Gaerea - "Absent"

Today I end up this week of special posts dedicated to MetalMad's Oath Circle Meeting II, none other with Portuguese black metal band Gaerea, and the official video of this track: "Absent", taken from their debut full-length album: "Unsettling Whispers" released last year.
Gaerea were formed in Porto, back in May 2016, and are made of five elements which prefer to stay anonymous, wearing masks on their live shows for that purpose. When asked about that, they simply reply: "Everyone wears a mask!".
In November of their starting year, the band launched their first EP titled after the own name: "Gaerea", and as mentioned above, two years later the first full-length release came out to the World.
With such a short career already, Gaerea have been conquering great international recognition, and their last mini-tour of eight gigs in China back in May is a good proof of that, being also one of the few Portuguese bands to perform in Asian ground.
For all of these reasons to start with, needless to say it will be a tremendous honor to welcome Gaerea on stage tonight at the DTOX bar in Funchal, Madeira, and feel their mighty and austere black metal echoing through the venue, also know as Mad Dungeon.
To finish, I will quote here how Gaerea describe themselves, which pretty much says what their project and identity are:

"Let's make one thing clear. We need to stress the fact that our era is lost in a huge void of numbness. We are here to bring and present you what your system could not solve by it self. We'll cover the daylight with ashes and smash the massive skull that's blocking your brain and will to evolve. We're GAEREA."

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Basalto - "XV"

The stoner/doom metal trio from Viseu, Portugal have just launched a new album: "Odor", their third full-length release, and their characteristic deep and doom rhytims are more present than ever in this new work.
"XV" is one of the four tracks of "Odor", as the band continues to name their songs with roman letters, following the right sequence since their very first track: "I". According to them, it's a way to register the band's evolution while seeking their own identity.
Just like the previous album, it was also inspired by the lyrics of Martim Sousa, which created this poem divided in four parts (in this case four songs), whose meaning matches like a glove when sung with the thunderous voice of António Baptista.
Basalto were founded in February of 2015, and in the following year they released the first album titled after their own name: "Basalto". In 2018 came the second full-length release: "Doença", and just recently (as we have been talking now), their work has culminated so far with the new "Odor", and in the best way possible I daresay.
The line-up consists of António Baptista (guitars & vocals), Nuno Mendonça (bass) and João Lugatte (drums).
Tomorrow, we all metal heads from Madeira will have the privilege to experience live the new album "Odor" at MetalMad's Oath Circle Meeting II, as Basalto will be the second act to hit the Main Stage of this event. In the meantime, here's the video of "XV":

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Karnak Seti - "Psicótica"

One of my favourites of melodic death metal band Karnak Seti, from my island Madeira, "Psicótica" is this track taken from their 2004 demo, equally called: "Karnak Seti".
The project started in 2001, with the first and original line-up being: Nelson Nascimento (vocals), Renato Ramos and António Jesus (guitars), Cláudio Aguiar (bass) and Nino Frazão (drums). Their first release came out in 2003, a 7-track demo named "Cosmic Fate", and up until 2008 they made three other demos, before launching their first full-length album in 2009: "Scars of Your Decay".
Afterwards they have released two other studio albums: "In Harmonic Entropy" in 2011, and "The Distance That Made Us Cold" in 2016.
You can check their albums on the YouTube, Spotify and Bandcamp links bellows.
Their last known line-up as of 2016, had Luís Erre on vocals, and Emanuel Freitas on the drums, with the remaining members still being the same from their early days.
Karnak Seti will return to the live shows this Friday, at MetalMad's Oath Circle Meeting II, being the first act to perform on the Main Stage, and also the only Madeirian band of the event, which to many of the crowd that will be present that night, will bring back memories of the many amazing gigs that Karnak Seti did in the island, one of the most influential Metal projects we had, and still have!

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OAK - "Mirror"

This long 19 min. track "Mirror" is one of the first songs shown to the public by Portuguese funeral doom metal band OAK, of their upcoming debut full-length album "Lone", which is due to be released on 20th December of this year.
I say long but not boring, definitely on the opposite, it's a deep atmospheric track that takes your senses away on a whole different dimension, as if part of a great journey that "Lone" itself can provide. According to the band members, this album is like: "A long journey where you find yourself in the middle of multiple scenarios and you can almost see the landscaping as you hear the gigantic sounds that echo through all of those places. From the burden one could carry to hold this world to the claustrophobic maze that traps your soul. - an ummerciful journey between Life and Death".

OAK were formed in Porto, in the year of 2017, by Guilherme Henriques (guitars & vocals) and Pedro Soares (drums), who are also involved with the Portuguese black metal band Gaerea. Both of these projects will be at MetalMad's Oath Circle Meeting II in Funchal, but for OAK will be more of a return, as they already performed at DTOX bar last year in October, absorving everyone on the crowd with their doom and grim sound! Surely they will provide that experience again, next Friday night on the Free Stage of OCM II.

We metal heads in Madeira, can all feel very fortunate to witness "Lone" live in our land before it comes out to the World. Here it is, "Mirror":

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Greengo - "Youforyourself Satanforall"

Greengo are a Portuguese duo from Porto, and their musical genre according to the band themselves is: Rock n'Roll Stoner Metal Doom Weed, with a good dose of psicadelism and humour, as you will notice in this track.
They have released their first full-length album last year: "Dabstep", which will be presented to the crowd at Oath Circle Meeting II in Funchal, as they will perform on the Free Stage of DTOX bar this Friday, surely providing everyone with a massive and "green" experience!

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Oath Circle Meeting II

This week I will not follow the schedule as normal, and instead I will highlight the bands/projects that will perform at the event Oath Circle Meeting II, taking place next Friday in my hometown Funchal. This big show is being promoted by local fanzine MetalMad, who have been presenting the Madeirian metal heads with some cool and interesting gigs since last year, this way giving the chance for the local projects to perform live, which unfortunately doesn't happen much often, and at the same time stimulating the Metal culture among the audience, especially on the younger generation, undoubtedly something very positive on their behalf.
So after inviting to the island last year, two Metal projects from the mainland, first was funeral doom metal band Oak, and secondly the black/death sound of Congruity, this time we will have not one or two, but four projects from the mainland!
Oak are back again from last year, and they will perform on the free stage of the show, along with the counterparts from Porto, Greengo. On the main stage, we will have melodic death metal band Karnak Seti from Madeira, the stoner metal sound of Basalto from Viseu, and black metal band Gaerea from Porto.
Every single of these bands/projects, will have more emphasis on the following posts this week, in the meantime be sure to know more about MetalMad in the links bellow, and if you're in Madeira and still you don't know about this event, don't waste anymore time and buy your ticket.
For more about Oath Circle Meeting II click here.

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