Interview with Andres Castro of Bogota Subterranea Fest

Bogotá’s underground metal scene has long been a crucible for extreme, uncompromising music, and few names embody this spirit more than Andrés Castro. As the founder of Bogotá Subterránea Fest, Andrés has dedicated decades to amplifying underground metal in Colombia, showcasing the most brutal, obscure, and uncompromising bands both locally and internationally. This year, the festival returns on August 29th and 30th, 2025 at Ace of Spades in Bogotá, featuring a lineup that spans the extremes of black, death, and war metal, including Merrimack, Weregoat, Volahn, Abismal Lord, Morbosatán, and a host of other underground legends.

Beyond curating unforgettable shows, Andrés has been instrumental through Factor Metal, a key platform for the dissemination and promotion of extreme metal in Colombia and across Latin America. In this interview, he takes us through the festival’s origins—from its first edition in 1991, the early underground bands like Akerrak, Sentencia, Nigfatus (later Nameless), and Averno, to the resurgence of Bogotá Subterránea in the international extreme metal circuit.

Andrés shares his philosophy for the festival, emphasizing attitude over popularity, a fierce dedication to the underground ethos, and a commitment to extreme music without compromise. He reflects on the festival’s impact on Bogotá and Latin America, its connections to underground scenes worldwide, and the legacy he hopes to leave with this final edition.

Whether you’re a long-time fan of extreme metal or discovering Bogotá Subterránea Fest for the first time, this conversation offers a rare glimpse into the mind of a promoter who lives and breathes the underground, creating spaces where extreme metal can thrive in its rawest, most authentic form.

-Andrea: Okay, so thank you so much for being here with us. Hey, it's a real pleasure to have you here, Metal Detector.

For those who don't know, my name is Andrea Net. This is everyone's favorite section, which is the interviews. We try to recruit personalities from all over the world who focus on metal, musicians, of course.

And today we're with Andrés Castro, the organizer of Bogotá Subterrana Fest, which will be held on August 29th and 30th, 2025, at in Ace of Spades in Bogotá. He's also behind Factor Metal, a fundamental reference in the dissemination of extreme metal nationally, in Colombia, and internationally, obviously.

Hey, thank you so much for agreeing to this interview, and my question would be, how did the idea for Bogotá Subterrana Fest come about?

-Andres: The festival was born when I was 15 years old. I was in school with a friend. We wanted to do a concert, and he now has a label called Viuda Negra Music. His name is Andrés Moreno. We were in school together, and then we decided to do a concert. Considering the standards for underground concerts back then, it was considered a festival, and it was called Bogotá Subterránea.

Back then, Akerrak from Bogotá played with them, Sentencia from Bogotá, y Nigfatus from Cali, which later became Nameless, and Averno, a Grindcore band from Medellín.

Years went by. Andrés and I continued to be involved with metal in different capacities, and last year, with a friend in Chile who has an agency called Sísmica Producciones and who manages Latin America for Inclusion, whose name is Adriana, we were planning to do something with Sadistic Intent.

So, I met them in Chicago at Threat Fest, and we made contact there, and a whole tour was put together. When the tour was put together, Adriana said to me, "Do you want to do Colombia?" And I said, "Yeah, definitely."

And from there I had the crazy idea of why it wasn't going to be an underground metal-only festival. So I was going to see Blasphemy in Montreal, so I went and spoke to Blasphemy and they said, "Okay, let's play."

And I also wanted to have Anticrisis Machine and friends like Adversarial and the whole thing was put together, the festival was created just like that and so I said, well, what do I name this shit? And I said, well, Bogotá Subterranea, as a continuation of the initial one.

Many people believe Bogotá Subterranea. Last year it's number one, but in fact it's number two. The first one was in '91. You say correct, correct, so there are three editions. Exactly. Very good.

-Andrea: Tell me, Andrés, what criteria do you use to put together the lineup and make sure it's true to the underground spirit?

-Andres: There's no curation. A lot of people use that term, oh, the festival's curation and [ __ ] I mean, I don't always like the band, it seems to me that they have an attitude that is they are willing to work under what the festival has to offer and then they go in.

So, basically it's a festival that I do mostly for myself, but I know that like me, there are at least a few hundred cockroaches just like me who are going to be there enjoying that [ __ ] with me. Basically, that's where all that comes from.

