Cavalera Conspiracy - Ventura, CA - 9/29/22
If you listen to metal music, then surely you're familiar with brothers Max & Iggor Cavalera. They are most famously known for founding legendry Brazilian thrash metal band Sepultura in 1984. Problems ensued within the band and Max (guitar/vocals) left Sepultura in 1996 and Iggor (drums) left in 2006. In 2007, The Cavalera brothers formed Cavalera Conspiracy. So far, they have released four albums. Earlier this year, Cavalera Conspiracy announced a very special tour and would come around again to visit cities they didn't the first time. This tour would celebrate Sepultura's two best albums which were 1989's Beneath the Remains and 1991's Arise. They would perform the hits from both albums. The second stop on the tour was at the Majestic Ventura Theater in Ventura, California. A nice and cool Thursday night near the beach was a great setting for this show since a lot of bands don't come around to Ventura County and you could tell the locals were happy not needing to go to Los Angeles or Orange County much farther away.
The lights went out and naturally, the audience screamed at the top of their lungs. Fans also yelled out, "Sepultura! Sepultura!". The guitar intro started as the band members made their way to the stage. Aside from Max and Iggor, the two other members were Travis Stone (Pig Destroyer/Lody Kong) and Daniel Gonzalez (Possessed). Their usual bassist Mike Leon was unable to make the first three stops of the tour due to currently being stuck in Florida due to Hurricane Ian and plans to rejoin at a later date. Cavalera Conspiracy started their show with Beneath the Remains, the first track from the album of the same name. Naturally, fans went berserk with a big mosh pit forming on the floor. Fans also love singing along to the chorus and did so for other hits from the album which included Stronger Than Hate, Slaves of Pain and Primitive Future. The band members shred away at these classic thrash metal songs and the fans loved every minute. The first half of the show ended and it was now time for the second half of the show which was the Arise set. Cavalera Conspiracy continued the mayhem with Arise, the first song from album of the same name. Fans kept up the energy as they continued to mosh and a few crowd surfers even showed up. Cavalera Conspiracy gave fans plenty of head banging songs from the album including Dead Embryonic Cells, Desperate Cry and even a Motörhead cover of Orgasmatron. The show seemed to be over, but fans still wanted more and kept chanting for "Sepultura" to come out. Cavalera Conspiracy came back out for a few encores. The first encore started a familiar drum beat which was easy to figure out as Raining Blood from thrash metal legends, Slayer. Only the beginning was played as they next jumped into a classic Sepultura song, Troops of Doom. To end the night, Cavalera Conspiracy played a medley of the songs Arise and Beneath the Remains combining them into one song. The show came to an end with everyone cheering and looking sweaty from all the commotion happening inside the venue. Hopefully the Cavalera brothers come back to perform more Sepultura classics and maybe even dive into the first two Sepultura albums.
Photos and review by Misael Ruiz
