After a day filled with heavy bands from all walks of intensity from upstarts like Downpour (Featuring Shadows Fall’s Brian Fair and Seemless/Unearth skin basher Derek Kerswill) and Lody Kong to old school favorites like Overcast, Jasta, and COC, it was finally time for the godfathers to take the stage for their New England Metal and Hardcore Festival debut.
I’m of course talking about Cavalera Conspiracy featuring Max and Igor Cavalera whose current package tour merged with the 17th Annual Metal Festival at the Worcester Palladium on Friday, April 17th.
Sitting down with us the afternoon before their appearance on the bill, Max elaborated on the current CC tour which at the time was still in its first week:
“First week of the tour is going great and I really like the package. We used to do packages like that back in the ’90’s with Sepultura. We did Sepultura, Fudge Tunnel, Clutch, Fear Factory or Sepultura, Sacred Reich, Sick of it All, Napalm Death and I kind of miss those package tours. We got a new booking agent and the first thing we said was ‘Let’s go back and do packages’ and they came back with these bands. Death Angel was available and COC was available and Lody Kong is my kids’ band…it was real diverse and a great mix of music so we decided to go for it and everybody’s real friendly so it’s a great vibe on tour.”
Getting into what makes a Cavalera Conspiracy set list great, Max continued:
“The Cavalera (sets) are really about me and Igor. We try to squeeze our story into the set list so songs like “Troops Of Doom” and “Arise” and “Beneath The Remains” are mixed with all the Cavalera stuff. We’re doing a Nailbomb track that we haven’t done before called “Sum Of Your Achievements” which was my favorite track on Point Blank. The funny thing about that song is it’s only one note. The whole song, it doesn’t change chords and it was the most experimental track on the Nailbomb (record) because there’s no drums. It’s all electronic. But we made a version that Igor plays with it and it’s killer! It’s one of my favorite tracks off the new set list. It’s almost like doom metal! It’s so slow and doom-y and it comes in and it’s just awesome! And it gets everybody by surprise.”
And surprise everyone in Worcester it did as young Igor Cavalera (Whose own band Lody Kong opened the NEHMF festivities Upstairs earlier in the day) came out and ripped through the lyrics originally sung by Fudge Tunnel’s Alex Newport on the Nailbomb album.
If you’ve seen a Cavalera Conspiracy show, the you’ll know the surprises didn’t end there. Whether they were tearing through new cuts from Pandemonium, songs like “Warlord” or “Sanctuary” off previous CC releases or slaying Seps classics like “Beneath The Remains” or “Orgasmatron”, the Cavalera brothers along with guitarist Marc Rizzo and bassist Johnny Chow truly owned the first night of NEHMF. Further proof came with the eruption of one of the most vicious pits of the day during “Roots Bloody Roots” (Complete with a new, heavier ending).
But at the end of it all, Max Cavalera gives the only reason you need as to why you should check out Cavalera Conspiracy live:
“This is the closest you’ll get to original Sepultura. That’s probably one good reason (laughs). It IS the closest you’re gonna get to that era of time. Especially when you hear stuff like “Desperate Cry” and us doing “Orgasmatron” and all that great stuff that me and Igor do live.”
Cavalera Conspiracy is on the road now with Death Angel, Corrosion Of Conformity (Blind-era), and Lody Kong. For tour dates, head over here. CC’s latest album, Pandemonium, is out now through Napalm Records.