What we can expect about a Stoner Doom “Trip to Brazil”? We believe that the answer is somehow close to the cultural diversity of this huge country, historically the Brazilian Hard Rock scene started with the psychedelia of the 70s, but it really came as an underground scene with Metal, with the growth of bands like Sepultura and Ratos de Porão, they paved the way for a huge and very lively Underground scene all over the Country, and this path is where Stoner Doom in Brazil is walking, the interplay between styles slowly is taking place, and the growing scene has been gaining ground, creating niches and tentacles... It is particularly interesting how the journalist Luiz Mazetto from Loud! Magazine, referred to the scene in Brazil as Tropical Storm, and when we put Necro with its Stoner Rock that drinks heavily on 70s psychedelic sources from Mutantes and Mythological Cold Towers with its epic Doom in the same scene, and could be at the same festival it is indeed a storm!

But despite that we have some “old bands” like The Cross who came in 1990 at Northeast region of the Country and Serpent Rise 3 years after that at the South region in more than 45 hours by car Trip and 3.192km of distance the scene is new, and that shows the challenges of the Underground scene, and the things really start to happen almost 15 years late with Stoner popularity. So, slowly some bands were breaking the bubble and playing at festivals, with all kinds of bands and different styles, Jupterian spent a good season in Europe after having his album Terraforming (2017) elected as the best Doom Metal album of that year by CVLT Nation, bands like Hellbenders and Black Drawing Chalks have been featured in major festivals for quite some time, and bands like Pesta and the already consolidated Labirinto are heading down this same path and consistently appearing on lists all over the world. At the same time a good amount of bands are opening paths and theirs records are being released by European and North American labels like Son of a Witch, WeeDevil, Pesta, The Evil, Labirinto, Desert Druid and the list goes on, and that shows that we are exporting quality at a great level.

It's hard to make a list and leave names like Abske Fields, Erasy, Hammerhead Blues out of it, the scene is big and as more bands are emerging, the staff around the scene appers, like the label Abraxas with its great and excellent catalog of bands and the young Bruxa Verde helping to promote the style and also opening up alternatives in the “traditional” media, what we can see here is that Stoner Doom in Brazil is still a new page, but with personality and strength to walk the patch of some monsters of the style. Words by Marcos Resende (Pesta)