I have no idea if that’s the name of the tour – if it had any at all. But the report will cover the three bands in the same entry – I didn’t get a photopass nor a good angle to use my point-and-shoot, meaning there’s not enough pics for an entry per band – so I had to come up with something, as writing the names of all bands would become a freaking long title.
There was some huge event at Palácio da Bolsa (Stock Exchange Palace) which is right across Hard Club, so it took me more than half an hour to park my car. 
Mental note: check the city’s cultural calendar whenever you have your own cultural event to attend in the area. This means that COSMOGON were already playing when I finally got to Hard Club. 
Unlike the HUNDREDS of other guests that were packing the venue! What a wonderful surprise, to see so many people at a metal event in my homecountry, where the financial crisis makes you pretty selective when it comes to buy concert tickets.
I didn’t check COSMOGON out before, but I remembered that both support bands weren’t Portuguese, so I was startled when the bass player (Dani) addressed the audience in perfect Portuguese. Then the singer (Fabrice) added, in English, that he didn’t understand a fucking word of what the other guy had just said, so my brain was “ahhhhh! Immigrant!”. Indeed, they are a Luxembourgish band, and about a quarter of the Luxembourg population is Portuguese or of Portuguese ancestry.
According to their own words, they play “doom stoner death metal”. I thought their live performance was spiced by too much energy for a doom stoner act, but who am I to contradict one’s beliefs? Whatever the subgenre, it’s definitely metal, it’s heavy, strong, loud… it’s great! They’re currently working on their first release, but browsing through YouTube you’ll find live versions of songs such as “Sex On The Milky Way”, “M Point Nix”, “Angry Tank” or “Cosmospeed Flush”.
www.facebook.com/cosmogontheband
Had BURY TOMORROW been the headliners, Hard Club would have been just as packed – the way the crowd responded to the Southampton band was overwhelming. Even the new single “Man On Fire”, which at the time had been released just 5 days before, had its chorus sung along fervently.
But “Runes”, their upcoming third album, will see the light of day only by the end of May, so the band introduced just one more song from it (“Watcher”) and focused mainly on their latest release, “The Union Of Crowns”.
Singer Daniel Winter-Bates thanked heartfully more than once and at some point said that they had been thrilled to come to Portugal, enjoy some sun and warm weather… and then they got here and there was no sun or warm weather. “I’m really sorry you’re experiencing the same weather we have back in England”. 
But of human warmth, that they couldn’t complain about and one could see how happy the band was. I hope they come back when “Runes” is out, maybe with their own show. And in proper spring/summer time. 
Then MORE THAN A THOUSAND was just awesome! They kicked off with the new single “Fight Your Demons”, which the crowd sang along every word (not just the chorus like BURY TOMORROW‘s “Man On Fire” but let’s be fair – they had more time to learn the lyrics for MTAT‘s song). In fact, they did that with every single song, old and new.
A lot more tracks from “Vol. V: Lost At Home” followed, as these gigs are to promote it after all. “Feed The Caskets” is one of my favourite. Among the parade of hits was “We Wrote A Song About You” where Fábio from HILLS HAVE EYES got on stage to help Vasco with the vocals.
As I’ve said earlier, I was more than surprised to see so many people there that night. Vasco expressed the same feeling, his eyes shining with satisfaction and accomplishment. Well keep it up, boys. We need more shows with the same beautiful memories as that night’s.
www.facebook.com/morethanathousand
Front Row Forever 