Medellin, Colombia’s metal scene is one of the most dedicated I have ever seen so far in our trip. People here live and breathe metal, and do not just settle for mp3’s. Our first experience was a trip to Villamil Ossian bar, a tiny pub which is populated by rabid metalheads. The ambiance is really good, the music is top notch (you can hear anything from Judas Priest to Anvil, Trouble and Pungent Stench) and the beer is quite cheap (something like a dollar). What’s funny about this place (and pretty much every other bar in Medellin), is that people do not actually drink inside the bar, but outside, on the sidewalk! On Friday night, it was full of people and motorbikes. Also, sometimes people would just buy bottles (and cartons??) of rum or aguardiente and get totally loaded with the rest of ’em.
A pretty crappy photo of the bar sign. I'll take better ones later. The address is CALLE 67 #55-57, Medellin, Universidad de Antioquia, 05.
Drinking on the sidewalk! Raphael, myself, Eduard and François
Eduard, around 3AM, drinking a carton of rum with a straw... hahaha
We are planning to go back again this Friday. Should be loads of fun!!
When he’s not making wonderful meals or getting loaded, Eduard makes a living doing tattoos. He is specialized in mostly dark art, and especially loves doing shading and 3d looking stuff. We went to his workshop (which happens to be located in a bike repair shop) and watched him in action:
Eduard tattooing
Metal tattoo gear
The result!
And after, he took a well-deserved rum break, with the rest of the guys:
Resting among some sweet bikes
If you want to contact him, send him a message at ejrslaytanic@hotmail.com.
We also went to visit some record shops last week. They had used LP’s, a few CD’s and some pretty cool t-shirts. One of the shops is owned by a girl who was in the cult Colombian metal movie “Rodrigo D. No Futuro”. If you remember well, she was the one with puffy curly hair and a Sodom shirt, trying out to sing in a band. The puffy hair is gone now:
Vicky and myself, in her punk-metal shop.
Last Saturday, we went to a WITCHTRAP show – which my friend Hugo (Witchtrap drummer) organized. They were playing with a local band called CRIMINAL and myself and François played two Cauchemar songs. The show was one hell of an experience – and tons of people showed up!! About half of them couldn’t even get in the gig… really intense!
CRIMINAL
Criminal is a young band playing a very honest style of mid-paced to fast heavy metal with a huge ACID influence (they played a killer ACID cover too!!) I was honestly very impressed with this band, they made me headbang from the beginning to the end, without even knowing the songs:
Criminal
Criminal drummer
Vicky and bassist
Criminal lead guitarist
Medellin metal maniacs!
Me and Vicky, vocalist and rythm guitarist of Criminal
After Criminal, like I mentioned, we did two surprise Cauchemar songs (Valse Funèbre and Voile d’Isis) with the Nightmare bassist, Oscar, as well as the Witchtrap/Nightmare drummer, Hugo. The public reacted really well, haha, we even signed one autograph on a napkin after the gig!!! Hahahaha
CAUCHEMAR
Hugo, myself and François - Photo by Cristina
Oscar, Hugo and myself
Myself and François - mystical photo by Cristina
WITCHTRAP
Then was Witchtrap! The place grew tight, and it was like war to get in front, but mighty hell, was it worth it! Haha! They played TONS of songs, probably about one hour or more – totally giving everything they got to the hungry metaleros in the crowd who sang EVERY word along with the band. It was so good.
Eddison and Mario of Witchtrap
Hugo of Witchtrap
Mario and Eddison + crowd
Witchtrap
Eddison and Mario
Oscar and François, during the Witchtrap set
Witchtrap (minus Eddison), with Oscar, myself and François
I want to say a deep thanks to Hugo for organizing this one hell of a killer event – and a big cheers to Oscar and Hugo to learn the parts of the two Cauchemar songs. The evening was completely unforgettable… thank you!!!!
And now, for the most metal part of this post… a PUPPY!!!!
Myself and the puppy!
François and the puppy!
Viello Perro (Old Dog)/Ivan with the puppy!!
Alright, more posts this week!!!
Into the Void 
February 8th, 2011 at 10:25 pm
Je suis troooooooooooooooooop contente d’être la premiere à faire un commentaire dans ce post !!!!!!!! J’adore les photos et toute la chronique, Annick ! Je vois que la shop d’Eduard va bien ! J’imagine qu’il doit être super heureux de travailler à côté des motos haha.
La soirée à Villamil et le show de Witchtrap ont l’air vraiment killer ! Et oui, c’est vrai.. en Colombie on ne boit que du rhum et du aguardiente sur le trottoir, kings of the sidewalk haha ! Quoique j’avoue que c’est pas tout le monde qui boit du rhum avec une paille.. Eddie est bizarre:)
C’était sûûûûr que les gens allait bien réagir avec un show surprise de Cauchemar ! (d’ailleurs, qui réagirait pas bien avec ça ?) Du doom en français avec une voix féminine.. c’est pas tous les jours qu’on voit ça;) L’autographe sur une serviette c’est drôle haha.
Je vois que tu es en train d’avoir du fun a Medellin avec Francois et les gens. J’espère que tu vas continuer à profiter de la ville ! Je suis très contente pour vous !:)
February 8th, 2011 at 11:29 pm
Annickie!! I’m glad that you’re having a blast but I miss you!!
February 9th, 2011 at 3:50 am
Medellin looks like a great place to hang out! Which Acid cover did Criminal play?
Also, it’s awesome that you got some Transmetal stuff back in Mexico. I got into the English version of Sepelio en el Mar (Burial at Sea) years ago when Chinese Kevin showed it to me. Now, I don’t feel so alone for liking this band, hah.
February 9th, 2011 at 12:05 pm
came here to read this blog from the NWN! forum and am very glad i did- really interesting and informative and i especially like hearing about other cultures from a full on metalheads point of view- keep up the detailed posts and have a great time on your fantastic journey!
February 9th, 2011 at 12:16 pm
wow! c’est vraiment trop ce voyage jusqu’à maintenant!!! J’adore vous suivre (et vous lire)… dans l’autobus en allant à la job en écoutant du Witchfinder General! 🙂 xx
February 9th, 2011 at 2:26 pm
Nice comments about Medellin and its metal scene, I did have the chance to meet you, I hope you´ve really had fun, and take your point of view about Colombia, to your nearest friends…Thanks.
February 9th, 2011 at 8:03 pm
thats awesome about Criminal sounding a bit like ACID and covering them!!!! i want to cover ACID! haha.
and i know what you mean about headbanging along to songs you dont even know, thats the best! means the band kicks ass and youve got a nice buzz going 🙂
also pretty cool that cauchemar got to play too, with fucking witchtrap!!!! so awesome!
i have to admit, i am a tad* jealous!
hehe
on the other hand i get to see wino do an acoustic set with scott kelly tomorrow 😛 and see Raven on friday…..soooo 😛
have fun annick + cheers!!!!