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BRUTAL YOUTH

PROYECTO GRUTA, La Caverna, Alcampo La Laguna, Tenerife, Saturday March 13 2010
by JAMES TWEEDIE
One of the most pleasant surprises on this island of 800,000 lost souls is the vibrant Heavy Metal scene, shooting up between the palm trees and cactus.
This is the second Proyecto Gruta (Grotto Project) bill at the unusual La Caverna venue – with its ancient Central-American temple décor – in the basement of the monstrous Alcampo shopping centre in La Laguna.
Tonight, three home-grown acts are given an hour each to show the kind of flair and enthusiasm that I've come to expect here.
Kronika from La Orotava want to be Metallica so much it hurts. Vocalist Lucho imitates James Hetfield's voice to a tee on their carbon-copy cover of 'Fade to Black', and goes on to do Pantera's Phil Anselmo on 'Mouth for War' and Megadeth's Dave Mustaine on “Symphony of Destruction.” Why do so many bands miss the point of covers? If I wanted to hear the original version I'd go home and put the bloody record on.
That said, Kronika show good song-writing ability with their own material. The just need to emerge from the shadows of their idols and find their own voice.
The mighty Iron Maiden have stamped an indelible mark on Spanish metal as La Lagunas's own Esclavitud prove.
Singer Adrian Lugo look like Judas Priest's Rob Halford and seems to have stolen his and Bruce Dickinson's British Steel vocal chords.
Bassist Ramón Cebrian is a Grade-A student of Steve Harris' soft-touch bass style – he even looks like the Bomber.
The band have been around since 1996 and their next album will be recorded at Tenerife resident Helloween singer Andi Deris' Mi Sueño studio on the island.
Esclavitud play a tight, energetic set, confidently exploiting the novel multi-level stage and showing off their technical prowess.
Just going by the number people wearing their T-shirts, headline act Brutalizzed Kids (pictured) have a loyal fan base. They are certainly the freshest dish on the menu.
The manic yet melodic industrial punk of their album Soy Muñeco gets the crowd up onto the front of the stage, face-to-face with the band.
By the way, all these bands sing in Spanish, rejecting the subservience of some musicians to the perceived dominion of the English language over Rock and Pop.

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