sexta-feira, 20 de setembro de 2019
quinta-feira, 19 de setembro de 2019
REVIEW: SONICBLAST MOLEDO 2019
With atypical gray skies and promises of strong winds and rain showers due
to a gnarly storm grazing the
north of the country, we hit the road for the annual pilgrimage to the
psychedelic Mecca, Moledo do Minho for another edition of Sonic Blast. The
smooth ride to our destination, provided by a bag of delicious weedian brownies,
would soon turn into a nightmare as we were hit by the storm right when we were
setting our tents... what a struggle, especially when you realize that your tent is no longer water proof! I remember
leaving the campsite apprehensive for not knowing if it was still gonna be up
when I returned later. The chaos is also visible at entrance with the soaked crowds
exchanging their tickets and the pool closed due to the carnage left from the
night before, damaging part of the stage forcing all the bands to perform on
the main one.
Still a little shaken up from the ordeal I managed to catch a glimpse of Japanese kraut rockers Minami Deutch, with their repetitive and hypnotic grooves creating a pleasant ambiance of electronic pulses echoing in space while sharp guitar noisy tones hover around with random fuzzy explosions. I was finally able to relax and unwind a bit...
Next on the line were The Devil and The Almighty Blues, hailing from the cold Norway to present their latest and brilliant LP “TRE”, the quintet took the stage with grace as their bluesy hard rock warmed the wet crowd, with flaming riffs burning slow and heavy compositions igniting the raw, pristine and powerful vocals of the enigmatic front man. Your typical scandinavian trailblazer show setting the right mood for the rest of day.
The next day we decided
to treat ourselves with a nice meal for lunch and venture
to the village just up north Caminha, beautiful and peculiar little place that
is an important landmark for a lot of pilgrims doing the Santiago Trails...
Back at campsite, the chill out surf vibes of portuguese band O Bom, o Mau e
o Azevedo were already inviting the people over to the main stage since the
pool remained closed. With another young local band following next, Mr. Mojo
made sure to turn up the heat with their aggressive stoned punk rock and
jumped start the party.
After going outside to deal with the munchies I found a nice spot to relax and enjoy the heavy freight train of metal, punk and stoner of the energetic L.A. band Zig-Zags and the cult band from across the border Viaje a 800 and their classic rock tainted with stoner and prog. elements to a vast and fervent crowd composed mainly by nuestros hermanos.
Kaleidobolt are next on the bill and I know for a fact that these dudes know how to party... promoting their recent record Bitter, the power trio from Finland presented us an extravagant prog show laced with blues and heavy psych that fired up the crowd. Leaning more and more into the prog side with each release, not only displaying great musicianship but also how much they´ve grown as a band and solidified their sound into something really cool and unique with complex textures and depths. The frantic performance filled with wild riffs burst as the grooves escalated were welcomed by a hypnotic crowd.
Headlining the night were the veterans Orange Goblin, who also returned to Moledo to bring a little bit of the ol' British heavy metal. A sonic blitzkrieg commanded by Ben Ward, the brawny beast who knocks down cans of brewskies like shots and his platoon made the last assault to the crowd going through their classic songs that made them a reference within the stoner metal sub genre. With a few words dedicated to the late Metal God Lemmy and a couple of Motörhead covers, the crowd went completely nuts forming circle pits and even a wall of death... absolutely crazy ending for the night!
With the sun finally shinning on Saturday warming our soul we decided this time to go south, exploring Vila Praia de Âncora and hit the beach in order to get some rest and align our chakras for the intensive mediation experience later with the shaman of the low end Al Cisneros...
Completely bypassing the pool stage that opened on the last day, we went like fiends, straight to the main one to get our fix of the daily dose of San Diego heavy psych this time being delivered by Sacri Monti. The psychedelic ensemble were back in Portugal to promote their wonderful release titled ”Waiting Room for the Magic Hour with the 70s hard psych vintage feel and proggy flavored compositions. The quintet flowered on stage with amazing chemistry driven by the guitars, organ and drums creating their trademark South Cali atmosphere and cosmic vibe. Electrifying and enthralling performance that held the audience spellbound until the last minute with warm riffs and summery grooves.
