Text by: Raíssa Carvalho
Known for its low temperatures during the winter, the city of Vitória da Conquista, in the interior of Bahia, recorded one of the hottest nights of the season last Thursday, the 24th. The reason for the change in climate? The third edition of the Conquista Metal Fest Suíça Bahiana collective , whose name refers to one of the city's best-known nicknames.
With the mission of placing Conquista on the circuit of major national shows, the event brought, in the midst of the June festivities hangover, the In The Other Side Tour , a tour by the São Paulo-based death metal band Crypta , accompanied by two other heavyweight names from the scene: Paradise In Flames and Hatefulmurder .
The chosen artist to open the night was the virtuoso bassist from Vitória da Conquista, Filipe Moreno , who kicked off the event with a show of his own compositions. He was the first to greet the audience, who were still arriving at Moinho de Vento, the venue chosen by the organizers to host the festival.
But it was with Paradise In Flames that the audience began to lose their "shyness." With their atmospheric black metal and the melodic voice of vocalist Nienna Ni , the band from Minas Gerais helped to shorten the distance between the audience and the stage, at the right volume and with the exact dose of darkness.
Hatefulmurder gave the order: it's mosh time!
With a revamped lineup following the addition of vocalist Giulia Roiz and bassist Victor Magalhães , the Rio de Janeiro-based band Hatefulmurder showed why melodic death metal continues to thrive in Brazil. The show was the sonic equivalent of a very strong coffee at 7 pm, waking the audience up to fulfill the main demand of the night: headbanging.
The band, which seems to fine-tune its harmony with the new members at each show on the tour, called the audience to the mosh pit and raised the energy sky-high, in a crescendo that completely suspended any end-of-work fatigue. Those who came straight from work forgot there was even a day to come.
Crypta: the band that deserves the hype
The metal scene tends to look with suspicion and turn up its nose at "new" bands (read: those with less than 30 years of experience). It's almost common sense. But, in this sense, Crypta's tour offers fans a comforting certainty: they deserve all the recognition they receive.
All the buzz the band has been generating in Brazil and Europe is no accident; it's the result of quality. And that quality is evident in the first few minutes of the show. The audience needs to have their necks stretched out, at the very least, because it starts with great intensity.
The standout performance was by the colossal vocalist and bassist Fernanda Lira . In less than five minutes on stage, it seemed as if everyone there was mesmerized. The front of the stage seemed tiny! Fernanda doesn't just sing and play, she commands. She draws the audience's attention wherever she wants with magnetic authority. A lioness! Present. Completely present. And those watching can tell.
But highlighting Fernanda's leading role in no way diminishes the importance of the other members. Drummer Luana Dametto and guitarists Tainá Bergamaschi and Helena Nagagata form a cohesive, sharp, and synchronized team. The harmony between them was so evident that, at various moments, their stage movements seemed truly choreographed, mirrored.
An epic finale to a very unusual Thursday.
's show as the closing act of Conquista Metal Fest was a gift for those who left work and, as if the next day didn't exist, went to support the scene. People who not only enjoy metal, but also believe in the national scene and want to see it grow. People who are thrilled at the possibility of seeing our bands performing on stages all over the world.
A metal show, on a Thursday at 7 pm, at the end of the month? In a small town? Let's face it: it didn't seem like the ideal scenario. This raised doubts. Would the audience show up? Perhaps a local band was missing from the lineup to create a more direct link with the scene?
But the truth is that, outside of the Rio-São Paulo axis, rock, metal, and independent music don't operate under the logic of the "ideal scene." There's no glamour. There's no money to spare. Everything depends on the underground and the stubbornness of those who insist on keeping the scene going.
And the production faced an additional challenge: charging a higher ticket price than usual, making it inaccessible to some of the young people in Vitória da Conquista. A real and unavoidable obstacle for any cultural initiative that doesn't fit the "commercial" mold.
Ultimately, Conquista Metal Fest was the result of the willpower of those who organized it, those who attended, and those who believe that any given Thursday can indeed become unforgettable.
