Doing justice to the brevity of their fat grind songs, UTOPIUM also had a short first existence. Half a dozen years, between 2007 and 2013, which still left a sizeable dent in the Portuguese scene. A band formed by guys with some history in the country’s underground, they’ve always known, without disowning the basic grindcore values of immediacy and direct impact, how to add their own magic dust (sludge, noise rock, thereabouts) to make their brand of sonic pounding into a very unique one. It’s basically a band too good to not exist. Unfortunately we have quite a few of those suffering in a limbo, but fortunately Utopium decided to return to the fold. Even if we’re still not absolutely sure whether they will add to their also short discography (an EP, “Conceptive Prescience” (2010), a split with the equally disappeared Lifedeceiver (2011) and an album, “Vicious Consolation / Virtuous Totality” (2013)), they’re already laying waste to stages all over the place. And there’s no better stage to lay waste than Barroselas’.
