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Concert Review – Sepultura (Rebel, Toronto, ON, 10/09/2024)

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The city of Toronto celebrated life through death together with the most important metal band to ever arise from Brazil.

OPENING ACTS: Harvest, Agnostic Front and Obituary

I personally do not trust any farewell tours, because let’s be honest, all bands that scheduled farewell tours kept touring for years and years after that, and some are still touring. Anyway, if this was the last time the city of Toronto ever saw Brazilian metal titans SEPULTURA on stage, alongside OBITUARY, AGNOSTIC FRONT and HARVEST during their CELEBRATING LIFE THROUGH DEATH NORTH AMERICAN FAREWELL TOUR 2024 at Rebel, let’s say they’re going down in style, as it was an amazing night celebrating their impressive 40 years of career. I just have zero idea if the concert by Minneapolis, Minnesota-based Hardcore outfit HARVEST was good or not as I couldn’t make it in time for that. Well, for most of the tour the opening act was Brazilian Death/Thrash Metal veterans Claustrofobia, which would have been a lot more appealing to me, but I’m pretty sure Harvest put on a very decent show this Wednesday night. I don’t know their setlist, nor their lineup, but if you want to know more about them you can find their music on Spotify and on BandCamp, and of course enjoy the nice shots Keith Ibbitson of Metal Paparazzi took of their performance.

I might have missed the entire show by Harvest, but I was lucky enough to get to Rebel a few minutes before New York City’s own Hardcore Punk legends AGNOSTIC FRONT hit the stage for a solid and electrifying concert, igniting some sick mosh pits led by the band’s iconic frontman Roger Miret. My brother and a few of his friends are huge fans of Agnostic Front, so it was a pleasure for me to watch them live for the first time ever, playing some classic punk songs like For My Family and Gotta Go, therefore keeping the action flowing frantically inside the circle pit. I don’t remember exactly which song this happened, but one of their guitarists got down to the floor section in the middle of the circle pit while fans kept running around him, which was a really nice touch to their show in my opinion. I also saw part of their show form the back as I was in line to grab a Sepultura shirt, and I gotta say the quality of the sound way back was excellent, just like in every single show at Rebel.

Setlist
The Good, The Bad And The Ugly Theme
AF Stomp
The Eliminator
Dead to Me
New Jack
For My Family
Friend or Foe
Toxic Shock
Victim in Pain
All Is Not Forgotten
Peace
Gotta Go
Addiction

Band members
Roger Miret – lead vocals
Vinnie Stigma – lead guitar, backing vocals
Craig Silverman – rhythm guitar, backing vocals
Mike Gallo – bass, backing vocals
Danny Lamagna – drums

One year and a few months after their demolishing headlining show in Toronto, Florida’s own Death Metal machine OBITUARY kicked the city in the ass again without a single drop of mercy with a killer performance as the more-than-special openers for Sepultura, and it felt almost like a headlining show because the band spearheaded by the Tardy Brothers had a lot of time to distill their undisputed blend of heavy music for the delight of their fans. All songs sounded extremely heavy, thunderous and ruthless, including The Wrong Time, War, and Dying of Everything, from their 2023 beast Dying of Everything, and when the band started playing their all-time classic Slowly We Rot it was absolute anarchy inside the circle pit. The guys from Obituary surely love Toronto from the bottom of their hearts, and I bet it won’t take long for John, Donald & Co. to attack us again with their redneck-infused Death Metal.

Setlist
Snortin’ Whiskey (Pat Travers song)
Redneck Stomp
Threatening Skies
By the Light
The Wrong Time
Deadly Intentions
Chopped in Half / Turned Inside Out
Solid State
War
Circle of the Tyrants
Dying of Everything
Slowly We Rot

Band members
John Tardy – vocals
Kenny Andrews – lead guitars
Trevor Peres – rhythm guitars
Terry Butler – bass
Donald Tardy – drums

SEPULTURA

In my humble opinion, there was a slight miscalculation in the time each band was going to start their show, because by the time the speakers started playing War Pigs, followed by Polícia, it was already close to 10pm, which means it was getting REALLY late for a full-bodied concert like the one we got from Brazil’s one and only Thrash/Groove Metal institution SEPULTURA. That wasn’t a big issue, though, because as soon as the band kicked off their metallic ceremony with the classics Refuse/Resist and Territory, everyone forgot it was a Wednesday night and decided to slam into the pit, jump up and down, raise their fists and scream the lyrics to all songs together with the band. Their setlist was a thing of beauty, including songs from pretty much all of their albums, therefore properly celebrating 40 years of existence. Songs like Attitude, Choke, Dead Embryonic Cells, Orgasmatron and Troops of Doom sounded perfect for some vigorous headbanging and circle pit action, plus of course the beauty of the tribal beats of Kaiowas.

