Divas of Metal: The Colombian Chapter - Laura Paez

Greetings Almighty Legions,

And now, all the way from her comfortable bed in Bogota, Colombia, Yours Truly would like to report some serious Metal activity after being part of an event titled A Night of Pleasure at the Rottenblock (or Cuadra Picha, as it is most commonly known around here) this past Saturday night. Initially, I had gone for two reasons:
1. One of my new friends, whom I like to call Rocio Nocturno, was organizing the gig and made me promise her over a month and a half ago that I would attend, and
2. To support a friend's band who does a tribute to Manowar, called Pleasure Slave.

In all honesty, Manowar and I are in absolutely no way compatible, so whatever I say about the tribute itself will be completely bias and unfair to those who do enjoy that kind of music. Thus, I will reserve my opinion of the tribute to myself, and encourage you to check it out and see whether you like it or not. However, one is still ought to show some support, specially here, as bands really put their hearts and souls into what they do. On that note, I give the Manowar tribute an A+ for effort :)

Moving on... I had no expectations, whatsoever, about the bands that were going to play at the event. From what I was told a few weeks ago, I was to expect some Thrash, some Death and a serious Black Metal cult band, c'est-à-dire. After such vague description, all I could truly do was to go with an opened mind, bring lady camera along, and be alert to any surprise that potentially awaited for me.


I got there at around 8:30pm, which was supposedly an hour and a half after the show was scheduled to start. As I have mentioned before, this country and punctuality are not exactly synchronized, so as you may expect, the show had obviously not started by the time I arrived to the fine venue. By then, there were only around 20 bodies inside, which was not surprising at all, given that on that same evening another show was taking place on the other side of the city (Oh, it was just nothing, you shouldn't mind it, really. It was only Spain's most GORE-FIC BRUTAL DEATH METAL BAND OF ALL TIMES, AVULSED -so, nothing really...- Jesus "Sweet Lobotomy" Christ! GOD DAMN IT times 87256! and I FUCKING MISSED IT. I DESERVE NOTHING LESS THAN TO HAVE MY EYES EATEN BY CARNIVORE PLANTS AS LEMON IS POURED ONTO THEM, UGH!).


Anyway... back to where I left off (I am still trying to get over the last parenthesis). While waiting for Lethal Warrior to finish setting up, I made my way towards the bar and purchased a delicious beer just to kill sometime (that beer became more like 5, by the time the band managed to get its beans together. It was quite challenging not to succumb to the arms of pleasant sleep at that point; yet I gathered all my energy and remained awake like a champion ^.^). After a while of having my ears continuously bombarded by annoying feedback due to an awful sound setup, the band started playing what seemed to be a cover of Metallica's Seek and Destroy. Fair enough, there were some coordination problems among the musicians, and quite frankly I really think that even a band like, let's say Cannibal Corpse, would have had issues with that atrocious sound engineer. Anyway, that was something I was willing to overlook due to various reasons:

1. As I just mentioned, I had the alcohol of 5 beers running around my circulatory system, making me quite  forgiving and understanding,

 

2. I really, REALLY, like that song and the fact that they chose to open with it was a nice thing to do, and

 

3. I had bigger problems at the time, as I was trying to figure out a way to protect my eardrums from the horrendous feedback, which apparently was a challenge impossible to overcome by the person in charge of the sound. Jesus "Ouch, my fucking ears are bleeding" Christ.

So, back to the band. Something I had completely forgotten to mention (which is the main point of me writing this entry. Pardon me silliness) was that the band playing this spectacular song had two vocalists: a dude that looked like a Slayer fan and a lady with really long hair, fine facial features and a Gothic corset. First thought that went through my head: I am about to hear something that will probably sound like Nightwish or Tristania, which was not the frame of mind that I was in at the moment (had you asked me at the time, I would have said: Fuck that shit and I want my money back....), as I was looking for truly raw Metal.

Anyway, the music started:

♫tuntun tada tada tadadada

♫tuntun tada tada tadadada

♫tuntun tada tada tadadada

♫tadadadadad, tuntuntun tururu♫ 

And then goes the part of what usually sounds like James Hetfield going: 

Alright!♫

We are scanning the scene ♫

in the city tonight. ♫

...

