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Biografie : Angriff

1997 - Guitarist Hugo Mendonça, bassist Rui Chaves and drummer Jose Rocha (ex-Donnergot) decided to form a band, that would soon be called ANGRIFF (meaning "attack", in german). The band added vocalist Hugo Vaz to complete the army. Influenced by Bay Areas thrash metal, among bands like Exodus, Slayer, Testament, Anthrax and german thrashers Kreator, Sodom and Destruction, the guys began creating songs and giving concerts in the portuguese underground scene.


1998 - ANGRIFF travelled to the city of Oporto to record the demo tape Rage, produced by the band and Luis Barros (Tarantula), in Rec n roll studios. 2000 - The band was getting invited to more and more concerts, and around that time, they decided to add another guitar to give even more agression to their sound, and Hélio was the new second guitarist. 2001 - It was time once again to record new material, this time in Coimbra with producer Gonçalo Pereira, to give birth to the album War of Life. More thrash metal oriented than Rage, this record was the end of the line for the guitarist Hugo Mendonca, who left shortly after the recording process. To fill that gap, ANGRIFF invited Catarino.


The band was now sharing the stage with big acts, like legendary bands Cancer and Rotting Christ. 2003/2004 - These were years of changes. Both guitarists left, and soon former bassist Rui Chaves and vocalist Hugo Vaz followed them. Around that same time, Spitout..s guitarist Marco Tito joined the band. Ex- guitarist Hugo Mendonça returned, and Marco Tito left the guitar and was now applying his skills in the bass and all that was missing was a new vocalist.


November 2004 - ANGRIFF invited Jaime Laranjo, (who had been in a underground project) and the thrash metal embassy was again complete. New people, new ideas and above all, new songs. ANGRIFF was now playing harder and faster. 2004/2005 - The guys exiled in their rehearsal room, preparing new tunes, that would figure in a future LP. 2006 - Under the Decadence is released, recorded in May 2005 in Floyd Studios in Corroios, with producer Nuno Loureiro (Painstruck). Recorded in just four days, the album mixes pieces of old school thrash metal with punk tunes.


Lyrically, Under the Decadence points crucial themes like terrorism, questions the point of being alive, criticizes the american parasite, as well as the fanatism and the lies of religion. This was the start of a long Under the Decadence Lusitanian Tour, that would put together ANGRIFF and big bands (and friends!) like Moonspell, Kampfar, Decapitated, Vital Remains, Tankard, Anorexia Nervosa, Nominon, Vader, Rotting Christ, Monstrosity, Extreme Noise Terror and many more... In January 2006, the band played with swedish death metal legends Dismember and this was the last concert that bassist Marco Tito made as an ANGRIFF member. Jaime Laranjo fell he could play the bass just fine and was now doing vocals and playing bass, working the band for some months as a trio.


Their first concert as a trio was in Corroios, with Testament. The trio-formula was fucking great!!! Marquis de Sade was the topic theme in Laranjo..s lyrics, and some of the songs that you hear now have his personal touch. Though, the band was in need of a guy who could do the guitar solos, and in June 2006 they got in touch with Ivan Santos (ex-Overload), and guess what? The dude could really solo that freaking guitar! 2007 - Former guitarist Hugo Mendonça decided to leave the band (making his last concert in December 2006 in Thrash Mania 1 with Destruction), due to personal reasons. Antonio Baptista, a friend of the band was invited to fill the gap, performing his first gig with Sepultura in March 2007. Jaime Laranjo also left the band, in August, in a difficult but inevitable decision.


The band decided to give (him) a farewell concert in their home town. Some rumors about the end of the band were heard. 2008 - Summer began with some surprises in the band: drummer José Rocha left his drum kit and is now playing the bass guitar. Samuel is the new drummer, and Cliff the new vocalist, and the renewed line up is: Cliff (vocals), Rocha (bass), António Baptista (guitar) and Samuel (drums).



Source : www.myspace.com/angriffband