LADON HEADS - PORTUGAL
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Members Vocals Warizon>>INFERNANDO [FERNANDO FERREIRA]Guitar Warizon, Toxikull>>INFERNANDO [FERNANDO FERREIRA]>>Toxikull - Warizon>>RUI THORPEDRO [RUI PEDRO]Bass Warizon>>ANTOMBNIODrum SAMUHELL UNHOLLYVEIRA
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History & Biography A true metal band based around the northern Portugal city of Maria Da Feira, Ladon Heads was founded in 2022, but reared its head in 2024. Three members had tried their hands at a much earlier thrash metal project called Warizon. Upon formation, the band quickly gave birth to two demo tracks, Master Of Sorcery and Blood Soaked Field, which would also end up being so-called bonus tracks on the gang's debut record of 2025. Speaking of which, the record was released by the upstart Portuguese label Lost Realm in October of 2025. The album was produced by Lex Thunder of Toxikull. Infernando was simultaneously in Toxikull since 2024. The band was booked to play in Lisbon, Portugal in December 2025, but had already performed at Vagos Metal Fest prior to the record's release.Ladon was a sentinel dragon, which occasionally is said to have had 100 heads, in Greek mythology. Reviews LADON HEADS - STEEL FOR FIRE - LOST REALM Interviews  Ladon Heads is a young heavy metal band just releasing its debut album, Steel For Fire. The record merits a proper introduction, so Ali "The Metallian" invited singer and guitarist Infernando to Metallian Towers for a conversation about the band's origins, line-up and the new release. While the two disagree on a few musical opinions, there’s no doubt that both the bands discussed, and the quartet itself, are true hard and heavy entities, making this feature worth sharing. - 03.10.2025 METALLIAN: Infernando, welcome to Metallian Towers. Would you introduce the members and share your background and how the band came together? INFERNANDO: Hello Ali and Metallian readers! It is a pleasure to speak with you. So Ladon Heads consists of myself Infernando on vocals and guitar, Rui Thorpedro on lead guitar, Antombnio on bass and Samuhell Unhollyveira on drums. We have known each other for many years. Rui and I picked up the guitar at around the same time - 2008 if I'm not mistaken - and since the beginning we have tried to make music and have a band. The problem was that we were very naive and not very good at the instruments (laughs). Eventually, we stopped trying a few years later. It was also impossible to find a drummer willing to collaborate with us. Around 2010, just before we gave up on the thrash project we were trying to bring up, Antombnio ended up rehearsing with us on bass. Then we went on to adulthood and, even though Rui kept playing for himself, it wasn't until quite a few years later that I started picking up the guitar again. I think around 2018 I discovered the magical world of traditional heavy metal, well the underground bands at least, and it just reignited that spark of wanting to have a band. After many years of not seeing him, I reconnected with Samuhell at a Skull Fist show in 2019 and we became close friends. During COVID, we would share albums with each other almost daily. I also started to write a few songs, which I showed him and he was like, “hey I could probably play drums on this.” This was very motivating so I ended up recording some really bad demos and sent them to Rui, asking him to join us. He reluctantly accepted. We needed one more member. Antombnio and I have been very close friends for a very long time as well and I ended up asking him if he wanted to join a heavy metal project with Samu and Rui either on bass or on second guitar, in which case I would pick up the bass. He said, “I just bought a new bass I want to try, I'll go for a few rehearsals to see how it goes”. Well, this was around April of 2022. We've been together since. 
METALLIAN: What was the name for the short-lived thrash project?INFERNANDO: We called ourselves Warizon. We never played live or recorded anything. I don't even think we've had a complete line-up ever. We rehearsed with a couple of drummers without a bassist, but never got one to stay for too long. We didn't have a drummer when Antombnio joined on bass. We had a few songs completed though and actually ended up using a few riffs from that period for Ladon Heads. Master Of Sorcery, for example, has a riff before the second verse and a solo that was from a song we had with Warizon. The pre-chorus progression is also recycled from that time (smiles). METALLIAN: Please tell me about the monicker. INFERNANDO: We wanted to make heavy metal music and we love themes such as fantasy, mythology and sword and sorcery. At the time of trying to form a band I was reading quite a bit about Greek mythology and thought it would be cool to have a name related to it as it would make a lot of sense with the music and the overall lyrical themes that we had. Ladon was taken by another band - I checked on Metal Archives - so we included 'Heads' afterwards to avoid any confusion. Ladon is a dragon with a hundred heads that guards the Hesperides Garden where the tree of the Golden Apples that Heracles had to get in one of his works is. It sounded good, it made sense with the music. The guys liked it so we kept it. I'm afraid there is not much more to it. METALLIAN: That is a good enough rationale. Tell me about Maria Da Feira. INFERNANDO: It is a city in the north of Portugal that is close to Porto. Santa Maria Da Feira is like a district.' We all come from smaller towns in the district. It has a really cool castle and is most popular for its medieval fair. So come to think of it, it is quite the scenery for an epic heavy metal band to pop up (laughs). We recorded our first music video in the ruins called Quinta Do Engenho Novo in Paços De Brandão, which is the hometown of Rui and Samuhell. We have played twice in Santa Maria De Lamas - my hometown - once at the town's religious festivities, which is ironic, but really cool, and another in Lamas Em Chamas, the town's metal festival, which I'm super proud of considering we are a small town of 4,000 something residents yet have two music festivals! Antombnio