Cavalera: The REAL Sepultura
Show Review and Los Angeles Photos by: Oliver Brink
San Francisco Photos by: Alan Ralph @AlanHasPicks
This one was a bit special for me. Sepultura is a band that I fell deeply in love with in high school, and their music and the continued projects of Max Cavalera have been with me constantly as I navigate my way through life. I always find moments where I just need a song like “Refuse/Resist” or “Troops of Doom” to help me get through a moment of angry energy. So, of course, I had to jump at a chance to see Max and Iggor Cavalera, finally, and when that opportunity arrived, I jumped right the hell on it, even if it meant going to one of my least favorite venues to photograph. More on that later; bands first!
This was the last evening of the US leg of the Tour, and the constants of it were Exhumed and Incite as support to Cavalera Conspiracy (herein referred to as Cavalera), but added to our bill were local groups SANGRE and Thrown Into Exile. Both of these bands are god damn killer and deserve to be seen and slammed around with, but unfortunately –and I would love to have a chance to talk to whoever made this decision– the Wiltern sells their pit tickets at a separate price. In contrast, pre pandemic the pit was included in general admission but had a limited number of wristbands that went to the first people to show up in line. As a result, people who pay extra for pit tickets tend not to show up until maybe the next band to the headliner, which makes it pretty frustrating for metal bands who thrive on circle pits and walls of death. That didn’t stop SANGRE from bringing their brand of politically charged extreme metal to the people who showed up early with great enthusiasm.
Thrown into Exile’s frontman, Evan Seidlitz is a goddamn force of nature. He rarely stops moving, headbanging, glaring at the audience, and screaming his goddamn head off. Meanwhile, Guitarists Mario Rubio and Austin Monzon trade off on incredible solos while also making good use of the sizeable Wiltern stage. I’ve been coming a little bit around to metalcore more lately, although I quite frankly didn’t think that was the genre I was rocking my ass off to at the time. Labels aside, these guys kick ass, and bring thrashy brutal low ends with incredible epic solo work and violently angry screaming.
To further escalate why labels are pointless, enter Phoenix, AZ’s Incite, who took to the stage introducing themselves with “We are Incite, and we play HEAVY. FUCKING. METAL.” They then proceeded to blast into exactly what they said they would: Heavy. Fucking. Metal. These guys tear it apart in all the best ways. Frontman Richie Cavalera (stepson of Max) goes hard, striding and jumping across the stage while the band delivers fast blasting thrash/groove. Ya know, Heavy. Fucking. Metal. It was pretty hard to enjoy riling up a crowd when only 14 people are in the pit, but that didn’t stop them from getting the next standing level to start a couple of wild circle pits.
If thrash seemed to be the main throughline of styles, Exhumed was about to absolutely shift the mood bringing their brand of gorecore deathgrind to blast apart everyone’s brains. Sebastian Philips shreds the everloving hell out of his guitar, doing a lot of fun “heavy metal duo” moments with low growling bass banger Ross Sewage whenever possible. Matt Harvey’s songs are the epitome of brutal and the set was punctuated with a strange character in a raggedy looking butcher apron who appeared throughout with body parts to rile up the crowd. Before they were able to conclude the set, Sewage led the crowd into singing “Happy Birthday” to Harvey before performing “Utter Mutilation of Your Corpse.” ‘Nuff said.
Enter Cavalera, or as many had said that evening, “The Real Sepultura.” Max and Iggor, along with Max’s son Igor Amadeus on Bass and Travis Stone on Guitar, blasted through Bestial Devestation and Morbid Visions (the first two Sepultura releases) to the delight of hardcore Sepultura fans. There were some issues at times with Max’s mic, but the performance went off without a hitch, although there were certainly a number of riled-up fans who managed to get themselves kicked out for mosh pit altercations.
Max was in an incredibly good mood throughout and in fact the entire evening felt like a big party. The sheer energy of the entire night, probably because it was the final night of the tour, was at an all time high. Max told a story about their “bullet belts” (actually AA batteries, super glue and duct tape) that Iggor came up with in lieu of actual bullets which could only be appropriated if you became a cop or joined the army “and fuck that shit.” They followed the main album sets with songs from Schizophrenia, Arise, and Chaos AD hinting at a proper Chaos AD tour next year. They also brought Exhumed and Incite back out to perform a joint cover of Motorhead’s “Iron Fist,” which featured the infamous “You know I’m born to lose…” breakdown from “Ace of Spades.” One goddamn hell of a night.
Los Angeles ‘Wiltern Theater’ Photo Gallery:
San Francisco ‘Great American Music Hall’ Cavalera photos:
