, but there’s still a good share of incredible bands spread across the country, not to mention how crazy most Brazilian headbangers are. In your opinion, how is the current Heavy Metal scene in Brazil? Do you feel that there are enough bands, venues and concerts down there to keep the fire of metal burning bright for many years to come? What are the main issues for a heavy band in Brazil?
HW: There are excellent new bands rising month after month, incredible places spread throughout Brazil, high-skilled musicians and the utmost quality. The only disturbing things are the high costs to maintain a band, equipment with extremely high taxes, and if you do not have a studio yourself you have to pay a lot of money to rehearse every single week. What drives metal in Brazil is the underground, we have to be headbangers faithful to the art, because making a living from metal in Brazil is still a dream for all of us, some can do it but that’s just a minority.
THM: What are top 5 albums that influenced the band members the most, and how much do those albums still inspire you to craft your music? What about non-metal bands and artists, are there any you enjoy that also impact the way you write your music?
HW: The top 5 albums that are the most present in the playlists of each one of us are Piece of Mind (Iron Maiden), Leprosy (Death), Severed Survival (Autopsy), Hell Awaits (Slayer) and Arise (Sepultura). Our writing process involves the whole context of what’s going on through our heads. At the moment I don’t have any specific albums to mention, but I would like to stress out that the lyrics for the song Addiction to Kill were written based on the story of the TV series Dexter.
THM: What would be the “dream tour” for Hateful Warfare? I mean, which bands would you feel honored to play with, and what are the cities, venues or festivals you would love to visit together with those bands?
Album Review – Hateful Warfare / Scenarios Of Execution EP (2015)
HW: There is an infinity of bands who we dream of playing together, such as Destruction, Gruesome, Cancer, Kreator, Obscura, Obituary, Sodom, Vader and so on (laughs). With every passing year high-quality festivals are born in several countries, but like any headbanger it would be a dream come true to step on the stage at Wacken Open Air, Hellfest, Monsters of Rock, Obscene Extreme, among others.
THM: In regards to your current tour dates, how are the concerts to promote Scenarios Of Execution going? Do you have any funny stories to share with us, or talk about something that went horribly wrong with the band? And do you have any plans for an international tour here in North America, in Europe or anywhere else?
HW: The shows have been taking place only in the state of Santa Catarina, Brazil, and they have been very positive so far for us. We have several good stories happening every night, the funniest being our first show. We were tuning the instruments to hit the stage and the intro was already going to start playing, when we lost sight of our drummer. We sought him all over the venue and no sign of him. We spent about 10 minutes looking for him and when we finally found him he was outside talking to some friends, while we were getting absolutely mad after him for a while (laughs).
THM: Muito obrigado pela entrevista! Please feel free to send a final message to all readers of The Headbanging Moose and to all fans of old school Death Metal all over the word.
HW: First of all, thanks for the compliments on our work, and also to the space provided for the interview. To all fans of old school Death Metal, always seek for novelties in the genre, there is a lot of good stuff emerging but that’s not getting recognized as it should. This genre has a lot to be unraveled yet, and that this Death Metal vein never runs out of blood!
“The Gospel Of Rot is both a warning and a weapon – a sonic rebellion against the forces that seek to silence and subjugate. De Profundis offers not salvation but a wake-up call…” – De Profundis
From their early days of primeval Doom and Death Metal, then venturing through the Progressive Death and Black Metal realms of their latest albums The Blinding Light of Faith (2018) and The Corruption of Virtue (2022), to the full-on Death Metal attack in The Gospel Of Rot, the band keeps crushing our putrid souls with their undisputed aggressiveness, precise musicianship, and a deep passion for the extreme, and you can get to know more about one of the precious gems of the British Death Metal scene by following the band on Facebook and on Instagram, by subscribing to their YouTube channel, by listening to all of their demented tunes on Spotify, and by purchasing the excellent The Gospel of Rot from BandCamp or by clicking HERE. In a nutshell, De Profundis are back at the very top of their game with The Gospel of Rot. Because the rot is everywhere, and it’s time to tear it down.
THE HEADBANGING MOOSE 