Got up as soon as the gig ended, popped some magic mushrooms and went onwards to search for a nice spot to see, what me and I think everybody else was really waiting for, the headliners OM. And oh boy... when the weedian priest Al Cisneros entered the stage to start the ceremony the place went surprisingly quiet, as if we were on a real church during a sunday mass. Well, the experience is indeed very similar, except this preacher doesn't want to indoctrinate but instead to enlighten you and with St. Tecla Mountain on the background serving as our “Natural Giza”, the American trio went on to deliver, unarguably, the best show of the festival. The soothsayer Al, looking like a stoned version of prophet Muhammad, plugged in his signature Rickenbacker bass laying down enrapturing riffs that rattles you entire ribcage and delivered his message in the form of hypnotic doom mantras with strong middle eastern themes and influences. Sided by the extremely talent drummer Emil Amos and multi-instrumentalist Tyler Trotter from experimental band Watter, the entrancing performance revolved around their last two albums Advaitic Songs and God is Good coming back for the encore with “Bhima`s Theme” to end this pilgrimage for the devoted audience that was left mesmerized and numb after such an intense rite.
Big Up and respect to all the people involved in making this great event.
All photos by Rodriguez!
Still a little shaken up from the ordeal I managed to catch a glimpse of Japanese kraut rockers Minami Deutch, with their repetitive and hypnotic grooves creating a pleasant ambiance of electronic pulses echoing in space while sharp guitar noisy tones hover around with random fuzzy explosions. I was finally able to relax and unwind a bit...
Next on the line were The Devil and The Almighty Blues, hailing from the cold Norway to present their latest and brilliant LP “TRE”, the quintet took the stage with grace as their bluesy hard rock warmed the wet crowd, with flaming riffs burning slow and heavy compositions igniting the raw, pristine and powerful vocals of the enigmatic front man. Your typical scandinavian trailblazer show setting the right mood for the rest of day.
As we went outside to
find something to eat, all hell broke loose.. the sky suddenly unleashes a hard
and cold rainfall of biblical proportions, with
people scattering in every direction and finding shelter wherever they could.
Luckily we found a house in construction nearby where we could eat and wait out
the rain as we watched from afar Lucifer and Monolord perform
to a smaller but devoted crowd... but the resistants that stayed in, were honored with two great shows.
Returning again after
last year and just when the rain had stopped, the power trio Earthless
brought the SoCal sunlit vibes and wasted no time in lighting the place
up! It´s always a joy and a pleasure to watch this cosmic three piece live
delivering their heavy psych jams and freely ascend to higher places, even
thought the set was mostly the same as last year's with the exception of the
last song, inviting Nicke Andersson (The Hellacopters and Lucifer) to cover
“City Slang” from Sonics Rendezvous Band a iconic band from the 70´s Detroit
punk scene featuring members from MC5 and The Stooges... but the chemistry and
energy these guys have on stage is mesmerizing and flows easily into to the
crowd that vibrates and radiates cosmic bliss, as the powerful & robust
backbone that this rhythm section is, setting it up perfectly for Isaiah Mitchell to
drop his lysergic guitar and melt our brains out.
Who seems to have lost
some of their flame is Graveyard as they still seem to be searching for
the magick they once had. Returning after a quick hiatus forced by the
drummer´s departure back in 2016, the Swedish quartet now with only half of the
original formation, delivered in Moledo a good performance mixing the classic
songs and crowd-pleasers of their sophomore LP Hisingen Blues with their latest
effort from last year Peace, more FM and arena friendly. Keeping their recipe
around the 70s heavy blues & hard rock and by now with years of road
experience, gave the elated crowd a fun and emotive show on a roller coaster
of moods swinging between heart warming mellow groves and heavy riffs and solos.
Closing
the night, portuguese psych rockers Solar Corona seized the opportunity
to end the first day of the festival with a bang. Not an easy task to follow
two of the most acclaimed international acts, but the bold and innovative young
quartet took the stage filled with confidence and stormed the place fiercely as psychedelic
atmospheres and spacey ambiances overflowed the venue and lifted the already tired
and beaten crowd. Presenting their recent and ambitious debut LP Lightning One with a
brilliant performance, the fuzzed out motorik rhythmic section made a
thunderous assault to the crowd while
the versatile and multi-layered guitar exchanged blows with a skizo sax and
his crazy outbursts in a captivating and entrancing dance. Pretty faded on my the return to the tent but stoked to find it still standing up and relativity dry...