is from Lourosa which is one of the bigger, if not the biggest, cities in Santa Maria Da Feira. It has quite the rivalry with Lamas, so in order to say nothing unpleasant I will not speak much about it at all (laughs again). Joking aside, there are some true heavy metal parties there from time to time, promoted by some friends of ours in a bar there, so it is not so bad anyway. METALLIAN: It looks like you have already been compared to Manilla Road or Cirith Ungol, which is interesting to me because those bands feel boring to me, while Ladon Heads does not. How do you feel about the comparisons? INFERNANDO: Well, these bands you mention are some of our most important inspirations in music. It is the feeling, music-wise, that we are trying to achieve ourselves, but with our own identity. I wouldn't say we are necessarily comparable to them, as they are in a different league, but we are inspired by them so our sound may be similar in some aspects. I cannot empathize at all with the feeling of them sounding boring. You should definitely get your ears checked (laughs). On a serious note, I understand they are definitely unique, definitely not for everyone, but man, once you get it, they are two of the best bands in the universe. I swear it is not an exaggeration, well, not to me at least and I'm sure not to their fans either. That is the reason why they have such an enthusiastic and 'cult' following. They never broke through to the masses, but those who like them are crazy about them. METALLIAN: To each his own. Back to Ladon Heads, is your debut album a concept record with a single narrative? The introduction suggests that it might be. INFERNANDO: It follows a narrative with each song moving a little forward with the story. It begins with Prologue which is a small track that sets the scene: A village suffering from a very long winter which results in the scarcity of food and despair. On Stealers Of The Light, the villagers form a militia, the army of men go on a journey to the underworld to fight the Keeper Of The Flame, a godlike beast that lives in hell and controls light and everything related to it, namely temperature, seasons, day time and so on. On Birth By Hellfire we introduce the aforementioned beast and explain that he is not guided by greed or grudge; he is just doing his job. He is immortal so he has been doing it forever and will keep doing it until the end of time - since he cannot be killed. On Into The Fire we tell the story of the arrival of the army of men and the fierce battle that they go through against the beast. Outro The fire is just a small instrumental track that tries to communicate sorrow and grief of a lost battle for the villagers. Torture… I think you can guess by the title what it is about, right? The few that survived were held captive and now are suffering the consequences of defying a godlike entity. At last, Born In Steel speaks about a prophecy of an unbeatable warrior whose sword is feared all across the land. This is the last bit of hope for the survivors, though we do not know yet if the prophecy is real and if the warrior will save them. I guess we will have to wait for the next album! 
METALLIAN: Given that the next album will further the narrative, is it the intention of the band to make a continuous saga with the story or are the two albums and one story all that is planned right now?INFERNANDO: It is still early to have a definitive answer for that. We are not exactly sure how the story will go even for the next album. We have a few ideas, but it is not decided yet. We may put a hold on this story and explore a new one and then come back to it. The debut's tale is not finished and there are plans to come back to it. We just don't know when or how. I know I just said in the previous question that we would have to wait for the next album, but I don't want it set in stone, as things change and we are very indecisive people (smiles). Overall, I think this story contains enough lore to go on forever and Rui is very good at coming up with stories and developing them so I'm sure he will come up with cool stuff for us to sing about. That being said, I highly doubt it will be the only world that we will explore so even if it becomes a saga it will not be for all of our future albums, I think. METALLIAN: Given what you just said Infernando, I believe I know the answer, but here is the question anyway. Is that Conan on the cover or, perhaps, is that a Conan inspiration on the cover of your album? INFERNANDO: It is not Conan, but it is definitely Conan inspired. We are absolutely in love with the cover. It was created by Bruno Ferraz who is a fantastic artist. We told him about the story of the album and sent him some heavy metal covers that we liked, mostly by Ravensire, just to have him be familiar with the visual style we had in mind. We also asked him to use just two colours. We gave him no information about the elements and that kind of stuff. We wanted him to have as much freedom as possible so that he could come up with the most aesthetically pleasing thing he could think of. He definitely exceeded our expectations. METALLIAN: Let's sink our teeth into the music more. We are here because of the joy the band's music delivers and a respect for metal, but there is criticism too. Firstly, let's talk about the vocals. Some of the vocals are delivered with conviction. Some come across as gothic or whatever. Are there one or two vocalists performing? INFERNANDO: We have three voices at concerts, me, Rui and Antombnio, but it's just me singing at the studio. Well, Lex Thunder, our producer and singer of Toxikull, did some backing vocals on some tracks, which are the best vocal parts of the album to be honest (laughs). About the performance, there is still a very long way for me to go still to become a decent singer. My voice is definitely lower-pitched than usual for heavy metal, hence the gothic feeling you may have gotten, so I try to use it sometimes when I think it fits; other times I just try to go with a bit of 'distortion' and be more battle-like. It is a work in progress. I will never be a Geoff Tate, but it is getting a bit better, I believe. There is still a lot