Sepultura – The Academy, Dublin 04/02/14

Ellen OD 10 February 2014 Event Reviews

After battling through weather of biblical proportions, narrowly avoiding drowning on O’Connell street and almost losing an eye at the spokes of an umbrella, it was all made worth it when I finally made it to the Academy to discover I was here for a gig that was sold out.

On this occasion the support for Sepultura was 100% Irish. I always think Irish support for touring bands always creates a bugger buzz around gigs and probably makes for a better turn out. Killface and Warpath are two bands on the scene with great reputations and bring their own large following to gigs, and this is a bigger incentive for touring bands to chose local support or at least have a slot for one local band.

I don’t know if we have any Kiss fans out there (that’s ridiculous, everyone loves Kiss). If you’re a fan you’ve probably seen the movie, Detroit Rock City, where those guys just want to see Kiss and it just never works, there’s always something in the way. Well, I am to Killface as Jam Bruce is to Kiss, accept instead of having an overbearing,boarder line psychotic Mother in my way, I had the wrath of God and what looked like the apocalypse making life hard.So unfortunately I only caught the last couple of minutes of their set (raging). From what my pal Steve Dempsey tells me (Down the Barrel Photography), it was incredible. He Mentioned the crowds intensity throughout the set and made particular mention of front man Derek Brady’s Vocals being pretty insane . From the little I caught, it seemed like a relentless, unswerving performance as per usual form. As I’ve mentioned frequently throughout this post, I’m still thick as a s*c I missed the majority of their set; but from what I’ve seen on the band page we should have some future gig to look forward to soon.

Thankfully I didn’t miss any of Warpath’s set. I know these guys pop up regularly in reviews but that just goes to show how out there, and in demand these guys are. Warpath have a Titanic sound, they’re like Ireland’s answer to Cannibal Corpse but thankfully not a carbon copy of them. Those ‘Devil down the drainpipe’ vocals and drumming with blast beast that make you feel like there’s a firing squad right behind you, give the set that intensity and ferocity, that , in my opinion, is a quintessential part of the death metal experience. There’s also some serious guitar work going on adding body and distinctiveness to the tracks. Warpath threw out some new material on the night which was well received by the crowd and illustrated there’s no slowing down for these guys anytime soon. All the festivals they’ve played and so on have added to their on stage presence and energy, not that it needed to be improved; but just that the only place their showmanship is going is up and so is the Warpath experience too. With all that said it both Killface and Warpath put in performances that made us proud- we have no qualms about denying a band more times than Peter did Jesus if they suck. A great night for Irish Metal of a Tuesday.

Its difficult to determine what Sepultura‘s place in metal history will be. Certainly when Max and Igor Cavalera were in the band it would seem that they would have a solid place as cultivators of the metal sound and a piece of the metal backbone.So with others behind the wheel it would seem the place of the entity that is Sepultura is uncertain. With that said I have never seen Sepultura live with any line-up behind the music so I was going in with an open mind, hoping Derrick Green was going to deliver the goods and have the same affect that Max Cavelara had on fans. It turns out he was more than capable of this job.
From the get go the crowd was mental. Looking down from the balcony it was like a scene from hell with bodies climbing over bodies, pushing to get closer to the front, endless pits and crowd-surfing. Newer material was played at the start. Tracks like Karos were well received by the crowd as it’s a familiar new one. Other newer material sometimes created a lull in the crowd but honestly I think it was needed so people wouldn’t spontaneously combust in the chaos that was the pit.

I think everyone was anticipating tracks like Territory, Refuse/Resist and Roots etc and they were kind of sprung on us. So, although we knew they would be inevitably played, we didn’t know when and we were restless for them.
By the time Territory was played I thought I was going to burst and I think everyone else was in the same boat because the place erupted. Refuse/Resist had a similar effect on the crowd, one of my personal favourites. Tracks like that are instantly identifiable and bring you back to the feeling you had when you first listened to good metal. Relatable and accessible metal that has you biting your lower lip, sticking your chin out and bobbing your head in remembrance. The inclusion of Dead Embryonic Cells and Arise is always welcome as some the older heads in the audience nodded their approval. I think if you had shown someone footage of this gig they would never have believed it took place on a Tuesday night looking at the turnout and conduction of the crowd. We were at the band’s mercy the whole night purely because of the unpredictability of the set – they kept us waiting for Ratamahatta and Roots until the Encore! Something I’ve said before is the importance of continuity of old in bands. The stuff bands start out with should never be cast aside, mainly because its this old stuff that obtains and retains the fans. This is especially important of a band like Sepultura where there has been changes to the line-up which, lets be honest, have resulted in a loss of some fans. The fact that the new Sepultura use old and new makes it easier to follow them. They appreciate the fans’ energy and give it back ten fold. The question of the place of this band in history can be laid to rest, they still are a vital part of the community regardless of line-up. The message in the songs are transferrable and retain their meaning regardless of who is behind them.
All in all I think this gig will be a contender for one of the best gigs of the year.