Coming all the way from
San Diego, California, heavy psych quartet Petyr flipped the audience
with a gnarly set, always rippin fuzzed out lines packed with a heavy bags of
tricks, the band fronted by pro skater Riley Hawk, bombed the place like Moledo
was a hill in San Francisco, power sliding all the way down with brute force. Grinding
everything in their path with rad guitar solos and sick grooves inspired by
vintage 70s hard psych, including a phenomenal cover of “Satori III” from
Japanese masters Flower Travellin Band, this greasy crew rides hard and heavy
with smooth transitions in their bowl of trippy jams. Everybody was dazed
with the hazy performance of a band, that in my opinion, really captures the
spirit of this awesome festival...
After going outside to deal with the munchies I found a nice spot to relax and enjoy the heavy freight train of metal, punk and stoner of the energetic L.A. band Zig-Zags and the cult band from across the border Viaje a 800 and their classic rock tainted with stoner and prog. elements to a vast and fervent crowd composed mainly by nuestros hermanos.
Kaleidobolt are next on the bill and I know for a fact that these dudes know how to party... promoting their recent record Bitter, the power trio from Finland presented us an extravagant prog show laced with blues and heavy psych that fired up the crowd. Leaning more and more into the prog side with each release, not only displaying great musicianship but also how much they´ve grown as a band and solidified their sound into something really cool and unique with complex textures and depths. The frantic performance filled with wild riffs burst as the grooves escalated were welcomed by a hypnotic crowd.
Filling in for My
Sleeping Karma and returning for the second time to Sonic Blast, polish weed
dealers Belzebong came out blazing their marijuana infused doom with
satanic worship. The great recipe for slow and heavy music and these guys are
true connoisseurs... immersed by green lights, loud riffs and dragged grooves
the crowd partook on a collective high with a synchronized headbanging.
Headlining the night were the veterans Orange Goblin, who also returned to Moledo to bring a little bit of the ol' British heavy metal. A sonic blitzkrieg commanded by Ben Ward, the brawny beast who knocks down cans of brewskies like shots and his platoon made the last assault to the crowd going through their classic songs that made them a reference within the stoner metal sub genre. With a few words dedicated to the late Metal God Lemmy and a couple of Motörhead covers, the crowd went completely nuts forming circle pits and even a wall of death... absolutely crazy ending for the night!
With the sun finally shinning on Saturday warming our soul we decided this time to go south, exploring Vila Praia de Âncora and hit the beach in order to get some rest and align our chakras for the intensive mediation experience later with the shaman of the low end Al Cisneros...
Completely bypassing the pool stage that opened on the last day, we went like fiends, straight to the main one to get our fix of the daily dose of San Diego heavy psych this time being delivered by Sacri Monti. The psychedelic ensemble were back in Portugal to promote their wonderful release titled ”Waiting Room for the Magic Hour with the 70s hard psych vintage feel and proggy flavored compositions. The quintet flowered on stage with amazing chemistry driven by the guitars, organ and drums creating their trademark South Cali atmosphere and cosmic vibe. Electrifying and enthralling performance that held the audience spellbound until the last minute with warm riffs and summery grooves.
Windhand were already on when I came back from dinner and a power nap at the press
center. I'm not a big fan... but judging by the little that I saw and the
crowd´s reaction, seemed like it was a nice performance.
And the same goes for Eyehategod...
I guess! I was only listening them from afar, near a tree chillin and rolling
all the weed I had left in several joints and saving them for
the ritual coming next, as I wanted to light some candles during the show.
Got up as soon as the gig ended, popped some magic mushrooms and went onwards to search for a nice spot to see, what me and I think everybody else was really waiting for, the headliners OM. And oh boy... when the weedian priest Al Cisneros entered the stage to start the ceremony the place went surprisingly quiet, as if we were on a real church during a sunday mass. Well, the experience is indeed very similar, except this preacher doesn't want to indoctrinate but instead to enlighten you and with St. Tecla Mountain on the background serving as our “Natural Giza”, the American trio went on to deliver, unarguably, the best show of the festival. The soothsayer Al, looking like a stoned version of prophet Muhammad, plugged in his signature Rickenbacker bass laying down enrapturing riffs that rattles you entire ribcage and delivered his message in the form of hypnotic doom mantras with strong middle eastern themes and influences. Sided by the extremely talent drummer Emil Amos and multi-instrumentalist Tyler Trotter from experimental band Watter, the entrancing performance revolved around their last two albums Advaitic Songs and God is Good coming back for the encore with “Bhima`s Theme” to end this pilgrimage for the devoted audience that was left mesmerized and numb after such an intense rite.
Big Up and respect to all the people involved in making this great event.
All photos by Rodriguez!
Subscrever:
Mensagens (Atom)