By Jason Williams
May 11th 2015, The Whisky-A-Go-Go, West Hollywood CA: 30 years ago, Brazilian sensation Sepultura hit the world with their aggressive and catchy style of intense thrash metal. As the years went by, frontman, founder and creator Max Cavalera slowly went into a more tropical, groovy, and somewhat “nu-metal” sound. Eventually, Cavalera left to form Soulfly, leaving his fellow axeman Andreas Kisser to keep Sepultura alive. Despite these dramatic occurrences, Sepultura forged on. Now in the midst of celebrating 30 years as a band, Sepultura embark on a US tour with German thrash legends Destruction and Virginia melodic death metal group Arsis. With the second show of the tour took place at the sold out Whisky-A-Go-Go on Sunset Blvd in Los Angeles, California, an event that would appeal to all metalheads in attendance.
Due to other committments and traffic delays, I arrived during the last song of Boris The Blade’s set. The clever and profound homage to the hilarious movie, Snatch, would however be unappealing for what I considered to be rather generic deathcore. While at this point the Whisky was heavily packed, only a small handful reacted to anything the band offered. Simply not my thing, I must vent on the continous ongoing issue most of the LA metal scene suffers from: too many opening bands. While Boris The Blade and Micawber were the openers for the first half of the tour, Thrown into Exile and New Eden also opened the show. Sunday through Thursday, any show with three bands should be enough, four at the absolute max. Friday and Saturday are the nights that you experiment and welcome a longer lineup. With seven bands opening on a Monday, you oversaturate the exposure and even so, the opening bands simply don’t fit the audience that Sepultura and Destruction carry. End rant.
Finishing their stage setup rather quickly, Arsis started their 30-minute set about 10 minutes earlier than their alloted start time. With the ever-challenging act of setting up within the given changeover time, a band should be allowed to play longer if they’re ready to go earlier. Nevertheless, it took until “We Are the Nightmare” for the crowd to give Arsis the proper reaction, but the band was absolutely on point. Their twisted guitar melodies coming from frontman Jim Malone, as well as his vicious shrieks and words, were in full form. The last three songs of their set consisted solely off of their first record as mentioned above, as well as their EP ‘A Diamond for Disease’, which also helped start the mosh pits. And of course, an Arsis set simply wouldn’t be of quality without “The Face of My Innocence”, their closing song of choice. The crowd gave the horns each time Malone put his up. This being my sixth time seeing Arsis, the show was certainly on par with all of the other performances, as it definitely had much more energy and was simply better than the previous time. Even with a mostly thrash crowd in attendance, Arsis proved once more that they can fit on any bill.
Set List:
01. Handbook for the Recently Deceased
02. We Are the Nightmare
03. Sadistic Motives
04. The Promise of Never
05. Seven Whispers Fell Silent
06. Wholly Night
07. The Face of My Innocence
Only about 10 minutes behind schedule due to some drum microphone issues, Destruction‘s intro music erupted on the PA and chants of their name echoed all throughout the Whisky. Speaking of the PA, brownie points for the crowd who cheered and gave tribute, each and every time “Voice of the Soul” was playing. Mad props. Last August, Destruction headlined the Whisky to a sold-out crowd, and I already knew the floor would be in utter chaos through their set. I’m no psychic, but my prediction came true, as the mosh pits and movement was something you wanted to watch, and to also watch your place in the show. Schmier gave humorous, maniacal laughs all throughout, spikes, leather and pounding bass sounds galore. His love for the Los Angeles crowd was spoken throughout the set, and I’m sure a relief as comparision to the horrible and recent tour promoter and robbery incidents the band suffered through during their trip to Mexico. None of that would be found here, as their classic “Nailed Through the Cross” and “The Butcher Strikes Back” had the crowd in their hands. Drummer Vaaver was also an inferno this evening, striking his kit with heavy authority and speed. Perhaps being the much younger member of the band had little to do with it, but Schmier and guitarist Mike’s tight riffing and quick solos ran through the stage as if they were half their age. A pleasure to see such youth in a veteran metal band. Their 45-minute set went by extremely quickly, and being spoiled from their monsterous set last year, I hope to see them play a much longer set that will do them justice.
