About
Early years
I had a keen interest in music when I was young, an interest that got a tremendous boost when I got my first classic/acoustic guitar, at the age of 10. Without having anyone to teach me how play it, I turned to a few guitar books to learn how to play the basic chords.
Five years later I got my first electric guitar, and that's when things got really interesting. After a few years learning how to (properly) bend a string, how to do pinch harmonics, alternate picking, etc., it was time for a new adventure: the first band.
Eternal Death (2002-2004)
In December 2002, me and some school colleagues, formed Eternal Death. Besides me on guitars, the line-up was completed by André Lobão on vocals, Fernando Vicente on guitars, Diana Ferreira on bass, and Nuno Esteves on drums. Our goal? To play old school black metal.
Over the 2 years we were together, we played our first and only concert in September 2003, and recorded our first demo, "Passion, Blood and Tears...", in 2004. 100 physical copies (CD format) were sold. A few months after the demo recording, we decided to split-up.
Nemus Mortuum/Light Behind (2005-2007)
A year later, and after a conversation with Guilhermino Martins (ex-ThanatoSchizO, Serrabulho), a new chapter was about to begin.
In November 2005, with me on guitars and Tiago Machado on drums, Nemus Mortuum were born. Having started as a guitar/drums power duo, we started weekly rehearsals at Blind & Lost Studios. In 2006, Carlos Rodrigues on bass, and André Lobão (ex-Eternal Death) on vocals, completed the band's line-up. 5 songs were written with this line-up.
In August 2006, André Lobão left the band, having been replaced by Nuno Costa (ex-in Kairos). We started working on new songs, introducing some experimental textures into our sound. Carlos Rodrigues and Ricardo Machado left the band a few months later. In 2007, the band moved towards an even more experimental sound. In April, we recorded our first demo, "Erste". "Erste" was a fusion of rock, doom/progressive metal, eerie sounds, and Nuno's unorthodox vocal lines. The demo was distributed as a digital download, and attracted the curiosity of the underground music community.
Shortly after, two new members joined the band: Daniel Almeida (ex-Thee Orakle) on bass, and Francisco Pina on samples/fx. In June 2007, we played live for the first time, at FestivAJIC 2007 (Peso da Régua, Portugal), sharing the stage with Losing Sight and Desabafos. The concert was professionally recorded by Guilhermino Martins, and later released as a live album, titled "Live". The release served to announce the band's new name: Light Behind.
After a few months of writing new songs, Nuno Costa left the band. We took some time off to think about the band's future, but in the end, we decided to split-up.
Eternal Death (2007-2010), Rekviem (2008)
Feeling disappointed of how things ended with Light Behind, I felt it was time to go back to where everything started: Eternal Death. Backed again by Tiago Machado on drums, we decided to pick up where Eternal Death previously left off. Fábio Amaro on vocals, and Hugo Carvalho on bass, completed the band's line-up, shortly after. For a brief period, Ricardo Machado joined the band as second guitarist.
2008 was a busy year, split between rehearsals and releases. In the rehearsal room, we spent our time completely reworking some previous Eternal Death songs, and writing a handful of new ones.
While reworking/revisiting the previous songs, we decided to release a compilation, "Raise of Hell - The Rehearsal Tapes 2002-2004", containing unreleased versions of the songs that ended up in the "Passion, Blood and Tears..." demo. The compilation, and the previously released demo, were available as a digital downloads.
2008 was also the year for a side project. With me on guitars and Nuno Nogueira (ex-Stuprum Dei, ex-in Kairos, ex-Encephalon, ex-Serrabulho) on drums, Rekviem were born as an online collaboration. While a couple of songs were written and recorded, we never thought about moving forward more seriously with the project.
At the end of 2008, we started preparing ourselves for the first concert of this new incarnation of Eternal Death. In January 2009, we played live at the "Hellbangers Night" (Covilhã, Portugal). While not being the best concert ever, it definitely pushed us to improve our songs and live performances. To help with that, Hugo Carvalho switched gears, from bass to guitar, and Ricardo Chaves joined the band as the new bass player.
With the new line-up, we kept improving the existing songs, while working on new ones, and at the same time we started preparing ourselves for what would become one of our best live performances.
In May 2009, we played at the "III Festival Irmandade Metálica - Unidos Pelo Metal" (Benavente, Portugal), sharing the stage with Decayed, Web, Undersave, and Rising Force. The festival was filmed professionally, and we had a blast. Coming out from the fantastic experience we had at Benavente, and to help with the band's promotion, we released live album, "Promo '09", containing some of songs played at the "III Festival Irmandade Metálica - Unidos Pelo Metal".
In August 2009, Hugo Carvalho left the band.
In November 2009, we went on to play a two-date mini-tour, "Grind-os-Montes", with Holocausto Canibal. In the first night we played in our hometown (Vila Real, Portugal), in front of our friends, on a sold-out venue. The crowd was on fire, and so were we. While the first night was an incredible experience, the second night was the complete opposite. We played in Chaves, and thanks to unknown reasons, we ended playing to an empty venue. Our crowd was Holocausto Canibal, while we ended being their crowd. Two nights, two very different experiences.
In January 2010, we decided to split-up. In 2014, the "III Festival Irmandade Metálica - Unidos Pelo Metal" was released on DVD, containing the live performances of Rising Force, Eternal Death, Web, and Decayed.
Heartbreakin' Jack, Roadburn (2011)
While I kept playing the guitar on my own, 2010 was mostly a non-musical year for me. That would change in 2011. Joining forces with longtime friend Rangel Coutinho (Nematomorphos) in Heartbreakin' Jack, we focused on playing acoustic renditions of classics by Led Zeppelin, Free, Bad Company, Whitesnake, etc. After a few rehearsals and a set-list ready, we played a handful of semi-acoustic concerts in several cities, including our hometown.
Fueled by these performances, we decided to form Roadburn, with Carlos Monteiro on guitars and Jorge Skisko on drums. We spent a few months writing and rehearsing original songs, and while everything was going in the right direction, my move to Belgium sadly put the project to an end.