Formed in 1990 by brothers Alex Camargo (vocals & bass), Moyses Kolesne (guitar), and Max Kolesne (drums), Krisiun have been one of Brazils most popular metal acts and a cult favourite in Europe and North America for 15 years. And now finally we, their southern hemisphere brothers and sisters in metal, have finally been able to witness Krisiun in all their heavy metal glory. Why have they taken so long to get to Oz? Who knows, who cares? They are very much and underground act in these parts, but maybe after this tour we’ll see and hear a bit more from these guys.
If you can imagine a bunch of Brazilian metalheads growing up listening to Morbid Angel, Kreator & Slayer, then you’ve pretty much got Krisiun. They’ve clearly made a point of not sounding anything like fellow Brazilians Sepultura to avoid any comparisons. There are no whacked out tribal rhythms with these guys, Krisiun are extreme death metal, pure and simple. However they do cover the Sepultura classic Refuse/Resist on their latest album and it’s beautiful. I don’t think the current line-up of Sepultura could match it at all for power and ferocity. Krisiun give the song new life by turning it into a brutal extreme death metal juggernaut that even your grandparents would love. Disappointing it wasn’t included in the set.
What they did include was fantastic, like the unholy hellfire of opening track Slaying Steel from their latest and strongest slab of thrash, Southern Storm. And the twisted metal of Bloodcraft with its rapid fire riffage was stunning. Another highlight was the sheer carnage of Refusal and Murderer, which was reflected in the small but frenzied moshpit, with arms and legs flying in every direction and some good ol’ stage diving action.
The biggest lowlight of the night was the complete lack of punters, the Manning Bar was at less than 50% capacity, an outrageous effort from Sydneys metal community. Where the fuck was everyone? Gone fishing? Krisiun were very gracious and several times thanked the crowd for turning up, it was just a shame there weren’t many more of us there!
Krisiun gave us an entertaining, straight up, balls-to-the-wall performance, and we wouldn’t have it any other way. This stuff’s not rocket science, but bloody hell it’s fun.
