Published 24th September 2010 on voltagemedia.com.au
Everyone is here tonight for one thing (or should I say person) - Max Cavalera. It's in the air. There are so many people here, considering this is Canberra and on a regular Saturday night everyone would be watching the football. Everyone is talking at lightning-fast speeds about the good old Sepultura days, and hinting towards what we can expect from Soulflytonight.
I had no idea what to expect from Incite, but I was pleasantly surprised. They delivered a set of intense melodic thrash metal. The alcohol slowly building up in my stomach caused my head to bang while standing right in front of the bassist, who played his bass guitar incredibly. Richie Cavalera, stepson of our dear Max, is a formidable frontman hell-bent on getting the crowd worked up, and he did it spectacularly. A great band to kick off a great lineup on a great night of metal. It also helps that in person, Richie is a stand up bloke and was willing to have a quick chat with yours truly about all things musical.
Again, I had not heard City of Fire before tonight, but I'm glad that my first encounter with them was seeing them live. Those that were expecting a similar style of music to Fear Factory and Strapping Young Lad (whose members comprise this supergroup) were disappointed, but the others were visibly impressed by their unique brand of metal. Unfortunately Burton C. Bell's voice was lost in the wall of sound, drowning out one of the best vocalists in metal.
Soulfly had the entire crowd going nuts at the get go. Filled with alcohol and empty of inhibitions, I chanted "Blood! Fire! War! Hate" at the top of my lungs before I burst into some sporadic jungle-moshing. Max worked the crowd impeccably, slotting in someSepultura classics (Refuse/Resist, Troops of Doom, Roots Bloody Roots) and even a quick shot at Pantera's Walk. Even better, he managed to get Burton back onstage for theJumpdafuckup/Eye for an Eye mashup finale.
Soulfly perform tightly and energetically, and it's clear that every member knows their place in the band and what they have to do to achieve maximum output. I would most definitely jump at the opportunity to see them again.
It's worth noting before I sign off that night, I took my good friend Andrew out to experience his first heavy metal gig. He connected with the intensity of the music immediately and had a fantastic time. What better way to be introduced to live metal than by seeing three great international bands in the same night? The highlight of the night (excluding seeing some awesome bands) was looking over and seeing him throw the horns in the air duringRefuse/Resist.
If this gig said anything about the Canberra scene at all, it said that we are dying for more international acts to play on our home soil and that on the rare occasion they do, we're more than willing to go nuts!
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