LIVE REVIEW

Cavalera Conspiracy @ House Of Blues, Hollywood Ca.

By: Gian Erguiza - September, 2008

“We’re Cavalera Conspiracy, Fuck This Place Up!” exclaims the mad man behind the vocals and guitar, Max Cavalera. It’s not unusual for Max to scream and demand for people to fuck things up and actually, it’s a staple remark at every show coming from the veteran metalhead. This night was not going to be any different. With the line-up of this package tour, it was going to be a night of metal, mayhem, and the Sherriff’s department. Sherriff’s department you ask? I’ll explain at the end of this review.

Cavalera Conspiracy is the outcome of reunited Cavalera brothers after a brief break from each other after the fallout in their old band, Sepultura. It has been many years since we’ve heard the two brothers actually get up onstage to play a whole set list. This reunion is metal history. It can’t be written any better than this. This particular night would be the first time that L.A. fans would be able to see this long awaited, highly anticipated reunion of the brothers and the crowd was in full force.

When I first heard the debut album, it did not let me down. It actually almost brought tears to my eyes to hear this new stuff and finding out that the brothers have not lost their touch at all. The album is a blistering set of metal, attitude, and growth. It’s the real deal!

As Iggor and crew started walking onto the stage, it was apparent that it was about to go insane at the House of Blues. Wasting no time in punishing the crowd, “Inflikted” bursts out and insane went the venue. The following song, which is by the way, the best song on the album, was “Sanctuary.” After the third song, Max took some time out to welcome the crowd to the show and give thanks. “We love you L.A. and we always love playing here,” exclaims the metal giant, “What do you guys say we really fuck this place up huh?” he adds with a more than warm response. “Here behind me on the drums to start this next song is Mr. Iggor,” remarks Max, “Give it up, let’s go!” This was going to be the turning point of the show as the crowd has now swelled to cover every piece of the venue with barely anyplace else to move. Uh-Oh. “Terrorize” really set the place on fire. The circle pits got vicious and the crowd went ape shit.

I was standing somewhere between Max’s and Marc Rizzo’s side of the stage and couldn’t help but notice how impressive Marc Rizzo is on the guitar. This dude didn’t miss a note and killed all the solos. He also did backing vocals which added to the whole effect of the songs. Marc Rizzo can shred his ass off!

At some point in the show between getting bumped continuously by rabid fans while trying to take some photos, it hit me. Iggor and Max were onstage. I saw Sepultura back in the days and they were great then but seeing these two ripping through Sepultura classics was a nice throwback to the good ol’ days of metal. I was young again for a moment. Awesome.

Some of those Sepultura classics were “Troops Of Doom,” “Desperate Cry/Dead Embryonic Cells,” “Beneath The Remains” and “Arise.” Out of all those mentioned, “Arise” was probably the song that took the night to another level. People really connected with that song and they destroyed the place with that song. Other song highlights for the night were “Biotech Is Godzilla,” “Territory,” “Ultra-Violent,” and “Nevertrust.”

For “Dark Ark,” Max brought out Ritchie Cavalera to help out with the vocals, just like the album version. It was great! Before I forget to mention, I don’t know who the kid was who played drums for “Troops of Doom” but he was good. I was in the middle of a shot and turned to see this kid beating on the skins to my surprise. He was on it though, good job kid!

“Roots” also went over well with the crowd, especially when Max asked the whole place to jump with them, in which they did without hesitation. I was kind of hoping we would get some tribal dudes to come out and play the intro for that song but I kept forgetting that this was not Sepultura but instead, the mighty Cavalera Conspiracy. Silly me.

At the end of a bruising set, Max thanked the crowd and off they went backstage. Although there was no encore, the crowd and I couldn’t have asked for anything more. Best songs from the Cavalera Conspiracy debut, old Sepultura classics, and a good ol’ time. Don’t miss their next show.

Okay here we go, I mentioned Sherriff’s up at the top of this review. The Sherriffs came to the House Of Blues sunset strip after Greg of Dillinger Escape Plan, at the end of their set, incited a mini riot between the security, the crowd and them. It was total Mayhem for a quick moment. I’ve heard of Dillinger fucking things up but I got a first hand account of it tonight. Greg decides to jump out into the VIP area where chairs were accessible, starts hurling chairs into the crowd, hurls microphone and stand into the crowd, before getting tackled by security. At the time when Greg was busy fucking things up, the other band members start shoving amps, monitors and whatever else they can find out in to the crowd as well. Security woke up fast. The crowd had Dillinger’s back the whole time but security always prevails. It was great!

On a lighter note though, Dillinger Escape Plan’s performance was math metal heaven. These guys know their math metal!

As for the other bands, I missed them all due to drunken partying in the parking lot. Sorry guys, had to get my liquor on. Catch you all next time!

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