Much more than just a festival, Metanoia Fest is a great meeting of friends, and the sense of brotherhood it was not different this year.

To celebrate the 15th anniversary of the festival, Metanoia Fest 2015 brought many surprises on stage to the audience. There were special meetings of bands that ended their career, the return of participants of previous editions and the debut of some groups on stages of Espírito Santo, Brazil. And for the first time the festival took place at the traditional Correria Music Bar (CMB), one of the best options in this country to enjoy a good sound alongside friends.

At first there were 16 presentations scheduled, splitted between April 3rd and April 4th; however, the bands Godknockdown (São Paulo, Brazil) and Skymetal (Minas Gerais, idem) – both would play on Saturday – cancelled their presentations.

More than an hour late, the reformulated band Renúncia (Espírito Santo, Brazil) opened the shows on stage 02 at CMB. The audience was still arriving there, and the quintet did a good performance with their modern, heavy sound – moving those who already knew them before, as well as those who enjoyed them for the first time.

Then was the time for the spirited Punk Rock of Ravengar (Espírito Santo, Brazil), with the legendary Marcelo Capilé doing a mashup of copyright songs and covers – among them, the version of ‘Estrada da Vida’ was so remarkable that had a stage invasion! LOL

Back on stage 02, Soldiers (Espírito Santo, Brazil) made an awesome tribute to the grand Stryper. Different from the honored band, Soldiers doesn’t have a drums + bass + guitar + guitar/vocals combo, but drums + bass + keyboards + guitar/vocals combo. Unusual? Yes, but not less qualitative. The group gave an ambience more metallic to the band of brothers Sweet, that is, what was good got the best! Don’t forget to mention the improvised jam session that counted with the participations of the legends Claudio Passamani on guitars and Celso de Freyn on vocals, playing ‘All For One’ – and it was not scheduled on the official set!

After 5 years, the band Puritan (Espírito Santo, Brazil) performed again as a quartet at Metanoia Fest. Though it was the first presentation of Chirstopher Gomez with Puritan at the gig, he has already participated on previous editions alongside All Sense Of A Death (Espírito Santo, Brazil) – he’s already familar with a massive audience participation, the group did a very furious performance, which ended up breaking the pedals of drummer Fabio Kiefer (laughs). The great surprise was left to the end, when Ronaldo (Ninetieth Storm) was invited to get on stage and vociferated three classics of the missing Trino.

The fans of the good and old Hard Rock certainly were delighted with the sound of Fire (Espírito Santo, Brazil). The veteran group did an excellent presentation. It’s almost unnecessary to speak about the quality of people like Claudio Passamani (guitars) and Alex Bastos (bass/vocals), but what Ricardo (drums) did was animal; even with a broken rib, he rocked and did one of the his best performances at Metanoia Fest. Now, please, release a new album!

Scheduled as one of the special presentations of this edition, White Sheep (Espírito Santo, Brazil) did a kicking, sounding presentation. Raphael is one of the most (performatico) vocals that exist and it’s a pity he’s not in any band nowadays. It was a nostalgic presentation, just missing the classic cover for the song ‘A Lenda’, hehe.

The first visitor band to get on stage at Metanoia Fest was Antidemon (São Paulo, Brazil). Back to Vila Velha (Espírito Santo, Brazil) and to CMB after almost eight months, the trio out of Sao Paulo quite shook the audience, although the same did not respond as warmly as in previous presentations. And that’s the way it is, things get furious when the classics ‘Massacre’ and ‘Apodrecida’ were played. But Batista... it’s time to include some new stuff, right? (laughs)

To finish the first day of the event, Dynasty‘s heavy metal took place on stage 02. After just over 11 years the group returns to the cast of Metanoia Fest and does a good presentation, even to a reduced public. Mixing covers and their own sounds, the band would do the ideal closure for that night if was not for the guitar string that broked. Whether or not, this fact hastened the end of the event.

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The second day of the event started with the rough weight of Clava (Espírito Santo, Brazil) and who went there to attend their presentation found a new and experienced band, because its lineup is formed by the members of the classic Polyphone (Espírito Santo, Brazil). But who was expecting the New Metal of the “mother band” was surprised, because Clava – although they keep doing a modern sound – gives priority to the weight of it. It’s worthy checking out.

One more band “resurrected from the dead” to perform at Metanoia Fest, All Sense Of A Death, a very well-known band of the scene in Espírito Santo. It happened nothing different from the expected. Present audience, the band giving 111% of themselves on stage and an shocking message in sound format.

The nostalgia kept on with another HC legend from Espírito Santo. Well, it actually was the core of Vox (ES) performing the songs of the Atonement, but that in no way diminished the excitement of the audience. Hardcore with no frills dumped with no mercy!

Releasing their 5th album, the trio Saint Spirit (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) did the most furious presentation among their previous eight at Metanoia Fest. With an extensive set and focusing on new compositions the band only gave rest to the public when a problem occurred in (drummer) Rodrigo Bizoro‘s microphone, but nothing that warmed down the show. Moreover, it had no way to warm down, once the participation of Bruno Max (Puritan) in the song ‘Tortura’ was the cue ideal for the mosh.

And a new release at Metanoia Fest.  This time it is the debut full-length album from the guys of Doomsday Hymn (Paraná, Brazil), a type of a Brazilian super special group, because the band count with current and former members of groups like dElohim, Seven Angels, Survive, Hawthorn, Desertor, Messianic Cry and further. It was one of the most crowded participations at this edition of Metanoia. The stage performance of the vocalist Gil Lopes captivated the attendants, who fought each other at several circle and mosh pits. Oh, it’s noteworthy the participation of Bruno Max (Puritan) in ‘Slave New World’ cover song, but what does this differs from the other performances? the fact that everything was set up few minutes before the gig! Come back often! \o/

To finish the festival, the legendary band Stauros was scheduled. An interesting fact happened at that time. Although the public was participative, their performance was not one of the better ones; and that abruptly changed when Celso (v), Alessandro (G/V), Renatinho (G/V), Ozeias (B) and Lucas (D) came on stage; it became even difficult to walk at the place. With the audience in their hands, the band played a set of classics like ‘O Sentido da Vida’, ‘Seaquake’, mixed with tunes of their new album, “Vale das Sombras”. There were several times when the public suppressed the voices of the stage, even causing surprise in musicians. ‘Toda Dor’ made many grown-ups weep, being the most emotional moment of the event. Unfortunately, some of the songs needed to be removed from the set, but nothing that disheartened the crowd. Jefferson Melo (Soldiers/Jeff Metal) got on stage and sang some tunes alongside the band.

Final balance? Hyper positive!

Written by Márllon Matos
Translation by Carol Mariana