-Andrea: Very well. So, uh, when you balance local bands with international groups, do you have any criteria?

-Andres: Yes. Uh, with international bands the main criterion is that they have never played in Colombia. Uh, it must be very exclusive. Uh, this year I made the exception with Morbosatán because they put together a tour precisely to get to the festival. So, well, no way.

And with national bands, uh, the emphasis has always been on the underground bands that are making interesting music, that don't have as much exposure because they get too deep into the underground. Bands that have participated in Rock al Parque, in Altavoz, in the state festivals that are looking down on the government, will never be part of the festival. I'm not interested in them, I'm not interested in those things.

And basically, I think people have received the selection of national bands well. Hey, I think they're bands that deserve to be there, they deserve the exposure, they deserve the space, and well, it's cool, and I think people are responding very well, and definitely the attitude, the music has to be extreme, the attitude has to be extreme.

Eh, I have to know them as people and know that there is a connection with the underground. Eh, I'm not interested in showbiz people, posers or [ __ ] or anything like that [ __ ] I mean, the festival is the antithesis of all this [ __ ]

In fact, we had a slogan last year that this year I've lightened up because I was more letting the music of the bands and the attitude of the bands speak for themselves, but I recovered that slogan from the 90s No mosh , no posers, no fun.

Eh, this is the festival and this is not a festival for political discussions, it's not a festival for me being left-wing, I'm right-wing, that the only thing that has to unite us is the underground and within that framework of ideas, well, the festival is not a [ __ ] safe space, that's waiting for a safe space and that, oh, these bullshit walks of today, right?

The festival is for extreme people and that's what they have to expect. And curiously when you free yourself from all that [ __ ] that was seen last year, there was a lot of harmony. The union is a music, it's the underground. Anything foreign to that and it's not to talk about religion, or politics, or leftists, or rights, or any of that [ __ ] That is irrelevant within the spirit of the underground.

And the idea is to decontaminate metal a little from that and basically eh what underground Bogotá represents is the antithesis of all commercial metal. It's a weapon of war against all commercial metal, it's a weapon of war against all the superficiality and contamination that metal has today with so much mainstream bullshit, but we're supposed to be the opposite and not conform like sheep to what the powers that be tell us, right?

-Andrea: Well, basically, what has the festival meant for the metal scene in Bogotá and Latin America?

-Andres: I think it's very connected to what you're saying, right? Yeah, well, for me it's hard to say because it can sound like patting my own back and I'm not. But the comment I heard, a lot of people say that it definitely marked a before and after, at least in the Bogotá scene.

Ah, yes, I can attest that in certain aspects it did, because one of the ideas of the festival was also to rekindle that flame of the underground, for people to realize that there is a lot of quality within underground metal, that extreme metal is still alive, that the extreme metal that lets us be contaminated by today's bullshit is still alive, and people have responded by giving it a way to infect the scene with it, that we were like the plague that is infecting all of this [ __ ] and it happened after the festival, bringing many more underground bands to Colombia.

There has been more interest in the underground, not only in Colombia, but in Latin America. Eh, there are people who are already, if not copying, assimilating the idea of the festival and transforming it with others with other characteristics.

In fact, an impressive festival that took place in November with Dayfago and Mystifier, a number of bands in Bogotá that is similar in the structure of underground Bogotá. If I have the opportunity to go, I will go.

Uh, and when we were doing a festival last year, I made contact with some people in the Americas, not just from the South, but from North America, who are also involved in underground festivals, and we're forming a kind of partnership; we've been supporting each other.

Among them were the people who did Evil Darkness in Detroit, Fernando, and I forget the name of his partner. There's also Carlos who does Destroy Texas in Houston. There's Raúl who does Horrid Days in Mexico City, and although he's not part of the band, there's also Edu who's doing that Templo Negro in Brazil.

There are also the people who do this other festival in Mexico, whose name I forgot right now. It's a little more, a little more, a little more, bigger names, but it's also an underground spirit. Candelabrum. They.. Yes, I've seen it a lot. I've seen a lot of information about them and I think the father of the festivals right now in America in general is Paul Downski with Metal Threat and well, well, he's been a collaborator of the festival, At least emotionally, the guy is there, and when you need a favor from the guy, the guy helps.

So it's like creating that brotherhood, which was metal in its early days.