♫

Not in this case (no, the lyrics weren't changed, but there was no sign of Hetfield influence). The voice that emanated from that stage sounded more like freakin' Martin Pedersen from Visceral Bleeding. Sweet Mother of Kirk Hammett and Rene Iguita! I was so perplexed that I even tried to associate such gruesomely awesome voice to the male counterpart of the band, yet after paying close attention, I realized all the power came from the lady singer. I got goosebumps from the excitement. 

I mean, how often do we come across a lady that does incredible guttural singing, without sucking some major African member? Yes often, but certainly not always. Pardon me if this sounds a little sexists, but the most extreme divisions within Metal are truly not meant to be sung by women, especially when the end result turns of to the something like Kitte (ew...). Fortunately, every rule has its exceptions, as it is seen in the following cases:

Ms. Angela Gossow from Swedish DM legend Arch Enemy 

Otep's Shamaya

Canadian Melodic Death Metal Queen, Alissa White-Gluz from The Agonist (Canuck Pride All the Way!!!)

Maria "Tristessa" Kolokouri, from the Greek Black Metal Band, Astarte

Bolivian Queen of Melodic Brutal Death Metal, Zdenka Prado, the lead vocalist of Cincinnati's Estuary

Candace Kucsulain from Walls of Jerico

Viktoria Belikova from Russian Nu-Metal Band, Save

Grindcore Princess, Mallika from Marlborough's Abnormality (this girl kicks some serious derriere!)

Pyrrah's Lead Vocalist, Christine P. Newman from my very own Toronto, Canada (Canuck Pride, all the way!!!!!)

Josephine, ex-Decompose my Dying Daughter (filthy naughty Brutal Grind)

And the list goes on (and yours truly is quite happy about that, by the way). This time I am thrilled to introduce a new name to the list above, and even more excited to announce that she's 100% Colombian product:

World: Meet Lady Laura Paez, Colombia's Death Metal Diva!

Her name is Laura Paez and she's the lead vocalist from Thrash/DM band Lethal Warrior from Bogota. The power behind this woman's vocal ability goes beyond anything I have ever seen live (hence me writing about it), and believe me, I have seen plenty. Even though things didn't work out that evening for Lethal Warrior, as an ensemble, I must express my contentment about having been a part of the event. Fortunately enough, I witnessed her full potential last night, as we ended up having a few drinks after Congregation Fest, where lady Laura and Mr. Bizzarrio from Cuentos de los Hermanos Grind had a full-on Brutal duet to Metallica's Enter Sandman. Oh, the power of booze makes moments like this priceless ☺.

From what I was told recently, they are working on a video and on more music, which will be posted on their Myspace website. For now, I will leave you with a rehearsal video of the band playing Seek and Destroy (the quality may not be the best, but I hope you are able to get a good grasp) and with the photos I took at the show.

Hails to the Diva of Colombian Death Metal! |m|

-Stay Metal-

Fraulein Andrea MMXI

It's finally Friday and I feel like Death, do you? - Scream Bloody Gore

Good Morning Legions,

After surviving a hectic week, overloaded by work and running on a drained body due to the Oreo Cookie show this last Tuesday, here in Bogota (some like to call them Panda bear, either way they kicked ass and, FYI, I will be blogging about how I survived an Immortal show in Colombia, this weekend), I cannot help it but to be excited about a day like today. Hooray, It's finally Friday! That being said, it's time to get your Metal On |m|

Even though I should be getting ready for work as we speak, the Friday factor has encouraged me enough to spare at least 30 minutes of my morning to recommend some marvelous things for the day to come.

This past weekend, I had the chance to attend a festival called Independent Night, at a place called Bbar, located in the area of Chapinero. Main reason for going: Simple, to see my beloved Aire Como Plomo (that's a whole different story that I will not get into at this moment; otherwise the 30 minutes mentioned above will become more like 50 hours).

Either way, I was fortunate enough to come across a kick ass tribute to American Metal legend, DEATH, who opened the night at Bbar. These guys are called Scream Bloody Gore and watching them on stage was just like seeing Chuck Schuldiner's spiritual energy. Jesus "Spiritual Healing" Christ! In other words, Holy Shit times 5.

