As bands wind-down their tours and the tail end of the tour approaches. Understandably you might get a band that shows ‘road fatigue’ and has little energy and looks and sounds like they want to head home. You could get the opposite in a band that is ‘primed and ready,’ ‘firing on all cylinders,’ ‘well-oiled’ as they say and going for the throat. All the cliches. Crypta was the latter as the tour was coming to an end. They stopped at Dante’s in Portland, Oregon on March 1st, 2024. The tiny club has a maximum capacity of 500 and by the looks of things it was close to sold out (if not sold out) by the time Crypta played a single note.
This is a milestone for Brazilian death metal act as they ventured on their first headlining tour of the United States. There have been many sold-out shows on this run, rave reviews, and anticipation by those anxiously awaiting the respective show in their city. For those that aren’t aware, Crypta is touring in support of their pummeling sophomore record, ‘Shades of Sorrow.’
Crypta stormed the stage close to 11:00 PM to “The Aftermath.” The band is fronted by bassist/vocalist Fernanda Lira, along with guitarists Tainá Bergamaschi and Jéssica Falchi and drummer Luana Dametto opened with the furious “The Other Side of Anger.” I wasn’t expecting to have my face blown right off my skull..but it happened! The new album 2023s ‘Shades of Sorrow’ was featured prominently in the set with nine tunes from the album and another four from the band’s debut 2021s ‘Echoes of the Soul.’ There’s no question that Crypta is heavily influenced by the mighty Death and the late great Chuck Schuldiner. I can hear it in them. Guitarists Bergamaschi and Falchi really compliment one another and are a future guitar duo to watch out for as they develop over the years. I see flashes of Tom Araya in Fernanda Lira as singer, as bassist and as performer. As a timekeeper Luana Dametto is the heart of the band and cannot be overlooked as she adds just what the songs require while refraining from showing off her chops. The audience was absolutely spent by the time they kicked into “From The Ashes” was the last song of the set. They had meticulously hand picked and arranged their set to destroy and they did just that.
As I looked around at the club mid-way through their set, I noticed something. There were a lot of young women in the audience that were really into what was happening onstage. They knew the lyrics, they banged their heads, they threw the horns. That was really refreshing to see and gives hope that this kind of heavy music and scene will survive trends, ups and downs and always rise ‘from the ashes.’ I’m anxiously waiting to see Crypta again as I write this.