Holocausto Canibal (Portuguese for 'Cannibal Holocaust') is a Portuguese goregrind band based in Rio Tinto. Formed in 1997, the band has released one demo, six studio albums, three EPs, four splits, and a compilation album. They are considered one of the most well known Portuguese extreme metal acts today.
The band's sound is heavily influenced by artists including Carcass, Impetigo, Dead Infection, and Blood and Deranged. They fuse goregrind with some death metal elements, while the lyrics are mainly focused on gore, sexual perversion and paraphilias. The lyrics are written and sung in Portuguese.
History 1997–2002: Early days, first reactions and Gonorreia Visceral Holocausto Canibal was established in the fall of 1997 by bassist Z. Pedro, who recruited vocalist Ricardo S., guitar player Nuno P. and drummer J. Lamelas, forming the first official line-up.
Taking its name from Ruggero Deodato's cult horror movie Cannibal Holocaust, the band's logo was created by artist Christophe Szpajdel, who had previously designed the logos for Emperor and Arcturus, among other acts. By choosing this name the band intended to pay homage to the movie and its director, which were the main inspiration for their sound, aesthetics and live performances.Interview to Xtreem Music website (in Spanish):
The first songs were created fast and Holocausto Canibal made their first live appearance on March 22, 1998, at the Discoteca Cairo in Porto.
After a short run of shows throughout the country, the band gathered to record their first and only demo, named "oPus I", which consisted of a rehearsal recording of the band's current set. Released in 1998, "oPus I" received good reviews from the local and national zines and rapidly marked Holocausto Canibal's place in the Portuguese scene.
In 1998, Z. Pedro and Nuno P. visited the Institute of Forensic Medicine in Porto for a photo session to be published in Loud! Magazine (Portugal's biggest metal magazine), where they met Prof. José Eduardo Pinto da Costa (a Portuguese doctor and professor in the field of forensics), a moment that crucially influenced the band's lyrical approach to gore and horror themes. The professor gave them an atlas of medicine that has been the main inspiration for their lyrics ever since. These have become known in Portugal for the use of technical terms and subjects and for their complexity.
One year later, vocalist Ricardo S. left and Carlos stepped in to handle all vocal duties, while the band entered the Rec'n'Gore Studios to record their first album. Entitled Gonorreia Visceral, it was released in February 2000 via So Die Music and consolidated the band's position in the scene, in a time when the black metal boom was taking place in Portugal and most Portuguese death metal and grindcore bands were waning, allowing them to play the biggest extreme music gatherings in Portugal.
Gonorreia Visceral was the first Portuguese album to feature gory artwork designed with true photos and not drawings. This would become a trademark of the band from that moment on since every subsequent artwork was conceived in a similar way.
Due to the violence of its artworks, lyrics and live performances (known for the use of surgical tools, chainsaws, blood and meat), Holocausto Canibal quickly started to grab the attention of the Portuguese media.
In February and April 2000, respectively, drummer J. Lamelas and vocalist Carlos abandoned and Ricardo S. was brought back to fill in the vocalist spot and found a new drummer, Ivan S.
Completed by bassist Z. Pedro and guitarist Nuno P., the band would cross their native country spreading their sound in infamous live performances.
2002–06: Sublime Massacre Corpóreo and international exposure
However, international recognition only came with their second full-length, Sublime Massacre Corpóreo, released in 2002 through So Die Music.
In 2001 the band entered Grave Studios in Braga (Portugal) to record the album whose songs such as "Violada Pela Motosserra", "Porno Hardgore" and "Cadavérica Ejaculação Espasmódica" quickly became classics of the genre in the Portuguese scene and featured current Anathema keyboardist, Daniel Cardoso, on keyboards.
Sublime Massacre Corpóreo defined their sound and was their first record to cross the Portuguese border thanks to the wide distribution through Europe and North and South America. It was also this album that permitted Holocausto Canibal to go abroad, this time with C. Guerra as session vocalist, who entered the band following the departure of Ricardo S. in November 2003 who decided to dedicate his time to his newborn daughter.
April 2003 saw the arrival of guitarist Nuno T., who filled the spot of a second guitar and Holocausto Canibal became a five-piece for the first time but not for long, since he left the band in July 2004.
With this line-up the band played their first shows in Czech Republic and Germany in various venues and became the first Portuguese outfit to ever play in festivals such as Fuck The Commerce VII (2004) in Germany (which was their first show outside Portugal and Spain) and Obscene Extreme Fest (in 2005) in Czech Republic.
One year later, Holocausto Canibal signed a deal with German Cudgel Agency to record and release their third album, Opusgenitalia.
In December 2005, preparing this release and anticipating a long touring cycle, they added a new guitar player, Eduardo F., forming a quintet for the second time in the band's history. Once again this formation would not last due to Nuno P.'s departure in the end of 2006.
2006–11: Opusgenitalia Opusgenitalia was recorded by a line-up consisting of bassist Z. Pedro, guitarist Nuno P. and drummer Ivan S., but this time they called in Max T. to track vocals, an invitation that would be renewed in both Gorefilia and Larvas.
Although choosing once again the Grave Studios to record and mix this new opus, mastering duties were handled in Germany at the MegaWimp Studios.
