Sepultura
11th May 2018
The Studio, Auckland, New Zealand.
Review by Kate Taylor. Photography by Matt Henry Mendonca.
A historical evening at Studio greeted fans of classic metal as Death Angel joins us in Aotearoa for the very first time; and Sepultura celebrate 20 years of vocalist Derrick Green fronting this cornerstone of the metal family tree. You know those gigs where you’re just grinning like an idiot, locking eyes in the crowd with randoms and nodding in approval as you throw a goat each to seal your understanding of what a righteous gig you’re seeing…yeah it was one of those evenings.
Just One Fix delivered an accomplished set, wasting no time in showing us the goods and then taking their leave of stage; knowing that the folks in JOF are massive Death Angel and Sepultura fans themselves I’m not surprised that they, like everyone else, wanted to pull up a good spot for the night on the venue floor and settle in. Just One Fix were very well loved and received great response from the impressively large turn-out this early in the evening.
But Death Angel though…just wow. Prepare for a rave cause they just slayed my cochleas, baby! The undeniable love and goodness that Death Angel imbue into everything they do; Death Angel had an absolute ball being in New Zealand for the first time and that was very contagious. Death Angel were precise in their cuts, expert in their set list selections and just damn well made every single person in their become a member of the Death Angel fan club for life. As good-time vocalist Mark Osegueda made great use of the stage dipping from left and right to reach into the crowd; the beaming faces of Damien Sisson, Ted Aguilar and Rob Cavestany show exactly the sentiment that Mark was about to lay on us. “Thank you for this incredible opportunity and this step in our dream coming true. We’ve been doing this for many, many years and we love what we do because of the beautiful fucking energy our crowds give us. But, we’ve always loved traveling to play because music unites people and we have wanted to come here for SO FUCKING LONG! So it brings me the utmost pleasure to utter the words for the very first time, Good Evening Auckland! I think it’s Friday night, is it Friday fucking night? It’s Friday fucking night, we’ve got no excuses, Auckland are you fucking ready to celebrate metal with Death Angel tonight?!”
As Death Angel slayed on cuts of Mistress of Pain, The Ultra-Violence, Father of Lies and finishing up with The Moth; Death Angel spends a great about of time spreading a positive, uplifting message of togetherness and believing in yourself as Mark asks the crowd to “ Just keep doing what you’re doing, keep being proud of how you are and that keeps us proud of who were are…this is our first time together and I’m thinking the first of many times together…let’s take out those frustrations from the week, in a positive way, together.” At band intro time, which was only fitting considering this was the first time Kiwi eyes had been clapped on Death Angel; Mark introduced Rob Cavestany to the crowd baying for his riffage and as Rob took his moment, he then made a heart shape with his hands and pushed it out from his chest exploding his hands open to the crowd; and you could feel the ripple of love and appreciation from Rob, Mark and Death Angel repelling off the walls of Studio to us and back to them onstage. Before they took their bailed out, Death Angel promised they will return “This is the last song of the night for Death Angel and we’re going to give it to you from our hearts and from our fucking guts…last song of the night until next time and there will be a fucking next time!” Death Angel, moving forward to front of stage farewell the Auckland crowd with love and appreciation, throwing out picks and kisses; then drummer Will Carroll in the ultimate display of “I’ve had a great time!” offered his cymbal to the crowd, tossing it out and having it eagerly snaffled up by a grabby punter…I sure hope Will has some spares for his Wellington and Christchurch performances!
In the band break, there were whispers in the crowd suggesting that Death Angel would be the band of the night; voices asking how could Sepultura possibly live up to what Death Angel had just shown us and the anticipation the crowd had just had fulfilled from seeing Death Angel and ticking them off their must see list…well faith was restored, fears were allayed and loyalty should have remained steadfast as Sepultura asserted why they take their place among the legendary metal names like Metallica, Pantera and Slayer; as Sepultura took down any misconceptions about them immediately. Infiltrating the stage in a red fog of deep vibratory tones, the shape of Derrick Green looms forward and we’re away, no how’s ya Father – just straight face melting tribal heaviness. Formidable and commanding, the professionalism and expertise Sepultura show demonstrate why they have been considered a premium metal band for so long. Derrick is a beast, effortlessly exorcising these lyrical demons in a dominating fashion and thumping the tom brought to the front of stage for him to get his tribal on with. On thumping the skins; this was the first opportunity for many to see new drummer Eloy Casagrande play with Sepultura and BOY is he fun, exciting, proficient and in some ways back where Derrick was 20 years ago as Casagrande has to take the stool of other Cavalera founding member, Igor.
Ripping through crowd favourites Territory, Desperate Cry, Refuse Resist and Arise; Derrick and Andreas kept it light on the banter but did want to recognize the important night they were sharing with us. As Andreas thanked us for NZ’s support over the last 20 plus years he said; “We’re also celebrating a very special anniversary 20 years of Mr Derrick Green in Sepultura!” As Andreas congratulated Derrick and thanked him for his long service he dropped in the friendly dig, calling Derrick “The new singer “ with a chuckle and a knowing that Derrick has had a long road to hoe to acceptance as Sepultura’s front-man in the shadow of iconic founding member Max Cavalera. Then to celebrate Sepultura launched into atomic renditions of Choke, Boycott and the self titled track from Derrick’s first album with the band, 1998’s Against. Fortunate enough to have seen Sepultura on their Against Tour in Australia, it’s clearly audible and visible the tightness and expertise they display; and it was special seeing Derrick owning his tracks and well knitted into Sepultura after their time together. Collectively the punters submitted to the brutal showing from Sepultura and nestled into some roiling circle pits, linked arm sing-a-longs and revels. As Sepultura took a breather off-stage the Studio erupted into Brazilian accented chants of “Sep-pul-toora! Sep-pul-toora! Sep-pul-toora!” stomping their feet to bring Sepultura to the ascension of their encore. Blistering us with Resistant Parasites, Ratamahata and of course Roots Bloody Roots.
An incredible evening of historical metal moments; a guarantee of a return visit from Death Angel and a solidification of Sepultura’s rightful place atop of the hearts of New Zealand’s metal community; I’d say that’s a successful Friday night and I wish I had the cash to join this tour in Wellington and Christchurch too!
Sepultura:
Death Angel:
Were you there at The Studio for this heavy metal showcase? Or have you seen Sepultura perform live somewhere else before? Tell us about it in the comments below!
Sepultura Setlist:
- Intro
- I Am The Enemy
- Phantom Self
- Kairos
- Territory
- Desperate Cry
- Sworn Oath
- Against
- Choke
- Boycott
- Machine Messiah
- Iceberg Dances
- Refuse/Resist
- Arise
- Resistant Parasites [encore]
- Ratamahata [encore]
- Arise [encore]
Death Angel Setlist:
- Father Of Lies
- The Dream Calls For Blood
- Claws In So Deep
- Seemingly Endless Time
- The Ultra-Violence / Thrown To The Wolves
- Mistress Of Pain
- 3rd Floor
- The Moth
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