El Sagrado to play at Festival Del Diablo this Saturday

Festival Del Diablo offers a relatively varied repertoire of bands, but the ones that will bring the diversity are the Latin American bands. With six bands that offer hardcore, punk, progressive, extreme, and grind. The Latin American representatives are going for the kill — so to speak — ready to impress the many concert goers that will go to see foreign acts. One of the bands that stood out impressively for this contribution is representative of the hardcore scene originated in Bogotá.

Bogotá’s suburbs are the perfect cooking pot for a lot of conflicts to happen. From social inequity, the indifference of a big city – eight million and counting –, can make young people feel rebellious towards authority and the social structure, the perfect environment for hardcore bands to be born. In the midst of the chaotic dynamics of a capital city, El Sagrado came to be as a voice that calls people not to be blind and oblivious to the social issues surrounding us. Created in 2002 by John Jairo Velasco, the first installment of El Sagrado was based mostly on diverse influences such as The Misfits, The Haunted, Death Angel and the sorts. With the initial name of El Sagrado Corazón Del Dolor, the band started by recording an EP in 2003 called ‘Resurrección’, a first take of what the band had to offer in its formation years. This EP had a close approach to old school hardcore that reached these lands along the side of very subtle hints of metal riffs, with titles like ‘El Sagrado Corazón Del Dolor’, ‘Fuego’, ‘Resurrección’, ‘Sufrimiento’. The lyrics and the sound of this EP had the rawness of emotions emerging from pain, intertwined solidly into a very strong approach. Thanks to this EP El Sagrado started to perform in different gigs around Bogotá, especially in those where hardcore is rules supreme, gaining a solid reputation as a live band.

In 2006, there were important changes in the band, beginning with the addition of Alejandro Corredor on guitars. This integration with one of the most known guitarists in the local scene had a great influence on the band. The First change came in the name of the band, making it El Sagrado from then onwards. The other significant change was regarding the sound of the band, where they adopted more elements of the hardcore ethos to become a solid act in both the studio and live performance. With this new line-up, El Sagrado produced their debut album ‘Divino Dolor’ released in 2008 which had ten tracks; the evolution from the EP was evident. With songs like ‘Con Las Alas Rotas’, ‘Crimen y Castigo’ and the song that gives the album the title that you can see bellow, El Sagrado displays a great evolution, with a more defined sound and a very good production in their recorded material, El Sagrado took the stage by storm.  After the departure of Alejandro Corredor, El Sagrado became a family with the integration of Alice BZ as a guitar player. Despite having a different style than her predecessor and having a rather quiet demeanor, once she gets the guitar in her hands the amplifiers explodes.

The family grew with the addition of the bassist’s son, vocalist John Jairo Velazco in the band’s debut at Rock Al Parque in 2012. The current formation of El Sagrado has enjoyed decent success as they have extended their fan range from Bogotá to Colombia by playing in different festivals such as Manizales’ Grita Rock in 2014 and Medellin’s Altavoz in 2015, spreading the message that despite rough times, music will always be there to give the friendly hand we all need to put ourselves back up to give it another go.

El Sagrado comes this year to Festival Del Diablo to prove that hardcore and metal can go side by side, with a great deal of respect. As one of the Colombian representatives, El Sagrado will bring their A game to all of those present at the Hollywood Venue and hopefully, they’ll make you mosh hard enough to keep you warm in the cold and traitorous weather of the mountains.