Mind you, yours truly never had the chance to see Death in concert, but from seeing all their freakin' videos, I say that this tribute band is probably the closest thing I will ever get to seeing Death live. In other words, I am quite pleased :)


I was trying to fetch a video on Youtube and this is what I came across:

Pretty, eh? Mind you, the sound quality is not the best but it is certainly not bad.

Since I was armed with valor and my beautiful lady camera, as I often am, this past Saturday night, I did manage to capture some of their mightiness through my lens (Hooray for me!). There aren't many shots, though, and the reason behind it is that I was too busy taking my bloody time headbanging to their music. That's probably something you would have done had you been there, right?

I shall keep my eyes and my ears open to get a chance to catch them again (hopefully at a bigger-better-lit venue, to bring you some fantastic audiovisual material). For now, you will have to settle for the videos available on Youtube and some of their music, which I found on their website.

Have a Frickin' Gory Friday!

-Stay Metal-

Fraulein Andrea MMXI

Photo Update: Pitbull At Teatro Metro

Before calling it a night, I must leave you with the shots from Pitbull's Concert last week at Teatro Metro, in Bogota.

Enjoy :)

-Stay Metal-Fraulein Andrea MMXI

Pick of the Day: Binging on Max Cavalera

Saudações Mighty Legions,

I am really enjoying the language greetings BTW ^.^! On a completely different note, I honestly cannot believe it is already October 9th, can you? As my dear Barney Greenwood would say: Time Waits for No Save, which is exactly how I feel at this precise moment. Thus, it is crucial that we do not let go of this day as if it didn't matter. On that note, I have been craving a serious overdose of omnipotent Metal, which can only be satisfied by the best of the best, and who would be better at the task than Brazilian legend, Mr. Max Cavalera.

Aside from the whole debate of whether or not Sepultura lost its essence after Max left, and whether Derek Green (whom I truly admire after seeing him live in Toronto) will ever be 10% of what Cavalera represents, I have decided to stay loyal to band regardless. I have also followed what Max has been doing afterwards, including his new band Cavalera Conspiracy (which kicks some serious derrière), as well as his musical contributions to other projects. My favorite being the song that I will be recommending on this lovely evening.

Before I get into the song, I will tell you a bit about the album itself. American Metal (the word Metal becomes questionable, when you sign a band like Nickleback and decide to include it under this particular genre...) record label Roadrunner commemorated its 25th year anniversary by putting together an album, called Roadrunner United: The All-Star Sessions, with la crème de la crème among their artists, which include Joey Jordison of Slipknot; Dani Filth from Cradle; Andreas Kisser from Sepultura; Mr. Glen Benton from Deicide; Mikael Akerfeldt from Bloodbath and Opeth; Dino Cazares of Fear Factory, Asesino and Divine Heresy and formerly of Brujeria; Robert Flynn of Machine Head and formerly of Vio-lence and Forbidden, and OBVIOUSLY Mr. Max Cavalera, among many others. I hope that painted a pretty picture in your head and if that didn't, well, I honestly do not know what would (and you should suffer a horrible death). I mean, just imagine seeing all these masters playing incredible music on the same stage! That right there, my fellow Metalhead friend, is a situation where many of us would consider giving away one of our limbs just to be able to see it happen (at least I know I would give both of them without blinking. Fortunately, for the sake of mankind, and for my own well-being, I own the DVD so we can skip all the gory details about how I would be delivering my arms to the HQ or RR).

I personally think every single song in this compilation is a masterpiece in its own way, BUT because tonight is a special night that we all wish to remember, I feel that Brazilian flavor is the only thing that will satisfy my deepest headbanging desires (and hopefully yours), I have picked the 7th song of this album, called Independent (Voice of the Voiceless), whose lyrics were written by Master Cavalera himself. The masterminds behind it include Robert Flynn, Jordan Wheland (Still Remains), Jeff Waters (from Canuck Pride Annihilator ^.^), Christian Olde Wolbers (Ex-Fear Factory), Andols Herrick (Chimara), and of course, Mr. Max Cavalera as front man. From the bottom of my heart, I had been meaning to post this song for a while now, but quite frankly, with all the things going on around yours truly, I hadn't found the time to do so. La-voilà! Please join me, as we all headbang to such an incredible tune. Enjoy |m| 

-Stay Metal-

Fraulein Andrea MMXI