And the other thing I found interesting to see is that people from all over the world traveled to the festival. I think in Colombia it was the first time I saw people from like 15, 20 countries traveling to the festival, and this year more or less the same number of countries will be there, but with a larger attendance.

In fact, I was at the door one day, eh, I think it was the first day, and a guy came in, a gringo there with long hair and such, with a little girl. I saw them speaking in English, so I started speaking to him in English and I was like, uh, what are you doing here? No, you're coming to see me at the festival.

And cool, nice to meet you. I organized it for you, bro. Ah, nice to meet you. I'm Chase, the owner of Hells Headbangers Records. And I was like, what the fuck.

I mean, I mean, the guy was there, uh, Peter Helmkamp, who was from Angel Corpse, was at the festival last year. So, I found that interesting, and sometimes I talk to people here and they tell me about the festival. Oh, you've heard of that festival in Colombia. Yes, I'm the organizer. Well, it's interesting, right? Yes, yes, yes.

-Andrea: Uh, looking back, from 1991 until today, what moments do you feel defined the history of the Bogotá Subterránea Fest?

-Andres: Circumstances. The festival is a product of circumstances. Uh, when we were 15, we wanted to do something, the opportunity arose for us to do it, and it left its mark on Bogotá at the time.

Last year's festival was a coincidence. I mean, initially I wanted to do Sadistic Intent in Bogotá, and I ended up doing two days with 16 bands. This year there are 19 bands, but the festival had a purpose, and that was it: to infect the underground scene, to see if the underground would be reactivated.

More of a social experiment, because it happens to me a lot when I went to Colombia, people who are underground would tell me, "No, but here they don't bring such junky bands and such, and the most brutal ones and such, and it's always like the same people."

So, it's a social experiment to see if people react, if I show them and they respond, to see if they're really going to support the underground or are just talking [ __ ] and no, people responded.

So, the idea is to continue it again this year, but this year the festival is dying. This is the last version, at least for a while. I don't think I'll do the festival again for a while because it fulfilled its purpose.

So, I'm retiring now and I'll leave it to you to do with what you can do with what the festival left as a legacy, because I'm not interested in competing. It was exactly that goal and on top of that, uh, organizing a festival logistically is a nightmare, even more so when I live in Canada.

So, organizing a festival long distance is like [ __ ] So, uh, the amount of stress, the amount of things and honestly, I need a break too. I think I need a break from that, to recharge my batteries and be able to be a new fan again.

I miss that part of being a metal fan, simply not worrying about it for a year for two nights, but not thinking about anything other than that a new album came out and I have the money to buy it and I come home and relax with a few beers or go to a concert and enjoy it, and I miss the anonymity too.

Yes, but more than all of that is being a fan because since I'm doing the festival, I haven't bought music again, nothing, because all my money and all my time is invested in the festival.

I wanted to go to Steelfest, for example, in Europe, and I couldn't go because all my resources are allocated to the festival. So, I want to give myself that opportunity to let it rest and be able to be a fan again.

I've never stopped doing that, but being a very exclusive fan.

-Andrea: Yes, let's talk a little about Factor Metal, which is already a big name at the scene. Tell me how it came about, too, very suddenly, or how it was in this case.

-Andres: Well, Factor Metal is where the space I have is hosted, which is called talking about. So, basically, I started working with Factometal a long time ago, doing reviews, doing interviews, eh, I continued collaborating with Germán, who's the owner of Factor Metal.

And then one time, the same thing, I was saying, I watch so many interview videos and stuff, but nobody talks about Fanzines, and Fanzines has been one of my fascinations, and it turns out the person I'm doing the space Hablando de is one of the people who knows the most about fanzines and has a spectacular collection of fanzines.

So I said, hey, Chucho, I want to do a video interview with him so we can talk about fans. He says, "Okay, send me the questions, right? No questions."

Let's sit down and talk like we do every weekend because every weekend Chucho and I would watch video, dude, look at the fanzine that came to me or ask for the CD that came to me, and we'd get drunk and last two hours until we were stuffed and went to sleep.

So one night I said, "That would be cool to do it and record it." So the idea was to start talking about fanzines.

So I told him, "Let's do it this way, let's sit down and talk, simply have on hands with the most relevant Fanzines that you want to talk about and let's get the conversation flowing."

