Just over a month after the Venom show in Sao Caetano, a new sense of reverence to the extreme side of old school Metal invaded the streets of the underground, this time in Rio de Janeiro. After all, Apokalyptic Raids, one of the best acts of the local scene, were to do a gig featuring the songs of their upcoming new album Vol  4 - Phonocopia, to be released sometime before April this year.

As I arrived to the classic venue Heavy Duty, I noticed that the night had an aura of nostalgia in the air: T-shirts of bands like Exciter, Death, Dorsal Atlantica, Bathory, chats about the Venom show and the newly confirmed WASP concert in April... All that being held on those dirty pavements where, they say, Paul Baloff spent the night sleeping once, as he was recovering from a hard night after the Exodus show in '96.

This nostalgia was reinforced by the thematic of the main band of the night. Apokalyptic Raids began its activities with the clear intention of making music in tribute to Hellhammer, but also influenced by Black Sabbath, Bathory, Sodom, Venom, Motörhead, and this was proved to be true in their first two records, the already cult Only Death is Real... (2001) and The Return of the Satanic Rites (2003). But their masterpiece is the third one, The Third Storm (2005), where the band added to the initial proposal a foray into the NWOBHM (with the track ‘I'am a Metalhead’) and a more epic sound (‘When The World Ends in Fire’). Yet, all of these additives didn’t cause the band to losing trace of the original “Hellhammer sound”. The Third Storm also features a Hellhammer cover, half-hidden between the first and second tracks (half-hidden because who really wants to hide it, places it after the last one, isn’t it?!).

Apokalyptic Raids was the last band to go on stage that night. It was 2am when Leon Manssur 'Necromaniac' (guitar/vocals), Vinícius Canabarro 'HellPreacher' (bass) and Márcio Captivity 'Slaughterer' (drums) welcomed the public with ‘The Third of the Storms’. Within seconds mosh pits were formed... Three new songs came right after: ‘The Unquiet Grave’ (with a Rock and Roll vibe), ‘Crucify the Agnostic’ (with its more basic and old school sonority, reminding me of Hellhammer’s ‘Massacra’), and ‘The World Without Danger’ written by the bassist, Hellpreacher. All very good. The public, though didn’t know any of them songs, rocked as if they were old classics, while simultaneously kept calling for the real classics, like ‘Evil’.

To meet the requests, ‘Tyrant, Emperor’, from the debut LP, was ejected from the amplifiers. Apokalyptic Raids never denied the influence of Hellhammer in their sound and aesthetics, and this song exemplifies all that well. ‘Vision Shadows’, from the aforementioned third LP, was amended, very fast, with lyrics that define really well one of the biggest concerns of us metalheads; when we see our favorite band taking a more commercial track. Pay attention to those lyrics!
’Victim o'Velocity’, a new one, was the next, and then finally ‘Evil’ (repeatedly requested since the beginning of the show) which was followed by one of their best songs in my opinion, ‘Ready to Go (To Hell)’, with the chorus being sang by every single person in the hall.

Four new songs were then played in a row: ‘Nightmare (In Frost and Fire)’ which will be the main song of the new album, ‘Stare Into the Abyss’, the more mid-paced ‘Remember the Future’ (this was the new song that really caught my attention, with a strong Sabbath influence) and ‘The Revenge of History’. It was interesting to note that the new songs, all very good, slightly expanded the boundaries of the sound of the trio, although they still have over a Hellhammerized sauce.

’Apocalyptic Raids’, from the second LP The Return Of The Satanic Rites was (would be) the last song of the evening, once again with the chorus being sung by the crowd. But nobody wanted to leave! At that point, the wish list was extensive, with each one in the audience giving their suggestion. It was past 5:30 in the morning, when the band came back for an encore based on the masterpiece The Third Storm. ’I'am a Metalhead’ was followed by ‘Fallen Beyond Hope’, another co-best song of the band, in my opinion. Simply perfect! The band members were then introduced by Leon before they played ‘Atheist’, from the second album, finishing on a high.

End of the show, almost dawn, and one could still hear people commenting about songs that missed in the set (I missed ‘Eternal Gloom’). And that made me realize that this kind of thing only happens when the band has reached a certain level of greatness, in whatever sphere. Apokalyptic Raids are already a big name in the underground scene. And one thing is for sure: Vol  4 - Phonocopia will stun lots of people!

 http://www.apokalypticraids.com/
 http://www.myspace.com/apokalypticraids


Leandro Jorge
photos: DJ Terror (live), promo