Laberinto
Then it’s time for Laberinto’s Latin metal party. After some trouble with the bass guitar the sound is great. Big guitars, pounding drums and a fat bass underneath, completed with various percussion instruments. To me, Laberinto is one of the few (maybe even the only) true Latin metal bands as they really mix Latin and metal.

Most bands (like Sepultura) play metal and add some Latin instruments. Laberinto’s mix goes further; their rhythms and riffs have a distinctive Latin feel. Especially drummer Marco is responsible for this mix; his rhythms swing and groove but it’s still ‘metal’. That way percussion can do more than just add a little Latin flavour. There’s room for interesting rhythms and beats that go way beyond metal.

On this special occasion Laberinto play a cross section of their material. They even play songs from their Venezuelan period when they were more of a hardcore band. They also play a couple of new songs that show the band continues to develop their style and technique. The mix of Latin and metal goes even further.

In the second half of the show a percussion group appears on stage. The band stops and the percussionists go to the middle of the club where they play without amplification. Bass player Gregorio puts his bass aside and joins them on the mic singing in Spanish.

He starts singing traditionals and makes the whole crowd sing along. A lot of the people in the crowd are native Spanish speakers so they know the songs. The others sing along phonetically, but they sing along none the less!

This percussion intermezzo isn’t the only surprise, as rapper Def P from the Osdorp Posse joins Laberinto on their last song of the evening. Osdorp Posse is Holland’s most famous hip-hop crew and they hail from Amsterdam. Def P’s freestyle (in Dutch) fits the rhythm-driven music perfectly and ends the show in style. The after party in The Cave, Amsterdam’s only real metal café, is a blast as well.

(Review: Walter de Korver
Pics: Sebastien Sam)