It was so cool that I said to him, "Dude, let's do more and I would like to do that together and continue replicating what we do every weekend and we've been doing it for, I think, 5 years and the approach is that, there's no script. We know that we are not journalists nor do we consider ourselves the wisest in metal. We are simply metal fans talking about what we like and like us there are like 100 or 200 drunks who follow us faithfully and get drunk watching us and go out and buy the music we recommend and well, cool. We have like a community there of junk addicts.

-Andrea: Now that you're closing this stage, Andrés, what personal projects or I don't know other new projects do you think you're going to focus your energy on?

-Andres: Well, right now I'm killing the festival and I'm going to kill my label too. I have a record label. Uh, the idea is that I'm going to fulfill a couple of commitments that I had made and I'm going to kill the label.

I have a commitment made with a tour that we're going to do with Ad Hominem of France in November. Uh, and after that, like I told you, I'm going to dedicate myself to being a metal fan and no more.

And uh, I need time for myself, I mean, I'm over 50. There are things I haven't achieved in my life that I want to achieve, and for that, I need to dedicate time to myself and time to my health too because I have health problems that were diagnosed a couple of years ago and I need to take better care of myself.

So, I want to focus on that, uh, getting my health in shape, getting my life in shape, and continuing to work hard, being able to buy records. I was used to buying a ridiculous amount of records a year, and I haven't done that since, and I need it. That's my crack, so I need, I need my fix.

-Andrea: Yeah. Oh, tell me, let's expand a little on what you were telling us about Ad Hominem. I'd like to know a few more details for the fans of the genre, obviously, and the festival.

-Andres: Well, we'll see about Ad Hominem. Uh, we were supposed to do four dates. Initially, we had Medellín, Bogotá, Quito, and Santiago. Uh, I don't think Medellín is going to happen. So, for the moment, we're only working on Bogotá, Quito, and Santiago.

There's interest from other promoters, but "hey, what's the thing like? It's not like that, oh no, a lot of money, oh no", "I don't know what". "Oh no". So I think for the moment we'll stick to that.

Uh, Ad Hominem is like with the festival. I wanted Ad Hominem for the festival because I'm a huge fan of Ad Hominem and I wanted them to headline. So, talking to Kaiser, he mostly said, "I'd love to, but I can't do it for that date, I can do it in November." I was like, "Fuck."

So, uh, I said, "Well, let's do something then." I said, "Well, what can you come up with?" He just said, "I'd like to do a date, not just a, uh, sorry, a tour, not just an exclusive date, and I have a week. How many dates can we fit into that week?"

And so, let's see. So, that's where it happened, and there are three dates so far. It's more than confirmed, it's firm, and it's brutal because, especially the Totalitarian Black Metal, that album, for me, is one of the best I've heard this year.

There are people who say, "Oh, that's a [ __ ]", no problem. But for me, for a few hundred more, it's a blast of an album, and well, we'll be there rocking out, rocking out, with Ad Hominem.

-Andrea: Okay, very well. Ah, basically, I think those are all the questions I had. Well, I was going to ask you about the legacy of the festival, but you already talked about it. We basically talked about why you're closing the festival.

My basic question would be, do you think there's anything else you'd like to add about the festival to this conversation?

-Andres: Well, I hope people find out about the festival, promoters find out about it, and they dare to invest in the underground. The underground is gaining strength worldwide. We're seeing an explosion of underground festivals all over the world, and I think the most authentic metal is happening underground.

Eh, nothing against the big bands that have achieved success like Marduk or like, I don't know many other bands that are definitely big bands, but there's a lot of quality that they create that come out of the Spotify bubble, come out of the Metal Injection bubble and worse, that [ __ ] Metal Sucks and all those fakes that are recommending bullshit bands.

Eh, eh, because I see that metal is very infected with contemporary and it shouldn't be like that. Metal is supposed to be rebellious and it's time to go back to being wolves and not sheep. Otherwise, you're more than a fucking poser and that's it. My humble idea, my humble opinion.

-Andrea: Yeah, sure. Very well. Beyond music, what non-metal recommendations like books, movies, series would you like to recommend for the Metal Detector audience?

Any books, as long as it's a book, a physical book. People have forgotten how to read. So, eh, it's always good to have a book in your hand and immerse yourself in a good story.

