Originally posted in Valkyrian Music.

HILLS HAVE EYES released their third album “Antebellum” early this month (review here) but gave their fans a couple of weeks to learn the lyrics before presenting it live in two shows – one in Porto and another in Lisboa (Oporto and Lisbon, as you like to call them). I attended the first one in Porto.

To the sound of a snippet of THE WEEKND’s “The Hills” (yes, you’ve got it – the part where Mr. Tesfaye sings “the hills have eyes, the hills have eyes”), the party hosts got on stage and… well, singer Fábio said something about starting a fire before the last song “Strangers”, as that’s precisely its first verse, but the arson lit up right on the first moment of their show. The sound was a bit messy at first (eventually it got straightened out), but the crowd was singing along so loud – myself included – that I believe only a few of us noticed it. And no one cared. The passion HHE put in their performance makes up for any technical detail. After all, as said in the aforementioned album review, I call them“probably the best Portuguese metalcore band” – that includes the live aspect of the thing as well.

“A new phase in HHE’s life”, using Fábio’s own words, so they went through all the previous ones – even the one that included a split album with MY OCEAN and LAST REUNION, in the form of the song “Ending The Cliché”. And because a party needs its special guests, this was the first song of the set featuring one – Ricardo “Congas” Dias, from FOR THE GLORY. Then Vasco Ramos from MORE THAN A THOUSAND – a good friend and producer of the band – joined in to his usual “Anyway, It’s Gone”, and also Di Noise gave her beautiful voice to“The Bringer Of Rain”, just as she does in the studio version.

I’ve lost count of how many times we were told“thank you”, not just during the show but afterwards, on social media. But I think I speak for everyone who was there that we’re even on gratitude grounds – we all had a blast of a night. When the time comes to write an overview about 2015, “Antebellum” will be listed as number 1 in my album chart. And this gig of HILLS HAVE EYES will surely top the live performances.

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