format: LP
year: 1983
country: Portugal
label: Discossete
#: LP-230
info: w/ insert
style: Heavy Metal, Hard Rock
Side A:
Side B:
There's no denying that this album simply oozes of obsküre rareness-vibes, with the ye olde cover etching, that frilly rococo back pic framing, the captivating, nationally romantic name and that perfect yellowing hue which looks so good you'd almost suspect it was manufactured this way.
It does look suspiciously proggy though, doesn't it? Well you can rest easy because "Vasco Da Gama" is most certainly a Heavy Metal album - the very first from Portugal I believe. Firstness is a quality that usually get us collectors and genre-nerds especially intrigued and together with it's reknowned scarcity it has become the official HM top rarity of Portugal. The more than solid musical content might also be a contributing factor, but you never know..
It's no "Poisonoise", "Dorosle Dzieci" or "Berserks" but on a few occations it does kick some serious ass - mostly so on side A. We are introduced by the low-key yet definitely un-wimpy hardrocker "Avé Rei Do Mal" which will win you over with its enticing vocal melodies rather than its energy. The latter quality is turned up a notch in "Confusão Ou Ilusão", representing HM right in its earliest birth throes, and then goes full speed ahead NWOBHM in the excellent Diamond Head-tasting "Varinaice". Curiously the chorus of this track could easily be interchanged with "Hit The Lights" = food for alternate reality-thought.
Chapter A is wrapped up with another great tune in the pounding heavyweight "Lendas E Mitos" and by now you'll start to wonder if there's anything stopping this album from earning the prestigious Underrated Cult Classic badge? Well, the 2 mediocre rockers opening side B is sure doing their best. Their laid-back Witchfynde-style theme song is certainly an upswing but it's the closing "Morte" that saves the day. Opening any tune with Chopin's "Funeral March" is the cheat-code for Doom Metal cred, no matter if the rest is constructed like a slow blues-turn Horror Rock a la the very early Death SS jams. Still, a neat ending any way you look at it.
FYI, it was reissued on both CD and vinyl in 2019, should the price tag of the original prove intimidating. Which it most certainly will.