Max & Iggor Cavalera at the Belasco in Los Angeles, California
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. This would 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 Los Angeles stop was at the Belasco in Los Angeles, California. To no surprise, the LA show sold out in a couple of weeks. A Saturday night in LA was perfect for a show and the venue was packed to capacity by the time Cavalera Conspiracy was ready to take the stage.
The lights went out and naturally, the sold out 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 Mike Leon (Soulfly) and Daniel Gonzalez (Possessed). 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 and it wasn't long before crowd surfers started to show up. 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 crowd surfers seemed never-ending. 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. Getting ready to play the grand finale of a show, Max talked about how he was grateful to have everyone at the show and called his band the REAL Sepultura to which everyone in the audience cheered and clapped. 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.
Photos and review by Misael Ruiz