-Andres: Uh, I'm a big fan of Mario Mendoza's later years. I love the man's nihilism, the negativism, the guy's prose. I describe Bogotá as a [ __ ] sewer. I'm fascinated by him, uh, books like "Satanas" seem brutal to me.

The Diary to the End of the World seems spectacular to me. Uh, also Márquez, uh, I was recently reading The Steppenwolf for like the fourth time of Hermann Hesse’s very cool, I mean, read any book, read that, that was something very cool that we metalheads had back then and I remember that one of them interviewed bands, I remember one of the first interviews, I had a fanzine from the 90s, one of the first interviews I did with Samael and we talked about that and well Vorphalack talked to me about Alan Poe and he talked to me about a number of authors and through Samael I met many authors, I met many books and that made me fall in love with reading much more than I already liked.

So, reading was definitely good cinema too, there are many things to discover, series too, but well, that depends on each person. The important thing is to be active, and I think it's what culture give meaning to life, what doesn't really give meaning to existence.

You without culture, without knowledge, and without emotional and spiritual stimuli. Uh, it's simply, as creator says, a waste of flesh and blood.. so.

-Andrea: So, I'd like to talk specifically about some bands that will be at the festival. Uh, there are some I don't know and others that I said, "Wow, these are going to Colombia, it seems incredible." For example, I'm really excited about Weregoat, Merrimack, Volahn; it seems super crazy to me. Uh, I was really excited to see that lineup. Tell me a little about the bands we're waiting for.

-Andres: Well, Merrimack, I think it doesn't need an introduction. She's one of the most important bands in French black metal today, and she's been for me for many years, ever since I came across the Grey Rigorism album. From then on I fell in love with them, and I also think Omegaphilia is a spectacular album.

Oh, they're a band I've always wanted to see. They played the Messe des Morts here in Montreal last year. I wanted to go see them, but the day I went to go, it was already sold out, so I couldn't get in, no, I couldn't go to the concert, and I missed them.

So, out of the fun of not seeing them, I told them, I contacted them, and I said, "Dude, do you want to play at my festival?" I wanted to see if I can finally see them, and they said yes. So I'm really excited to see them. They're a great band that everyone told me they'd be great. Messe des Morts' show was one of the best shows that surprised everyone.

Everyone I know who says they've seen them tells me it's a show to die for, meaning, it's a very brave display of darkness and brutality. So I think everyone who hasn't seen them in Bogotá is going to lose their virginity together with Merrimack because I haven't seen them either and I have high expectations for them.

Weregoat, we're talking about the elite, what is black metal with that war metal tinge they call it these days, well I think Wargot are definitely one of the greatest representatives. Keep in mind that Kevin, the vocalist and bassist, is the drummer for Blasphemy.

So, for Blasphemy, which made the connection with Weregoat, they also put on a super-promising show. An interesting thing is that Kevin, before Weregoat and all that, was part of a black metal band from the United States called Thy Infernal back in the 90s, which I really liked.

And interestingly, they're going to travel with one of the former musicians from Thy Infernal, and they're going to do a set with two or three Thy Infernal songs as a surprise with Weregoat in Bogotá. So that's going to be unique; it's something Weregoat has never done before; it's going to be unique exclusively for Bogotá Subterránea. So, I think that's really cool.

Great. Volahn, well [ __ ] I've already seen them three times. It's a band that I was talking to right now with Eduardo from Volahn, and he was telling me, "We're here preparing for a show like pure Mayan warriors there in Bogotá and such." I mean, that's always their attitude, right?

And that's what people are going to see, on top of the fact that musically Ana is very eclectic, with influences from Rockabilly to the most brutal of black metal. And it's a very crazy thing, like you said, it's too much, it's a unique band. I think there's only one Volahn in the world, and that's it.

And that's obviously worthy of see., is going Sorguinazia from here in Canada. Curiously, they were playing here in Toronto last week. Last Saturday we were here seeing them in Toronto, and also a band with a lot of dissonance, with a very rough atmosphere, a very rough connection with nature and the magic of nature and all that, and it's reflected in the music, top-quality musicians.

The leader Catherine is on a crazy stage, offering a very interesting show along with their music. This is very cool. Ah, Abismal Lord is also, I think, one of the flagship bands right now, the legacy of Blasphemy and Revenge Conquery and all these types of bands.

