This year, Halloween night at Estúdio Zero comes to life to the sound of three of the most talked-about names in the recent Portuguese post-hardcore scene. Hailing from Montijo, Hetta have long been a major reference within this scene, with frequent appearances on stages both in Portugal and abroad. Acetate, their debut album released by Lovers & Lollypops last year, emerged as a noisy and incisive manifesto, condensing all the fervour, rawness and intensity already present in the band’s earliest releases. Blending influences from noise rock and screamo, abrasiveness with a melodic touch, it reveals, above all, a band fully aware of what makes them indispensable.

Meanwhile, Porto trio Mangualde are one of many bands whose path was made possible by the doors opened in the wake of Hetta’s impact. They made their recorded debut this year with A Festa, another essential addition to the Portuguese underground, combining hardcore and metalcore with stylistic traces of black metal, reinforced by the production of Rui Santos of Cat Soup.

Sharing the same visceral quality, TAPE ground their post-hardcore roots and DIY spirit in their hometown of Braga, which runs through the four tracks of their debut EP, Quantos Queres, packed with unpolished sounds and cutting riffs.