Soon after the recent release of their new powerful single “Tower Of God”, we have teamed up with Margem Sul, Portugal based hardcore band FEAR THE LORD to showcase the importance of the band and their friends from clericbeast in the Portuguese underground music scene and their influence on a new breed of hardcore. FEAR THE LORD have also shared a special playlist of 15 Portuguese hardcore bands worth looking into in 2022! Check it out below.
Formed in 2014, Fear The Lord (or FTL for short), started as a friends’ project in the suburbs of Tejo’s South Side.
Heavily influenced by 2000’s and 2010’s Metalcore and Deathcore, their band started to make experiments and attempts to write enough songs to play shows and record a demo. Back then no band member was older than 15/16yo, so this band was definitely a pivotal part on the members’ development as musicians, artists and individuals. They’ve had several members coming and going but their frontman and lead guitarist have been the same since the band began.
They’ve been the introduction of many people to hardcore. They were backed by Portuguese hardcore legends Steal Your Crown, which opened a lot of new doors for them as young band and helped them grow from a small local band from Seixal to a well-known act in the Portuguese hardcore scene as the torchbearers of South Side’s New Blood Hardcore.
The band has 2 EPs and a single released. Crownbreaker (EP 2017), South Scythe (EP 2020) and Tower Of God (Single 2021).
They’re currently preparing material for a split with Outra Providência (Brazilian band).
In the midst of 2015/2016, some members joined a new band called Fight Your Fears (FYF for short) from Montijo (still South Side). This would be a turning point for them. Since the members from Fight Your Fears strived to be active members of the community, by booking a lot of DIY shows, benefits and local music fests, Fear The Lord ended up being influenced by the ideology and values intrinsic to Hardcore. FYF would eventually continue without FTL members but the bands kept on playing many shows together.
FYF ended up calling it a day in December 2019, when they joined forces with the founding bass player (FTL) member for their farewell show, where both bands shared the stage at Festival Bandas Na Banda.
This formation would go on to become clericbeast in early 2020.
Formed in January 2020, hardcore / metalcore 5-piece clericbeast from Montijo, Portugal plays a brand of Hardcore heavily influenced by noise, industrial and 90’s metal/hardcore. They released Placeholder (Demo) in April 2020 and immediately started writing their debut S/T EP clericbeast (February 2022).
The band debuted live with a hometown show at Halloween Rock Fest 2021 alongside Viciously Hateful, Bizarra Locomotiva and Portuguese Metal legends, Moonspell.
They’ve been playing ever since and sharing the stage with bands across all Alternative subgenres. From Shoegaze to Deathcore, clericbeast fits well in every bill and programme built by music lovers and brave promoters who promote fresh new music.
Fear The Lord has multiple connections with the rap, hip-hop scene in Portugal. The band’s frontman is also a rapper called Vorm, part of a collective called De La Calle. He’s also a tattoo artist, making the bringe between these 2 forms of art. He works at Cara ou Coroa Tattoo Shop.
The bass player of Fear The Lord works with design and communication freelance. He’s a journalism student and works with Genius Portugal, being in touch with a lot of new artists, mostly young rappers and Indie bands.
Some members of Fear The Lord and clericbeast have ties with the graffiti scene in the South Side/Lisbon area. They actively engage in graffiti jams and paint with writers from all artistic backgrounds, thus forming ties between urban subcultures.
Members of clericbeast are deeply involved with side projects too. The drummer is also a member of GNU, a post / math rock band the brings together a range of experimental elements and mixes influences of post hardcore with Midwest emo and alternative rock.
clericbeast’s members help run a collective of people that bring arts, sports, dance and education to their local community.
They help by running part of the shows held at BD2J (Montijo), a venue that also serves as a practice space for local young bands.
The drummer of clericbeast is a guitar luthier and builder with a tiny shop in their hometown of Montijo. He also works with Video and Graphic Design.
The band’s guitarist manages both clericbeast and Fear The Lord, as well as GNU. He also does freelance work for artists and produces cultural events events.
Members of both bands sat down with us to pick their top 15 bands worth looking into in Portuguese Hardcore 2022 and here’s what we’ve got. Check it out and don’t miss out on our mega metal/hardcore playlist HERE.