So, brutality worthy of seeing a Morbosatán from Peru, also a super aggressive, super-deadly, super anti-everything thing, uh, drugs Satan, I mean, cocaine Satan and metal, basically their ideology. With an extremely brutal show.

And it's worth noting that Toñín Destructor is part of their lineup, that he was one of the founders of Hades, which is basically one of the evil pioneers of Death Metal, not only in Peru but in South America. We're talking about a legend of Latin American underground metal who will be performing at Tarima in Bogotá.

That's worth noting, right? It's just that I have so many hands on my shoulders that I forget. For example, Morbid Macabre from Colombia, who are basically the legacy of Sarcofago, is there, eh, and Morbid Macabre haven't played in Bogotá in a long time. They finally reunited with the lineup and will be performing in Bogotá.

Speaking of Sarcofago, well, Gerard Minelli, one of the founders of Sarcofago, has this band called The Laws Kill Destroy, and they're basically going to play the entire INRI. Eh, so the closest you can get to Sarcofago is seeing this band live and then they'll be headlining.

Cadaveric Messiah, a band from Barranquilla with members of Funeral Vomit and Crucifixor, a band that I basically think combines what Funeral Vomit and Crucifixor are, the black metal of Crucifixor and the cavernous metal of Funeral Vomit, eh, with a very brutal attitude, I know they're going to tear it apart.

Mortado from Cali also with a super scavenging death metal influenced by very crazy and very dirty hands. eh with, I don't know, a very unique atmosphere eh Torva from Medellín, where we have two women fronting the band with some very brutal big mouths, With a tribute to old school metal, influences from Finnish metal to Doom, passing through Mythic, Derkéta, and a number of things, very interesting too, Kvlt of Eblis, which for me is one of the most interesting black metal bands in Colombia.

Metzli's attitude on stage is also brutal; it's a super violent wing, both sonically and visually. And they actually have a very interesting show prepared. The only thing I can say beforehand is that the place is going to stink to death while they're on stage and there's going to be a lot of blood and a lot of stench. That's going to be fabulous.

Rarle tribute to Satan. It's very nice. Ah, it's very cool. All that's very cool.

-Andrea: Well, I think we're out of questions and therefore out of time. Thank you very much, Andrés, for being here with us today. Uh, we know that, well, even though it's the last edition of the festival, we know they're going to rock it, and we're very jealous of not being able to be there.

We hope you enjoy it for us and that there's plenty of footage. Oh, yes, by the way, the bonus question, uh, are you going to have any audiovisual footage of the festival?

-Andres: Yes, in fact, I have a very close friend named Marcela Marín, who's with El Metalero, uh, she has that Metalero space, and she's been one of the biggest supporters I've had since I started this tour. Her partner works with film, and she's also very interested in the audiovisual aspect.

So, uh, interestingly, for the festival, they want to document it. They're going to document it only with the band, with old cameras, with handicaps and all that, and for it to be recorded with that frame and with that grain of the old video, to give it that touch of nostalgia and take us back to the 80s and 90s underground.

That's going to be documented that way. We don't know how it's going to be disseminated, whether it's going to be through videos here and there or as a documentary and then put on YouTube or whatever, but there will be an audiovisual record, both video and photographic.

One interesting thing is that they're going to be doing something really cool: they're going to have a station where you can take a photo at the festival, and they'll print it right there, and the photo will appear with the festival logo, and it will remain as a memory of the festival.

I mean, the idea is to bid farewell to the festival with your head held high, and people will take away a memory of having been part of this experience.

And other allied media will also be making audiovisual records that we'll surely see after the festival on their respective websites or social networks, right?

Of course. But speaking of wanting to go, you only have a week left, you have time, the tickets aren't that expensive, I'll invite you down there.

-Andrea: Yes, it's tempting, but I've already spent all my trips this year and my cousin is coming back next week, so we're going somewhere else on vacation again, and so far, we haven't taken her and I haven't been able to go forever.

But anyway, thank you very much, Andrés. It's a pleasure to have shared this afternoon, and uh, well, greetings from Metal Detector. We hope you do well with this super underground festival, and if you need anything, we'll be in touch. See you in the scene.

Andres: Thank you, Satan takes care of you. Thank you. Thank you. Bye