The visitors in Sofia’s Swingin’ Hall were able to experience hardcore that was brought from another continent - the rather unknown to us South America. Confronto had travelled all the way from Brazil to play in front of the Bulgarian audience. Sadly, they did that in front of not so many people. Around 100 fans came to the club. Most likely less...

Before the Brazilians would come on stage, two of our finest hardcore acts had the opportunity to play. First were Brothers in Blood. Shoota & Co. performed for approximately half an hour at the yet to be filled venue. The sound was kinda crappy, too. Actually, it was pretty fuckin’ bad, but Brothers in Blood delivered an awesome energetic show though. The people who saw it were satisfied.

B.F.D.M., on the other hand, provoked a real moshpit in front of the stage. Their rather metallic old-school hardcore is obviously enjoyed by the local crowd. The moshing, stagediving and dancing didn’t stop during their whole set. This side-project of people from other serious bands could - in my opinion - live up to be one of the country’s leading hardcore acts, not just a Cro-Mags cover band, as it was intended to be in the beginning. They rule!

The guests from Brazil opened their set with enthusiasm. Maybe the euphoria of their country winning the Copa America and the Volleyball World League hadn’t left them yet. The music Confronto play isn’t just metallised hardcore, but rather straightforward thrash/death metal, with a lot of screaming, fast double kick drum parts, as well as tons of slow passages with straight rhythm and Slayerish riffs.

Less people joined the dancing than during B.F.D.M.’s performance, but that was mostly due to Confronto’s new-school nature - they provoked a new-school pit with a lot of karate tricks and much more opened space. There were stagedivers, too - it’s a hardcore show, after all. The atmosphere was there. The public enjoyed it.

At the end of the band’s set Confronto’s vocalist stagedived in the crowd and was carried across the club by the hands of people pleased by the show. The band took a pic together with many of the ones that moshed during their performance, while a lot of greetings were shared in rather broken English language, but who cares - it was definitely interesting to see a band from so far away, and we hope we’ll have the opportunity to see more soon.

Words: Stefan Topuzov/ Tangra Mega Rock

Photos:В Rostislav BakalovВ / Hardcore Spirit