Past two years were extremely difficult for the whole world, but my world is a world of metal. Yes, there was Corona, there still is, people are getting sick, people are dying, but I decided to continue to not let it postpone my life anymore. And yes, a big part of my life are/were concerts. Sometimes I feel like an 80 years old grandmother telling stories of the good old days to grandchildren: “You know, when I was young, I was going to gigs on a regular basis… I can clearly remember my last show… And then Covid happened… We were locked in the houses… We had to avoid contacts… We had to keep social distance… We had to wear masks… We were afraid… Sometime later, we got vaccinated… Life was coming back to normal again… Still, many people were still avoiding crowds… They were afraid of infection… Concerts were postponed, cancelled…”
Summer 2022… I packed my suitcase and despite the chaos all over Europe somehow I managed to get to my final destination. Hannover, Germany. Naturally, I checked the local events. I did not expect anything, but… Cafe Glocksee announced Crypta playing within Echoes Over Europe Summer Tour 2022. Until the last moment it was uncertain if that concert would happen. Anticipation was high, but still somewhere in the back of my mind was the fact the show might be cancelled.
July 25th, 2022… Since I woke up, I started checking emails, FB, websites and just waiting for the moment to go. This was my first concert in Germany. I know what to expect from Serbian, Croatian, Hungarian or Slovenian fans, but Germans? From the moment I was at the tram station having no idea where I was going, which was the chance to meet any German metalhead who goes to the same concert, at the same time, from the same tram station in the direction unknown to me? This time, everything was on my side. Half an hour later, passing through nice streets over the construction site to the scary part of the town where the club is located, I felt the goose bumps again.
Everything is as expected, so organized, everything goes so smoothly, everyone is nice, maybe too nice, I am in the front row, and my old life is back.
Now, when I have finished the column, it is about time to start writing a report.
Crypta is a Brazilian death metal band formed not in such a perfect moment. The band was formed by bassist and vocalist Fernanda Lira and drummer Luana Dametto, along with guitarist Tainá Bergamaschi. On April 25th, 2020, Fernanda Lira and Luana Dametto left thrash metal band Nervosa. On May 20th, they revealed they formed death metal band Crypta. Tainá Bergamaschi who had been playing in Hagbard, joined the formation along with Sonia “Anubis” Nusselder (ex-Burning Witches, Cobra Spell). Under the wings of Napalm Records, Crypta released their debut album, “Echoes of the Soul”, on June 11th, 2021. On March 3rd, 2022, an unreleased track from “Echoes of the Soul”, “I Resign”, was released as a single and music video. Sonia Anubis announced on April 5th, 2022 that she was leaving the band. Only a few days later, on April 13th, Jéssica di Falchi was announced as the guitarist who would join Crypta during the band’s already scheduled upcoming concerts and tours.
The concert in Hannover started right on time. Sharp at 21:00. No support band. Huge Crypta flag was on the stage with candlesticks from both sides of the stage. A front woman, Fernanda Lira, from the beginning to the end was holding the atmosphere on its top, interacting with fans and encouraging. The temperature was extremely high, around 32ºC in the overcrowded club and after the first song everyone was melting down. “Death Arcana” opened a 50 minutes long show. “Kali” and “Possesed” followed and although I expected circle pits, stage diving (no security at sight), Germans are a polite nation, so even if they think they accidentally hit you with the hair, they would deeply apologize to you. A small talk between the songs, a few jokes, in a moment I hear there will be only a few more songs because even if they want to, they have no more songs to play. Besides a high level of professionalism, girls have a sense of humor. What happened in between the first three and last song “From the Ashes” I do not remember. Crypta played the whole album and their last single “I Resign”, but do not ask me about the song order because I wanted to relax and enjoy. Truth to be told, I did not go on a gig to work, but that was hell of a show and the girls deserve to be mentioned. I will not comment on musical skills; because it is obvious girls are killers. Besides Fernanda who, although left-handed, plays bass right-handed and pizzicato (hat down), my personal hero is Luana Dametto. So modest, shy, young, and behind the drum kit true beast. Fernanda, although some of my colleagues experienced her as an arrogant person, is the total opposite. On the stage she is a demon, off the stage the nicest person I have ever met. Rest of the band is also (my personal impression) so nice, polite, approachable. The girls had enough time and nerves to speak with fans, take photos, sign t-shirts, CDs… Another impression: they are a completely DIY band. Except for the merch guy, everything else that needed to be done was done by themselves.
I am not sure if Jéssica di Falchi is an official band member, but she proved that she is absolutely ready for the role.
I probably forgot to write a lot of things, I probably was not writing this report as a professional, photos might not be high quality at all, but as I said, this time I was not on duty, and this report is just a homage to one of the best, if not the best female metal bands I have ever heard live. Overall – a night to remember!
