Soufly, City of Fire, Incite @ANU, Canberra (11/9/10)

Sun 12th Sep, 2010 in Gig Reviews

It’s not often that Canberrans are treated to big name international acts. More often than not punters will be left with the prospect of making a pilgrimage to either Melbourne or Sydney to get their fix. Thankfully Brazilian metal icon Max Cavalera and Soulfly descended upon the ANU Bar to declare war upon the nation’s capital.

Phoenix, Arizona based Incite took to the stage to get the ball rolling with an already strong crowd that began congregating excitedly at the stage. Playing an adrenaline fuelled rush of neo-thrash, Incite put up an energetic performance with no-nonsense riffage and breakneck tempo. Front man Richie Cavalera – Max Cavalera’s stepson – took command of the stage, attempting to get the crowd more involved and lively, alas to no avail, with one of the weakest circle pits possibly ever witnessed that stumbled and died shortly after it hesitantly begun. Nonetheless, Incite gave it their all, struggling through a mediocre mix to end on a strong and positive note, making for a good start to the evening.

City of Fire, featuring Burton C. Bell and Byron Stround of Fear Factory fame, assumed the limelight shortly after, kicking off an impressive and diverse set that picked up the energy and got the pit properly burning. Offering a diverse musical bricolage of modern djent metal, post/punk rock and stoner fuelled grunge, City of Fire pummelled a crowd with perfectly mixed double kicks and abrasive riffs, garnished with Bells instantly recognisable grunts, before smoothly planning out into a vista of chilled out desert rock with psychedelic leads that soared and spiralled throughout the room. A brilliant cover of Soundgarden’s Flower was a particular highlight, only increasing the hopes that the recently reformed Seattle grunge gods will making their way to our shores soon. City of Fire demonstrated their worth aptly during their set, leaving an impressed crowd that hopefully will follow up and check out their self titled debut (nudge, nudge…).

A thick fug clung above the crowd as the set-up for Soulfly was conducted to the ecstatic chants of “Max-ee! Max-ee! Max-ee!” by a few thirsty members of an excited, teaming crowd. Cavalera’s amp stack, draped with the Brazillian flag, struck an imposing figure on the vacant stage as the chants grew stronger and the crowd began to shift about and shove each other with impatience. The anthemic Blood Fire War Hate instantly begun in a flurry of fists and elbows, the members of Soufly quickly marching onto the stage and conducting the mayhem that was to ensue.

Cavalera stood in the middle of the stage, clad top to tail in camo, standing for the most part still, eyes closed, in a prophetic image of all that is brutal and discontent. Shred maestro and fly kick legend Mark Rizzo and session bassist Johnny Chow furiously delivered slab after slab of totemic riffage to the rabid crowd, the circle pit erupting in an insane battle-field of violence. Soulfly was relentless, their performance ridiculously tight and downright abusive, leaving little breathing room for the sweat drenched fans. The Soulfly regular five piece percussion ‘intermission’ of latin beats allowed for a chance to relax without fearing the loss of teeth before descending once more into the chaos and primal urgency that the band embodies.

A tight and well oiled set was made all the more special with a brief homage to Pantera’s Walk that functioned only to increase the already incalculable energy.

As the lights came on and the crowd emptied out, another story for the metal faithful was added to Canberra’s music history, in which Max Cavalera unleashed wrath and fury upon the otherwise sleepy city.