One of the new “features” of a Sepultura show these days is the addition of the very young and insanely talented Greyson Nekrutman on drums. Known first and foremost as a jazz drummer from New York, he was recruited by Andreas Kisser himself to take care of some of the most iconic beats in the history of heavy music, and oh boy, he kicked some serious ass on stage, proving why he was the chosen one to be the band’s new drummer. And it felt like Derrick, Andreas, Paulo and Greyson got even more infuriated and sharp during the last part of the show, blasting our minds with the all-time classics Inner Self, Arise, Ratamahatta and Roots Bloody Roots, the last one of course inspiring everyone at the venue to jump and scream together like a true “Sepultribe”, putting a beyond climatic ending to their show. Let’s see what happens next with Sepultura, if they’ll call it quits for good, or if we’ll see a return to the stages in the next few years. Well, just like Slayer, hopefully we’ll see Sepultura back sooner than later because they still have a lot of fuel to burn, and the city of Toronto would definitely love to host “Sepultura do Brasil” again in the near future.

Setlist
War Pigs (Black Sabbath song)
Polícia (Titãs song)
Refuse/Resist
Territory
Kairos
Phantom Self
Attitude
Means to an End
Choke
Guardians of Earth
Breed Apart
Escape to the Void
Kaiowas
Dead Embryonic Cells
Agony of Defeat
Orgasmatron
Troops of Doom
Inner Self
Arise
Ratamahatta
Roots Bloody Roots

Band members
Derrick Green – lead vocals
Andreas Kisser – guitars, backing vocals
Paulo Jr. – bass
Greyson Nekrutman – drums

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Concert Review – Guns N’ Roses (Rogers Centre, Toronto, ON, 07/16/2016)

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Do you know where you are? You’re in Toronto, baby! Wake up! Time to die!

OPENING ACT: Billy Talent

GNR_Toronto_2016I must confess I’ve never felt so happy in my life for missing an opening act like what happened this Saturday, when I “couldn’t” arrive on time at the Rogers Centre to watch Canadian Rock N’ Roll band BILLY TALENT opening for Guns N’ Roses on their sole Canadian concert from the colossal Guns N’ Roses: Not In This Lifetime… Tour. I had the unpleasantness of watching their lame and tiresome concert once back in 2011, when for a reason beyond my knowledge they played AFTER classic bands such as Exodus, Death Angel, Testament, Mastodon and, believe it or not, the almighty Slayer, and were obviously booed throughout their entire “performance”. Whoever had that brilliant idea of inserting such a hideous group among so many real metal bands might have been involved in the stupid decision of placing them as the opening act for Guns N’ Roses instead of the excellent Alice In Chains, the iconic The Cult or even the not-so-bad Lenny Kravitz, as it’s happening in every city Guns N’ Roses are playing except for Toronto. The only thing I know about their performance is that drummer Aaron Solowoniuk was replaced by Jordan Hastings (Alexisonfire), which doesn’t really mean anything at all for any regular fan of Guns N’ Roses. Their setlist is below, but why bother?

Setlist
Devil in a Midnight Mass
This Suffering
Louder Than the DJ
Rusted from the Rain
River Below
Surprise Surprise
Afraid of Heights
Devil on My Shoulder
Red Flag
Fallen Leaves
Try Honesty
Viking Death March

Band members
Benjamin Kowalewicz – lead vocals
Ian D’Sa – guitar, vocals
Jonathan Gallant – bass guitar, backing vocals
Jordan Hastings – drums, percussion

GUNS N’ ROSES

IMG_1542Who would imagine that after 20 years Axl Rose, Slash and Duff McKagan would not only be reunited on stage, but still kicking fuckin’ ass as if they had never split up in the beginning of the 90’s? I’m pretty sure the entire crowd of over 50,000 gunners who were at the Rogers Centre this Saturday will agree with me that GUNS N’ ROSES were almost flawless during the whole concert, blasting their biggest classics from the 80’s and 90’s blended with some “newer” material from the controversial (but good) Chinese Democracy, their latest studio album. To be fair, after they played It’s So Easy, Mr. Brownstone, Chinese Democracy and Welcome to the Jungle, I was already satisfied enough to go home so good those songs were. Let’s say the only thing that didn’t make anyone happy were all those despicable scalpers trying to extort good people who just wanted to see one the best Hard Rock/Hair Metal band of all time playing. I truly hope very few people ended up getting their tickets from those scammers, and this is only going to end when absolutely NO ONE buys tickets from unauthorized people anymore, but you know how diehard fans are, right?