After several delays due to the graphic nature of the artwork (that was constantly censored by German authorities), Opusgenitalia was finally released in 2006 and featured a more brutal, fast and intense songwriting, pushing the band's sound into a brand new level of aggressiveness and obscenity. Songs like "Fetofilia - Incestuosa Sodomia Fetal", "Vulva Rasgada", "Amizade Fálica" and "Empalada Via Espinal Dorsal - Empalamento II" would grow into marks of the genre in Portugal, just as had happened before with some of Sublime Massacre Corpóreos tunes.
This album was massively distributed worldwide and presented the band to brand new audiences, allowing them to tour new countries as Slovakia, Hungary, Finland, Italy, Austria and in various festivals such as Antitrend Bizarre Leprous Fest 2, Fekal Party 9, Fuck The Commerce XI (this time as co-headliners), Deathfeast Open Air 2008, Tattoo Deathfest 2010, among others.
From April to June 2006 drummer Ivan S. was forced to take some time off the band to recover from a leg injury. Diogo P. (who at the time played drums in Fetal Incest, where Z. Pedro also performed bass duties) was called to fill in on drums in the shows that were confirmed in that period.
The first overseas appearance was about to happen in 2008, since the band was confirmed to play the Central Illinois Metalfest held in Illinois, USA on July 19, but due to a regression of Ivan S.' leg injury this incursion did not take place.
Ivan S. left the band in September 2009 and Diogo P. stepped in as the official drummer. At this time the official line-up consisted in Z. Pedro (bass - the only remaining founding member), C. Guerra (vocals), Eduardo F. (guitar) and Diogo P. (drums), and the band started to prepare their next full-length release.
In April 2011 guitarist António C. was added as a guest member to assist in their live shows.
Shortly after, the band was invited by Portuguese director Tiago Pereira to be a part of the "A Música Portuguesa A Gostar Dela Própria" (Portuguese for "The Portuguese Music Enjoying Itself") project, which consists in an online music video archive created by Tiago Pereira and Joana Barra Vaz to demonstrate the diversification of Portuguese music. The videos were shot outdoor in strange places, completely disconnected from the artists' sound. Holocausto Canibal was the first metal band to be featured in this project, participating with the song "Gorgasmos - Orgásmicos Espasmos Gore" from their first album.
2011–14: Gorefilia 2011 was also the year that saw the band's return to the studio to record their new opus. Choosing 213 Studios and producer Bruno Silva to record and Hertz Studios in Poland with producers Slawek and Wojtek Wieslawski (known for their work with bands like Vader, Behemoth and Decapitated) to handle mixing and mastering duties, Gorefilia was released in 2012 through Xtreem Music (worldwide) and Raising Legends/Raging Planet Records (Portugal).
Gorefilia is known for being the band's most mature, complete and darker work, being described by them as a concept album involving sexual arousal and gratification towards sexual behavior that is atypical and extreme. It features contributions from notable musicians of the Portuguese scene, such as prominent rapper Fuse (Dealema), Portuguese gothic musician Charles Sangnoir (La Chanson Noire), Miguel Newton (from the Portuguese punk rock stars Mata-Ratos), and morbid novelist David Soares, among others.
The band's return to full-lengths six years after Opusgenitalia, Gorefilia was critically acclaimed, being highly recommended by Terrorizer ("A nasty helping of Portuguese gore Metal, anyone? Look no further than these mighty legends, brootal is an understatement!" they wrote) and gave them the opportunity to shoot their first ever music videos for the songs "Objectofilia Platónica" and "Lactofilia Destalhada".
The video for the first single, "Objectofilia Platónica", was premiered at the national TV show Curto Circuito on November 22, 2012.
A new touring cycle began right after Gorefilias release in April 2012 at the Steel Warrior's Rebellion - Barroselas Metalfest XV, and a few weeks after vocalist C. Guerra left the band. Following this event, longtime vocalist Ricardo S. stepped in once more, this time as a session vocalist.
Having spent the whole year of 2012 touring Portugal, 2013 marked the return to the foreign stages, touring Spain, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany, Italy and Switzerland, playing festivals as the Obscene Extreme 2013 (Czech Republic), Extremefest 2013 (Germany), Carnage Feast 2013 (Switzerland) and Vulgar Fest VIII (Italy).
Due to the exposure given to Gorefilia by media and fans, the band was invited by Portuguese sculptor João Onofre and contemporary art museum Fundação de Serralves' curator Isabel Braga to be a part of the "Box Sized DIE" exhibition that took place on November 30, 2013, and February 23, 2014, at the premises of the Palácio de Cristal, in Porto.
"Box Sized Die" is a 183 cm black metal cube padded with acoustic foam. Referencing a minimalist sculpture by Tony Smith, Onofre invited Holocausto Canibal to perform inside it, joining the ranks of Konkhra, Gorod, among other bands that were also part of this performance. The work has no fixed duration, instead the idea is that the band performs until they feel that the oxygen is running out. The performance ends when the band opens the box's door due to fear of asphyxiation.
The first performance was interrupted by the artist at the 27-minute mark fearing the band members were fainting, but set a new record since no other band had played for so long before. However, in the second performance Holocausto Canibal broke their own record and played non-stop for 35 minutes.
2014–present