of room for improvement. METALLIAN: The sound is thin. Was this a deliberate choice for an 1980s' metal feel or do you think it came down to production and producer limitations? INFERNANDO: It was definitely intentional. We think it sounds like it could have been the production of the bands that we love. Something I personally loathe is productions that are too polished. It makes the records sound all the same. I don't know. It makes it hard to hear the nuances and the feeling when everything is so perfect and polished, you know? Everything gets too compressed and sterile. It has ruined many great records. So, we wanted to just run away from that as far as possible. This being said, I totally understand this thinner sound is not for everyone and a lot of people will have the exact opposite feeling that I have towards this. At the end of the day, it is really cool to have variety. METALLIAN: There is a cool guitar effect at the end of track number nine that simultaneously closes the album. What effect was used there? INFERNANDO: I don't wanna lie here, but I'm pretty sure that is just noise from Rui's pickups after he ended the solo along with the effects that were present on the leads, namely a bunch of distortion, reverb and delays. We would have to ask Lex though to be sure. Nice detail you caught there. Good job! I don't think I noticed it before to be honest (laughs). METALLIAN: It actually reminded me of the guitar effect on Mrs. Victoria, which is partly why I asked Infernando. Elsewhere, given the style of the band and your being a musician here is a pertinent question. For me, the scene is overrun with crappy poser nonsense, violin, flute, saxophone and, I don't know, keytar players, who still dare to call themselves metal. Then there are all the purely soft rock and pop singers in corsets that every idiot is calling symphonic metal and with a straight face. This mess is alternately ridiculous or funny. What are your thoughts on this discussion? INFERNANDO: Well, I think people should do their thing to be honest. For the most part, I don't care to listen to the more so-called modern sound of metal. Having said that, my opinion doesn't matter. I'll just not listen to it and move on to the stuff I like. I don't see any issue with bringing more instruments to metal. I think it is fun and, well, at least when it started it was fresh. I love the use of synths, for example, even Dio used them quite a bit. Bottom-line is I am in no position to criticise anyone for their taste even if it's not for me and I avoid listening to it. If you focus on the things you like and don't waste energy with the things you know you won't, there will still not be enough time to listen to every album of every band you could potentially enjoy in a lifetime. Nowadays, there are a lot of bands of every subgenre, it is easier than ever to get your music out there and even though that makes it so that there is less of a quality filter, it is just more democratic. And it makes everything easier to grow niche scenes. When was the last time we've had so many great new bands playing traditional heavy metal, touring worldwide and having dedicated festivals to this genre? This makes it so the other genres that we may not like will have that opportunity as well. But why care? There is more to offer - quality-wise too, than ever and at the end of the day, I think, that's what is the most important. Look at the NWOTHM full albums channel on Youtube. There are releases from heavy metal bands on a daily basis. I know I would really dig most of them and have no time to listen to them all, unfortunately. So I prefer to just avoid listening to the stuff I'm less likely to like. METALLIAN: Thanks for the thoughtful reply here. With that said, while I agree that everyone has their own tastes, as we have discovered one of us loves Cirith Ungol and the other doesn't, and the principle that musicians should play whatever they like stands, because that is the essence of artistic freedom, there are still some hard lines when it comes to the definition of metal. You can’t just toss a harp into the mix and call it metal. It's akin to mixing mango pudding with meatballs, stuffing them into a turkey and then calling it pizza. At some point, when your music is softer, wimpier and more commercial than something like Duran Duran, it’s time for the symphonic 'metal' bands and all their fans in the press to face the truth: you’re not metal. My apologies to any chefs out there who run Iranian restaurants, but want to add Mexican spices, Thai lemongrass and Canadian trout to their kabobs. Guess what? You are not serving what you claim, no matter what the pretentious food critics say. In this context, please translate for us and the readers. How do you say, 'down with false metal and long live true metal' in Portuguese? INFERNANDO: Abaixo o metal falso e longa vida ao metal verdadeiro! There you have, you can use that whenever you come here, Mr Ali DeMaio. METALLIAN: My goodness. Good thing the knights at Metallian Towers saw me raise my arm quickly enough; otherwise, the insult would have ended badly. Nevertheless, let us end our interview with an obvious question: Everyone everywhere would tell you that Metallian is the only source for heavy metal that matters. Why do you concur? INFERNANDO: Well, you are at this very moment speaking with an unknown band from an unknown place, from a country that is not exactly known for heavy metal. If this does not show unbreakable commitment to the genre of heavy metal, I really don't know what does. I'm even tempted to forgive you for disliking Cirith Ungol and Manilla Road (laughs heartily). So, thank-you very much for having us man. It was a pleasure! Forgiven (almost) for disliking Cirith Ungol and Manilla Road, it is congruent for me to forgive my friendly interview guest and interview partner for comparing a true metal fan to a poseur supreme in some has-been act. Ladon Heads is my interview partner Infernando, guitarist Rui Thorpedro, bassist Antombnio and drummer Samuhell Unhollyveira. For more head over to here. If you enjoyed this, read Dream Evil
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Ladon Heads