Okay! This was something, the most memorable night of all. It was a night of brotherhood, a night of morbid sounds, a night of riffs and slam-dancing – of course, I am talking about Cavalera, Necrot, and Dead Heat, who brought one of the most intensely enjoyable gigs I got to attend. We are a few weeks away from concert mania, cutting through the states with a bloody axe. The show took place under a malicious moonsault of a stunning blood moon. Considering how much ruination everyone would bring to sink our claws into Warsaw on a clear and mild night in Williamsburg, that is saying something!
Those who arrived early entered the venue to pre-game and hang out before the concert. The first thing for me to strike off was a hearty Polish dinner. The bistro opened up a little after the doors opened at six. If you ever attend a gig at this venue, go for two Kielbasa sandwiches and the Warsaw special with a few pierogies, some Kielbasa, and hunter stew. The portions are minimal at best. However, it is still a meal deal worth the twenty-seven dollars without reducing your drink money, your merch money, or your ticket money for an upcoming gig because we all know that the springtime is when our tax refunds are going towards seeing our favorite bands. Talking of merch, all three bands brought their A-game. T-shirts? Patches? Posters? You want it? It is all yours, my friends. As long as you have enough rupees. As you are shopping, if you notice a crowdfunding box or a tip jar on the merch table, tip a dollar or two so that your favorite band(s) might have a little more cash for food, gas, or whatever basic needs are required to live on the road.
Firing off the evening was the five-barrel armor cannon in Dead Heat. It was my third time seeing them since burning up with Exodus coincidentally at Warsaw last November. The recent signees to Metal Blade Records brought the heat in dead heat for a half-hour to show the newcomers how to rip and tear a venue apart, but they made the most out of their minutes with their style of hardcore-influenced thrash metal. Dead Heat delivered a fire pledge and won some new fans over. Check them out if you are into that style of extreme metal. There wouldn’t be a Dead Heat if it weren’t for Sepultura. The set was good. It was great to see them again, and the pit was warming up. Their high-energy performance prepared the early attendees for the tri-attack sucker punch from Necrot.
The show forged ahead with a ferocious set from the Necrot. From the second Necrot began their set with Cut the Chord, this Bay Area death metal trio delivered a skull-smashing seven-song set of pummeling death metal. The band kept the night alight. The pit began to widen as Necrot played on. Despite their set length, Necrot sent out a cross-grained, loud message a handful of other bands know how to do. Max Cavalera is known for being an outspoken fan of heavier metal music. Considering how much shit Chad Gailey (drums) and Luca Indrio (guitars and vocals) have been through the past five years from a soft global exile, family health issues, and even Gailey suffering a broken back. I am sure all of that misfortune gave them enough tenacity to torque through the bad times. I am also sure Necrot’s story and music style convinced Max for Necrot to provide direct support to get a massive audience amped for the darkest lariat from Cavalera. It was great as a deluge of Motorhead songs blared over the PA system as Necrot was setting up. There wouldn’t be Dead Heat or a Necrot without a Sepultura? Fuckin’ hell, there wouldn’t be a Sepultura if there wasn’t a Motorhead. From the Ramones to Overkill to Sepultura to Necrot, Motorhead is a band that inspired and still influences generations of rockers, metalheads, thrashers, and punks – no matter the decade.
Just as when we thought it was time for a breather after Dead Heat and Necrot leveled Warsaw, it would soon be time for us to stand proud, to welcome the brutal and thrashing metal wrecking crew from Brazil – CAVALERA for us to assist Max and Igorrr in honoring three of Sepultura’s most primitive early sounds in heavy music, a triple-threat high-light reel of their 1985 Bestial Devastation split with Overdose, the grisly 1986 debut of Morbid Visions, and 1987’s vicious Schizophrenia/
Joined Max’s son Igor Amadeus Cavalera on bass and Travis Stone on guitar, the aggression began with From the Past Comes the Storms. From that pure thrashing opener to what was to come, that’s when the boldest selection of neo-thrashers created a blinding cyclone in the middle of the floor, subjugating Warsaw in what felt like being caught in a volatile dust devil. A thrash metal crowd is anything but relaxed. Much like when I saw Exodus waltzing it up at Warsaw in November, the mosh pits and crowd surfers were a mix of younger faces around my age and older fans reliving their Headbangers Ball days of youth deciding to join in to pull us other headbangers around with high-speed intensity. Neither the audience nor the band relaxed for a moment. But knowing how synonymous the Cavalera brothers are with heavy metal and seeing how passionate South Americans are with heavy metal music, it did not bother anyone. Check out Iron Maiden’s Rock in Rio 1985 concert on YouTube, playing to an audience of 350,000. You’ll see what I mean.
Cavalera turned in a barbaric set for an hour and then some hostile music. Max and Iggor sound as combative and riled as they ever have. The band played a fourteen-song song set that underlined three of Sepultura’s primitive releases – To the Wall, Morbid Visions, Bestial Devastation, and Septic Schizo kept the moshing moving. We all have opinions on the buzz term farewell tour. But you know what? Call it altered logistics. Call it the cost of travel. Call it ease of visa costability. Unless it’s a one-off performance like the 70000 Tons of Metal cruise, I believe that this is the last time the current lineup of Sepultura with Derrick Green behind the mic is calling it a career as a touring entity; we still have the Cavalera project to provide us that are deep into this music with the earlier brutality of Max and Iggor making Sepultura most victorious Brazilian band in heavy metal. The four-piece brought the heavy, old-school thrash metal for the die-hards headlining Warsaw. The broken-nose hostility from Cavalera concluded with two and a third full-beastly encores. The second the opening guitar riff began for the medley of Beneath the Remains, Arise, and Desperate Cry, the most manic of the moshketeers blackened the pit like it was 1989 all over again. The final two songs arrived for Cavalera to beat up Brooklyn three times, closing with Troops of Doom and the duality of Black Magic by Slayer morphing into Dead Embryonic Cells by Sepultura.
What a show!!! A total hellacious fire-storm of rare and sometimes forgotten deep cuts from Max and Iggor Cavalera laid up by Dead Heat and Necrot. The spring concert season is almost here, loaded with some of the heaviest tours of the year. This Third World Trilogy tour features a stacked lineup to see for a reasonable price if you are looking for a spectacular night out for yourself or with a friend. Max Cavalera is a major supporter of some of the most ballistic bands in our world of music, delivering unforgettable shows for Max and Iggor to unlock the Sepultura vault. This US headline circuit will be no different while tracking across the states. I highly recommend attending a date if it hits your area. All three bands were great. If this project ever comes back to celebrate something else from the early days of Sepultura, we will certainly be there.
Feature image by Chris Loomis who attended Cavalera in LA. See his coverage here.