Anyway, getting back to what really matters, the (official) price paid for the tickets was definitely worth every penny. The whole band was in such perfect sync it’s hard to point any issues with their concert, and except for minor changes I would personally make to their setlist (which might have been already perfect for many) everything else went beyond my expectations. The “least famous” members of the band (Frank Ferrer on drums and Melissa Reese on keyboards, or whatever she was doing on stage) did their job, provinding the necessary support for the other guys to shine. Keyboardist Dizzy Reed (don’t ask me why they have three keyboardists, including Axl) and guitarist Richard Fortus proved why they’ve been with Axl for such a long time, probably even more time than Slash and Duff themselves, especially Richard who was spot-on with his riffs and solos to the point he wasn’t overshadowed at all by the one and only Slash. Quite the contrary, they make an amazing guitar duo together. However, no matter how much I praise those musicians, we know everyone was at the Rogers Centre to see the “heart”, the “soul” and the “blood” of Guns N’ Roses.

Starting with the “blood”, known as bassist Duff McKagan, he couldn’t be more physical and dedicated to the music he plays. Wearing a Lemmy T-shirt and having a Prince sticker on his bass guitar (a nice tribute to two unique musicians, with only the black star by David Bowie “missing”), Duff was on fire with his rumbling bass lines and awesome backing vocals. And when he was the lead singer, like in their cover version for Attitude, by the Misfits, he showed all his love for Punk Rock and how charismatic he is.

IMG_1541Axl Rose, who will always be the “heart” of Guns N’ Roses, surprised even the most skeptical fan with an absolutely incredible performance on vocals, singing each and every song as if he was the same Axl from Appetite for Destruction and Use Your Illusion. What he did on my favorite Guns N’ Roses songs of all time, the superb Estranged, You Could Be Mine and Civil War (how can the lyrics for this song still be so meaningful after more than 20 years?), was a thing of beauty. He kept running around the stage, danced a lot, wore some almost-classic outfits from the 80’s and smiled to the fans all the time, and by seeing that I finally realized his troubled years might be dead and gone for good. When they played the beautiful ballad This I Love, the touching Sorry and the fun Better, songs where Axl is truly needed as they had zero contribution from Slash or Duff when composed, we could witness a focused and passionate artist that has found peace and is now on the right path to reconquer the world of music. Even when Axl talked about their small incident at the border, when the police found a gun with them, he didn’t get angry or anything like that, simply mentioning it was a funny moment and that “it wasn’t his gun”.

Lastly, what can I say about the “soul” of the band, the unparalleled Slash? That guy is getting better and better as time goes by, delivering his unique riffs and even more unique solos for the total delight of every fan of the band. His guitar duet with Richard Fortus, his beyond stunnig solo in November Rain and his classic riffs and solos in Sweet Child O’ Mine led many fans to an amazing state of ecstasy, a sensation many had to hold for decades to feel again. Let’s just hope Slash remains with Guns N’ Roses for many years to come, because that’s the place where he truly belongs in music. Well, as everything must come to an end, after the masterpieces Nightrain, Patience and Paradise City, together with a cover version for The Seeker, by The Who (which could have been easily replaced by another classic like “Think About You”, “Used To Love Her”, “Don’t Cry” or “Yesterdays”, or even by “Madagascar”), it was time for Axl, Slash, Duff & Co. to say goodbye to the awesome Toronto crowd after almost three hours of concert and get ready for the next city. No one knows if they’re coming back to Canada soon, but based on the reaction of the fans and the smile on the faces of each band member when the show was over, I doubt it will take another 20 years for us to see those guys in action again.

