The Day of Wrath: Bulldozer
The first time I listened to Bulldozer, I think I was 13. It was on a white cassette with a hand-painted logo that read “Bulldozer.” The tape was a recording of a recording, of yet another recording, each generation adding more noise to an already dark and heavy album. The opening track was a recording of a priest performing an exorcism, losing the battle against an evil spirit—it scared the hell out of me.
Back in those days of tape trading in South America, we just received random music with no way to find more information about underground black metal bands from Italy. Many years passed, and I kept returning to that tape. It was my gateway to other like-minded bands such as Venom, Mercyful Fate, and Bathory. The sense of mystery in music back then was something unique to the era.
Fast forward to last week at TV Eye, and I finally got to see the band live. They opened with the exorcism track and then launched into a brutal musical assault. It didn’t disappoint: the riffs, the pounding drums, and the heavy bass lines reminded me of Lemmy. The most interesting part was seeing a mix of people my age and many younger listeners, likely discovering their music through streaming services. Yet, the feeling was the same—what an epic performance!
PHOTOGRAPHY: A.F. CORTÉS