Soulfly

Rising from the depths of probably the most instrumental bands in the development of thrash metal Sepultura, following his departure Max Cavalera formed Soulfly in 1997. Utilising the familiar sound he had helped create, Cavalera fed it into the band making use of traditional Brazilian tribal and world music while fusing it with death metal. His vision for Soulfly was to incorporate the idea of merging spirituality with sound. Their debut self-titled album was released the following year reaching number 79 in the Billboard charts. Subsequently they have gone on to release a further 8 studio albums and although the line-up since its inception has changed several times, Max Cavalera remains constant.
Summer festivals are one the best environments to see Soulfly live, they certainly don’t do things by halves. Before they even arrive an eruption of smoke fills the stage, accompanied by an operatic soundtrack as the crowd chant “Soulfly! Soulfly” to which the band run on stage. Kicking off the set with “Babylon” and then into “Prophecy” as Cavalera’s signature deep roar resonates through the air. From the offset the crowd waste no time in jumping up and down with their devils horns high in the air as the brutal drum beats raise the tempo to maximum. The intense breakdowns combined with the fierce strobe lights ignites organised chaos with various circle pits opening up in the crowd as they fling their bodies round and round before merging into mosh pits.
Soulfly have no qualms about owning the stage, the crowd is at their command. Cavalera is an excellent frontman as he enthuses the crowd with an unlimited supply of energy. If you’d forgotten where they were from, there are gentle reminders on stage right from the Brazilian flag hung from the drum riser, to the colours of their plectrums and even down to their customised guitars. Of course you can expect to hear some Sepultura classics like “Roots Bloody Roots”, “Refuse/Resist” and “Troops of Doom” thrown in the mix- it’d be rude of them not to! There are moments of pure brilliance when Marc Rizzo shreds the guitar like his life depended on it, simply mesmerising.
From start to finish the crowds are in motion as waves of bodies travel across the crowd. It’s not surprising, Soulfly have the innate ability to take over your body for the duration of their set and allowing you to let go of all inhibitions. Whatever musical projects Max Cavalera is involved with, you can expect pure magic.

The Californian thrash metal band have had several stints of music production fame over the years, and have released several studio albums over the years. Death Angel are the kind of band that I wasn’t particularly interested in listening to until I saw them perform live. I was dragged along to a concert with a friend, and absolutely loved every moment. The instrumental talent that the band in incredibly high, and their musical solos demonstrated the complexity of their individual parts. Many people are inclined to think that the vocals in metal bands are simply shouting, but it is a highly difficult skill, and their front man, Mark Osegueda has it absolutely nailed.
Although their line up has changed quite a lot over the years, the band are incredibly strong and work together really well. They bounce their energy off of each other, and are constantly head banging throughout their sets, encouraging the audience to do the same. They played through their newest album The Dream Calls For Blood, as well as revisiting some of their older material, which seemed to please the long time fans.
Towards the end of the show, Ted Aguilar was chatting to us in the audience, telling a couple of funny stories, and revealed that they had a new album in the pipeline, and the band played us a preview of a track, and it sounded awesome!

Before the show, the band took the time to meet and greet and sign auto's, which is awesome!! The boys delivered an awesome set, and tore through the classics! Sacred Reich is a class act.

Byzantine could not make it, as the bus broke down in Toronto.... Sacred Reich more than made up for their absence.

An excellent show at a venue with a lot of character. We were able to order the full menu during the show, which is a welcome change from venues with nothing more than drinks.

The bands were all fantastic! Every band put out their best effort, from the show itself to signing at the merch tables after.

I will definitely go back to this venue for a show, and I'd ABSOLUTELY go see Nervosa and Suspended if they came back to the Northeast!