Setlist
Looney Tunes Theme (Intro)
The Equalizer (Harry Gregson-Williams song)
It’s So Easy
Mr. Brownstone
Chinese Democracy
Welcome to the Jungle
Double Talkin’ Jive
Estranged
Live and Let Die (Wings cover)
Rocket Queen
You Could Be Mine
Attitude (Misfits cover)
This I Love
Civil War
Coma
Speak Softly Love (The Godfather Love Theme)
Sweet Child O’ Mine
Sorry
Better
Out Ta Get Me
Slash & Richard Fortus Guitar Duet
November Rain
Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door (Bob Dylan cover)
Nightrain

Encore:
Patience
The Seeker (The Who cover)
Paradise City

Band members
Axl Rose – lead vocals, piano, keyboards
Slash – lead guitar, backing vocals
Duff McKagan – bass guitar, backing vocals
Dizzy Reed – keyboards, piano, percussion, backing vocals
Richard Fortus – rhythm and lead guitar, backing vocals
Melissa Reese – synthesizers, keyboards, programming
Frank Ferrer – drums

Album Review – Sepultura / Roots (1996)

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“Sepultura do Brasil” changed the world of music with the most creative Thrash Metal album of all time.

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Sepultura_-_RootsThe year of 1996 was a very special year in my life: it was my last year in high school, I finally turned 18, I was dating the most beautiful girl of the entire school, and in terms of music I saw Maiden live for the first time as well as some other awesome bands such as Helloween, Manowar, The Ramones, and my countrymen from Sepultura. I used to love listening to Beneath the Remains, Arise and Chaos A.D., but they simply blew my mind with the most innovative Thrash Metal album of all time: Roots.

Every relevant Thrash Metal band in the world has at least one unique album that redefined that music genre somehow, like Bonded by Blood from Exodus or Reign in Blood from Slayer. In the case of Sepultura, it was Roots that made them reach the top of the charts and become a reference for all future Thrash Metal bands. There were so many new elements in this album that I could spend hours writing about each one of them, but I’ll focus on the most important one in my opinion, which was Max Cavalera’s voice. He brilliantly turned his voice into a musical instrument, reaching some insane notes and sounding more violent than ever, changing the way many other guttural singers used their voices from that year on. Check out at the end of this post the video for Roots Bloody Roots, Sepultura’s all-time classic, and you’ll be able to see how his voice fully integrates with the other instruments giving a special punch to the whole album.

Sepultura-RootsThe most famous songs from Roots are Roots Bloody Roots, of course, Attittude with its amazing riffs and lyrics, and my least favorite one Ratamahatta (the lyrics don’t make any sense at all, it’s just a bunch of stupid disconnected Brazilian words, with a guest musician that makes me want to vomit just by hearing his name). However, you must pay attention carefully to the rest of the album because there are so many good guitar riffs, lyrics and percussion that will make you listen to Roots non-stop for weeks. You’ll find heavy and violent tracks, such as Straighthate, Spit, Cut-Thorat and Dictatorshit; some songs that were unimaginable for a Thrash Metal band before that like Lookaway (with the crazy Mike Patton as a special guest) and Ambush; and some material that doesn’t even sound Metal, but are extremely important for the album concept: Jasco and Itsári, this one being recorded with an aboriginal tribe in Brazil called the Xavantes. All songs connected, all representing a sad and violent side of Brazil. And the front cover is just amazing, perfectly summarizing the whole album in one single image.

My version of the album (which was probably the one released only in Brazil) had two great covers for Celtic Frost’s Procreation of the Wicked and Sabbath’s Symptom of the Universe, this one also featuring in that good Sabbath tribute called Nativity in Black. If you don’t have these two songs in your version of Roots, you should go after them.

There are very few things that make me proud of being Brazilian, and Sepultura and Roots are part of this “selected” group. This album is so great that it has not only changed Thrash Metal, it has changes music in general. Sepultura do Brasil! Um, dois, três… VAI!

Best moments of the album: Roots Bloody Roots, Attitude, Straighthate and Born Stubborn.

Worst moments of the album: Ratamahatta and Endangered Species.

Released in 1996 Roadrunner Records

Track listing
1. Roots Bloody Root 3:32
2. Attitude 4:15
3. Cut-Throat 2:44
4. Ratamahatta 4:30
5. Breed Apart 4:01
6. Straighthate 5:21
7. Spit 2:45
8. Lookaway 5:26
9. Dusted 4:03
10. Born Stubborn 4:07
11. Jasco (instrumental) 1:57
12. Itsári (instrumental) 4:48
13. Ambush 4:39
14. Endangered Species 5:19
15. Dictatorshit 1:26

Band members
Max Cavalera – vocals, rhythm guitar, 4-string guitar, berimbau
Igor Cavalera – drums, percussion, timbau, djembe
Paulo Jr. – bass guitar, timbau grandé
Andreas Kisser – lead guitar, sitar, backing vocals