Road to SWR 22: Six bands you can’t miss from day 3

This is it, folks. The 22nd edition of SWR Barroselas Metalfest is just around the corner and that means it’s time for our third and final “Road to SWR 22” article. We’d like to thank everyone who has read, shared and commented on this new series we created, many more will come in due time. But for now, enjoy this final piece on SWR 22 and get yourselves ready for the incoming bash.

SWR Barroselas Metalfest 22 takes place at the A.D.B. Sport Facilities, in Barroselas, on April 26th-28th. Single day and three-day tickets for the festival are still available for 38 and 78 euros, respectively, and can be purchased online via the festival’s Big Cartel page, here.

Craft

Satanism and nihilism are by now very synonymous with black metal and one of the bands that best encapsulates those concepts is Craft. Born in 1998, by the hands of Swedish guitarist Joakim Karlsson, Craft are quite possibly one of those bands that you only heard about recently and that’s not an unfounded reasoning at all. The band has always had a sort of “cult status” among the underground community thanks to records such as Terror Propaganda and Fuck The Universe – the latter being regarded as the epitome of excellently crafted black metal – and the fact that they never really played shows. That all changed in 2014, when Joakim relented and decided to start performing live, deeming it as a challenge and a way of improving himself and the band.

This newfound vision and energy also brought forth one of the most interesting black metal releases to come out in 2018. White Noise and Black Metal is a showcase of viciousness and malignancy that catapulted Craft to the front row they so deserve. That same record is what the band will be bringing on their very first visit to Portugal, where they will play at SWR’s Warriors Abyss stage. Aggression, blasphemy and an eternal contempt for life await all who dare witness the coming of Craft.

Vomitory

When Vomitory announced back in 2013 they were going to split up, we could scarcely believe it. As one of Sweden’s finest death metal exports, this quartet spawned some of the heaviest and most brutal records to ever explode on our faces, such as Blood Rapture, Terrorize Brutalize Sodomize and their incredibly devastating debut Raped In Their Own Blood, just to name a few. An unholy mixture of assaulting guitars, devastating blast beats and fierce vocals marked Vomitory’s uncompromising sound that kept the blood pumping like crazy and made anyone want to march into oblivion. So, naturally, a cease of activity by the band seemed like a waste.

However, after laying dormant for four years, Vomitory returned for a one-off reunion show at Summer Breeze Open Air in honour of an old friend. The show went so well, the band started to consider the possibility of a whole reunion tour and this year, that’s exactly what we’re getting. Though it is still unclear whether or not this is just the start of something much bigger, what matters is that Vomitory is back to kick our teeth in. Reinvigorated and with a newly found taste for blood and devastation, the Swedish death metal engine will return to SWR to once again hold the festival hostage and give a hard lesson in brutality to anyone present.

Arkhon Infaustus

Speaking of highly appreciated reunions, we got another really good one for you. Formed in ’97 by DK Deviant, Arkhon Infaustus are regarded as one of the filthiest and most formidable acts to come out of the French underground scene. Records such as Filth Catalyst and Orthodoxyn are true hymns to desecration and carnal perversion, with menacing guitars, technical drumming and commanding death vocals being predominant all throughout. In 2009, the band would vanish into non-existence only to break that silence eight years later with the release of their EP, Passing The Nekromanteion, a gargantuan release featuring a more melodic but equally destructive vibe.

Since then, DK Deviant – with the help of drummer Skvm – put together a live lineup consisting of current and former members of bands such as Vorkreist, Black Crown Initiate, Glorior Belli and Code, and restoked the flames of war and deviancy, ready to demolish stages around the world once again. Next week, they will stop by SWR’s Loud Dungeon stage to unleash a good dosage of hellish turmoil and obscurity, so make sure you are there to witness the carnage.

Nervosa

If you thought these lists were missing a certain adrenaline-inducing genre, then we got you covered. Hailing all the way from Brazil, Nervosa are a power trio that has been breathing new life into thrash metal ever since their debut record, Victim of Yourself. Led by the charismatic Fernanda Lira, the band’s sound features a balanced blend of crushingly fast drums, high-speed guitar riffage and rage-fueled screams that transmit messages of equality and revolt. Their third and latest record, Downfall of Mankind, is regarded as a more extreme and refined take on the genre that never sacrifices its groove or its roots.

Last time the Brazilian thrashers were on Portuguese soil, they gave an energetic performance as opening acts for Destruction. This time, they will be visiting us in their own name to wreak havoc upon the Loud Dungeon stage. Ready to kill the silence?

Auroch

Canada is known to breed some of the most intense and musically challenging metal projects we’ve seen and heard. Be it the classical mastery of Gorguts or the abrasive soundscapes of Mitochondrion – or even whatever Devin Townsend feels like doing at the time -, Canada has been the epicentre for the creation and expansion of various metal subgenres, which is weird considering the carefree and apologetic nature of the country. On the more blackened spectrum of Canadian heavy music we have Auroch, a band formed by members of the previously mentioned Mitochondrion, who decided to trade the overarching chaos and delirium of the latter with a more melodic and coherent approach. Adopting a “riff-first” mentality, this Canadian trio spews caustic sonorities wrapped under a dense and writhing atmosphere, all coupled with seething vocals – just listen to their latest record, Mute Books, and feel the lethality that is Auroch course through your veins.

Not known for venturing too long in European soil, Auroch will be visiting this side of the Atlantic Ocean next week for a string of exactly three dates, one of them being at SWR. The band will be presenting their aforementioned latest record in all its blistering glory and you will want to be a part of the ceremony once it hits the Loud Dungeon stage.

Crowhurst

Harsh music for harsh people. That’s the motto of Jay Gambit and friends, otherwise known as Crowhurst, a post-black/sludge band with extremely noisy and experimental inclinations that has been gaining increasingly more notoriety ever since their inception in 2011. Featuring a potent cacophony of sonic onslaught with passages that jump between the harmonious and the dissonant, this is one band that you should not take lightly. Their discography is astonishingly vast and diverse, ranging from suffocating drone and noise records such as Nothingness and Living For Nothing, to the more calm and ambient-oriented outputs like Studies In Pessimism or Black Funeral Atmospheres. Their latest full-length, III, features past and present members of Primitive Man and Death In June, among others, and stands as the culmination of Jay Gambit’s lifework, often being cited as Crowhurst’s best record yet.

Always metamorphing and shapeshifting, Crowhurst’s live performances are rare and unpredictable, often leaving its audience standing in awe of the sonorous disarray the band causes in their live performances. At SWR, those that revel in chaos and dissonance will feel right at home when Crowhurst set foot on the SWR Arena, and those that don’t will soon be converted to the cult of disharmony. Expect the unexpected.

Article assembled from suggestions by the Lore team
Words by Filipe Silva