It has been a long time since I have posted here. There has not really been much to post. This is the first concert I have been to since December, 2019. Fucking pandemic. I keep meaning to get around to doing top albums from the last couple years. I need to figure out what those would be first. And that will take some work, because I have been picking up a ton of albums during this time.
Anyway. So, the concert. I will get to the headliners in awhile. The first band taking the stage was playing as I was getting there, so I did not see their whole set. That band was local metal band Deadechoes. Deadechoes started out as something of a nu-metal/groove metal band, but they have ditched most of that in exchange for a much more thrash-oriented sound. They sounded damn impressive honestly, much better than they did on the album I have from the band. Apparently it was the band's last show with their bassist. I am not sure what that means for the future of the band. It is always nice to see a local band at these shows. Nebraska has some surprisingly good metal bands these days.
Healing Magic was next to the stage. Their name really does not fit with the band's sound, which is a dark and aggressive form of stoner doom metal, with some rough vocals. Healing Magic is fronted by Igor Cavalera Jr., oddly not Iggor Cavalera's son, but Max's. I was fairly impressed by the band, much more than I was the couple times I have heard them on Liquid Metal. I may even pick up an album one of these days.
Up next was Warbringer. This is actually the third time I have seen Warbringer live. The first time was when they were a young band supporting Overkill. Oddly, I was wearing my Overkill t-shirt on Tuesday. The second time was when they were supporting Dark Tranquillity about five years ago. Warbringer always puts on a great show. They are easily one of the better modern thrash metal bands and each of their albums absolutely rips. Warbringer played a nice selection encompassing much of their history. They were electrifying as usual.
And finally, the Cavalera brothers took the stage. Max and Iggor Cavalera were founding members of Sepultura, one of my absolute favorite bands. Sepultura was my primary gateway into the more extreme styles of metal. The band was making major waves in the mid 1990's after the release of the Roots album, but some internal strife among manager Gloria Cavalera (Max's wife) and the rest of the band split the group in two. Max left, creating Soulfly, and the band brought in Derrick Green to take over vocals. Iggor left in 2006 and the brothers reunited with Cavalera Conspiracy.
I am not really sure what they were calling themselves on Tuesday night, but they were playing much of the albums Beneath the Remains and Arise, two of my personal favorite Sepultura albums. I had to go, it was as close as I was ever going to get to see the band that was my gateway into extreme metal. I saw Sepultura before, but neither Cavalera brother was still in the band at the time. The band sounded great live. These two albums are known for their ferocity, and that came through in the concert. It was a great concert and as close as I will ever get to seeing the classic Sepultura, the one I grew up with.