Set List:
01. Curse the Gods
02. Thrash ‘Til Death
03. Nailed to the Cross
04. Mad Butcher
05. Armageddonizer
06. Eternal Ban
07. Invincible Force
08. The Butcher Strikes Back
09. Bestial Invasion
10. The Damned (Plasmatics cover)
Finally, to a crowd that actually seemed to grow even greater than it had all evening, Sepultura would bring their 30 years worth of history to this rowdy and terrorizing crowd. I personally have never really gotten into the band, aside from some select earlier material, and unfortunately, despite some positive moments and great songs, their set simply didn’t change my mind. Andreas Kisser’s energy and guitar tone was outstanding, but there was definitely an empty space in the music as Kisser’s glowing solos were left without a rhythm guitarist to back it up. The problem with the whole breakup with the band and Cavalera, there feels to be an identity crisis within the songs. And it was also noticable within some of the crowd, essentially, waiting for the older material to come while somewhat patiently going through the motions with the later material. “From the Past Comes the Storms” was a monster of a song and the crowd reacted as such. To their credit, and my first time ever hearing him, vocalist Derrick Green was more than a presentable frontman for the band. His diverse vocal work kept the energy alive in the room, and he even played percussion throughout the set. Simply because of the song selection they really sounded like a different band through almost each song, and it was a chore to fully get into them. I didn’t mind the covers, neither did the audience it seemed, due to the 19-song set and doing the Motorhead song fairly justice. And for Sepultura, the crowd was mostly engaged, insane most pit during “Arise”, and the fans in attendance did enjoy themselves, especially when the early songs showed face. I wouldn’t have minded Destruction to have headlined at all, and if it were that way, I believe the crowd would have reacted exactly the same.
Tonight was to be a diverse lineup for all metalheads in attendance. Technical death metal, German thrash and groovy Brazilian thrash all reared their heads. Despite the ridiculous 7-band lineup this evening, a sold-out Metal Monday is something never to complain about, and whatever your preference is, either one, two or all three of the main bands on this tour will provide you with metal relief and joy.
Set List:
01. The Vatican
02. Kairos
03. Propaganda
04. Breed Apart
05. Manipulation of Tragedy
06. Mind War
07. Convicted in Life
08. Attitude
09. Dialog
10. Under My Skin
11. From the Past Comes the Storms
12. Territory
13. Arise
14. Refuse/Resist
———————–
15. Bestial Devastation
16. Ratamahatta
17. Orgasmatron (Motorhead cover)
18. Policia (Titas cover)
19. Roots Bloody Roots
SEPULTURA, DESTRUCTION, ARSIS
+ Boris The Bade and Micawber opening:
05/14/15 Seattle, WA at Studio Seven
05/15/15 Vancouver, BC at Rickshaw Theater
05/16/15 Edmonton, AB at Starlite Room
05/17/15 Billings, MT at Pub Station
05/19/15 Winnipeg, MB at Zoo Cabaret
05/20/15 St. Paul, MN at The Amsterdam
05/21/15 Madison, WI at High Noon Saloon
05/22/15 Chicago, IL at Reggies
05/23/15 Louisville, KY at Expo Five
05/24/15 Kokomo, IN at Centerstage Bar
05/26/15 Grand Rapids, MI at The Pyramid Scheme
+ The Last Ten Seconds of Life and Starkill opening:
05/28/15 Toronto, ON at Opera House
05/29/15 at Montreal, QC at Club Soda
05/30/15 New York, NY at Webster Hall
05/31/15 Manchester, NH at Jewel Nightclub
06/01/15 Baltimore, MD at Ottobar
06/02/15 Norfolk, VA at The NorVa
06/03/15 Jacksonville, NC at Hooligans Music Hall
06/04/15 Atlanta, GA at The Masquerade
06/05/15 Fort Lauderdale, FL at Culture Room
06/06/15 New Orleans, LA at Publiq House
06/07/15 Houston, TX at BFE Rock Club
06/08/15 Fort Worth, TX at The Rail Club
06/10/15 Austin, TX at Empire Garage
06/11/15 McAllen, TX at Cine El Rey
06/12/15 Albuquerque, NM at Sunshine Theater
06/13/15 Denver, CO at Summit Music Hall
06/14/15 Grand Junction, CO at Mesa Theater