Supports: Dawn Heist + Graveyard Rockstars
Manning Bar, Sydney NSW
October 5, 2014
On a Sunday night during a long weekend with the NRL grand final drawing many around Sydney’s transport system, plenty of activity was going on. Also, it had been eleven years since Brazil’s metal legends Sepultura had been in town. Thus, a fairly large queue into venue welcomed straggling punters probably missing a couple of songs by five piece support band Dawn Heist. They did well considering some of the incoming crowd was milling around the TV screen showing footy. The twin guitar approach of the band set up a solid rhythmic drive for computer generated keyboard washes as the vocalist contorted over the fold back wedge, sometimes straining his voice in parts. An example was the song ‘Zenith’ that initially had a melodic vibe which gained aggression only to labour under its angst. Subsequent live tracks had a more powerful delivery overall. Mixing up synth sounds with metal can work if done judiciously but too much delay effects and keys is overpowering. Sadly, reliance on technology hampered their set.
The second support act was Victorian band Graveyard Rockstars who looked like a post eighties glam hair band crossing a Rob Zombie style aesthetic. Wearing all black, corpse paint and with one of their guitarists shirtless but in ritualistically smeared body paint, an opening harpsichord figure to usher in the five piece was predictable. It jarred against the low end rock as soon they launched into their set that admittedly had some punch to it, despite the image. Certainly heavier than the previous band and with guitar solos let loose from the twin guitar sound, the front man did a decent job at addressing the crowd regardless of non witty, smutty banter. Their latest single ‘Sleepless September’ powered along with a reasonable, catchy chorus. Similarly, the songs ‘Black Widow’ and ‘Dusk Till Dawn’ did the job providing a solid warm up set. Closing their set with a suitably heavier track, they did manage an entertaining, well rehearsed 40 minute support slot.
Thirty years of Sepultura’s music being around meant that there was a good cross section of metal fans in the audience that spanned generations. As some final stage sounds were checked and with the venue now packed, the crowd chanted the band’s name before the four piece soon casually walked on stage as the lights dimmed, backed by ominous, choral music. Enthused, they opened with the two punch of ‘The Vatican’ from latest album The Mediator Between Head and Hands Must Be the Heart and the title track from prior album Kairos. Relatively new drummer Eloy Casagrande was simply punishing on the kit from the very start, pounding out rhythmic double kick drum figures and creating snare drum cracks as cymbals shimmered between rapid fire drum rolls. Guitarist Andreas Kisser, locked into his riff machine role, stood in an almost attack like stance with his hair flying. Unleashing the odd burst of solo guitar runs, it was largely heavy, low end tuned riffs that bludgeoned ears across the room with a clear, warm tone.
Bassist Paulo Jr. is now becoming an elder statesman of death metal and thrash, looking decidedly happy in shorts and shirt, sticking to his side of stage, holding down the bottom end with relative ease. Meanwhile, huge front man Derrick Green, now with a shaved head, administered the PA with a vocal delivery of well controlled rage. Looking positively menacing as part of his stage routine, his cheerful demeanour between songs was a relief for anyone in close proximity. Possibly using a stand alone floor tom for the odd percussive embellishment helped release any pent up rage. The old classic song of the lyrically apt ‘Propaganda’ from Chaos A.D. was then whipped through before a couple more tracks from the latest album were given a run. The new material held up well next to the classic stuff in a live situation. Galloping thrash with a strong, slightly slower pace gathered momentum within the song ‘Manipulation of Tragedy ‘ which merged with a brutal death metal style. It was followed with some drumming prowess in ‘Convicted in Life’ from the Dante XXI album.
Soon enough, material from Roots was hammered out with relentless precision. The song ‘Attitude’ was introduced with slightly cacophonous guitar noises that melded into a solid riff attack. The guttural, visceral feel segued well with ‘Dead Embryonic Cells’ from the Arise album, losing none of the power from Sepultura’s first Australian tour in the very early nineties. The main set highlight tonight was ‘Biotech Is Godzilla’ followed by ‘Spectrum’ because it was a crushing demonstration of the current line up being able to do justice to the classic material and then put newer songs up against it with confidence. Speedy thrash and groove feels intact, the moshpit was in full swing for classics ‘Arise’, ‘Territory’ and the oldest song on the set tonight, ‘Inner Self’ from 1989 breakthrough album Beneath the Remains. The main set closed with a room shaking, thundering version of the punk infused thrash metal of ‘Refuse/Resist’.
Returning for the encore, ‘Trauma of War’ from the latest album showed how ferocious Sepultura are today with Eloy yet again brutalising his drum kit to within an inch of its life. The set was closed with the double hit of ‘Ratamahatta’ and ‘Roots Bloody Roots’, showing unquestionably that Sepultura’s current drummer has a good chunk of original drummer Igor Cavalera’s challenging technique down pat. Both songs had heightened crowd interaction as the floor bounced, testing the structural integrity of the venue.
The return of Sepultura was well received by the audience having just experienced the remarkably super friendly Brazilian powerhouse. They remain simply astonishing to witness live and covered a reasonable selection of material from their latest release all the way back to their classic breakthrough album. Admittedly, very early material and songs from most albums of the previous decade didn’t make the set list but no one was complaining. Concluding their whirlwind east coast return tour at this show, Sepultura delivered with pure intensity over 95 minutes and without any pretense. It was a brilliant metal gig, simple as that.
Setlist:
The Vatican
Kairos
Propaganda
Impending Doom
Manipulation of Tragedy
Convicted in Life
Dusted
Attitude
Dead Embryonic Cells
Biotech Is Godzilla
Spectrum
Da Lama ao Caos [Science cover]
Inner Self
Territory
Arise
Refuse/Resist
Trauma of War
Ratamahatta
Roots Bloody Roots