American extreme metal BRUJERIA, made their way all the way from Los Angeles to Helsinki, Finland, on July 16th, 2023. The band was set to play at On The Rocks. It was five or six years ago when BRUJERIA last showed up in Helsinki (at Tuska), so this was a welcome and long overdue visit, the occasion being their “Matando Güeros” 30th anniversary.
Joining the party was the local duo GOATBURNER (featuring guitarist/vocalist Keijo “Kaos” Niinimaa and drummer Jaakko “Spider” Forsman), who performed in front of a still filling up On The Rocks, and a bit of a shy audience, especially in comparison to the chaos that ensued. The band has their second full-length, “Fatal,” coming up next October (and a new single out in the coming week), so it was the perfect occasion to promote their music with an eye on the new material coming soon. The performance by its nature was quite static but served the purpose of warming up the audience as they were slowly reaching the downstairs of the venue.
BRUJERIA was given a warm and enthusiastic welcome once the hall in front of the stage was completely full. The band, of course, performed the whole “Matando Güeros” album and a few classics from “Raza Odiada” and of course “Brujerizmo.”
The whole show was as entertaining as it was intense, both from the stage – with the multiple vocalists skillfully alternating each other while at the same time riling up the crowd- and from the crowd itself, as the most hardcore fans went totally ballistic. There were, of course, Mexican flags, fake butchered heads, machetes, and some joints involved, in the true spirit of the band and their music.
In this setting and a setlist counting nearly 30 songs – divided into two parts, the latter of which the band was joined additionally by Jessica Pimentel a.k.a. La Bruja Encabronada – the Mexicans easily conquered the night and spent a good deal of time both on and off stage (after the outro “Marijuana”) interacting with the fans, which was a huge bonus. Besides, despite what the weather forecast said until shortly before the evening, a storm came down on Helsinki just during the final bits of the gig, so there was still plenty of time to hang around and wait it out before heading back home.
One thing is for sure, bands and performances like this simply put you in a good mood, which was a great feeling to start the following week with.
Goatburner
Brujeria
