The venue, one of the then ex-libris for concerts of this ilk, was a particular favourite of mine at that time, I'd been there many times before, and would return a few more times after. A small, two-tiered building, it still had pretty decent sound - except when sound engineers screwed everything up and the bands sounded crap - and got a bit famous for some morons diving from the first floor onto the crowd.
Three local bands would be playing, as well as three foreign bands. The national roster was comprised of Thormenthor (I hated the gig back then, hated how they sounded in genereal, but in my adult life I came to listen to them and thought 'hey, this isn't so bad after all', Disgorged (who actually didn't play at all for some reason) and Moonspell, who'd go on to become Portugal's greatest metal band. I did quite enjoy their gig - it was short and sweet and well played. Surely it was a herald of greater things to come.
As for the other bands, now those were my main draw. I was dead eager to see all of them live, though my knowledge of their backlog of work may not have been the best. But playing that night would be Anathema (the proper, doom-metal Anathema, with Darren White still on vocals), Samael (of whom I knew because I had their 'Blood Ritual' CD and Cannibal Corpse, quite likely my favourite death-metal band of the era.
Anathema was an amazing gig, though nowadays whenever I see the setlist for that particular gig, there are some songs there that I just can't remember having been played. Granted, it was over 25 years ago, but still.
Cannibal Corpse's gig was tremendous - Chris Barnes was on point, the sound was absolutely crushing, and the crowd was wild. It also holds the distinction of being the last ever gig where I moshed. Now, truth be told, the physical aspect of heavy music never appealed that much to me - the moshing, the slam dancing, etc. - but during that particular gig I got hit in the head by a steel-toed boot one time too many and decided to call it quits.
Ever since then, I'm either comfortably sat down enjoying the concert, or safely off to the side just taking it all in.
But the highlight, for sure, was Samael. I might have not been that impressed with what I knew of them, but they were then promoting their new album 'Ceremony of Opposites', and they just completely blew me away.
From the first moment they set foot on the stage, I knew it was going to be something special. I'd never seen someone like singer Vorph on stage - his was a palpable hatred that emanated from him. The visceral performance he delivered, coupled with Mas on bass and Xy on drums was, by itself something to behold, but even further stealing the show would be that man behind the keyboards, Rodolphe H.
A mohawked, sunglassed, black clad figure who stood behind the keyboards, themselves hidden behind a cloth of blackest black, he seemed to not move at all - but his hands would often move up and down as if they were playing the notes to armageddon itself.
I left the gig impassioned, and would acquire their 'Ceremony of Opposites' shortly after.
In a curious turn of events, a few months after this gig, in May 1995, they played another gig in Lisbon, this time with fellow label mates Tiamat and Sentenced - two of my favourite bands then, as well as some national acts, Thormenthor yet again, Sacred Sin, and Exomortis. If I'm honest, the only one of these I remember actually seeing was Exomortis, and I did finf them quite interesting, but never really followed up on them.
I was somewhat occupied to absorb much from the other gigs, but that was the gig where I met the future mother of my son.
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