Gig Review: Cavalera / Centrilia – King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut, Glasgow (16th June 2024)

Turning up at King Tuts in my car with the Moshville Times logos on the side and finding the space right outside the door free for parking made me feel very much the VIP, and was the start of a great evening. Joined by Sean, the longest-standing member of the Crew other than myself, we were both looking forward to seeing two founder members of Sepultura take us on a trip down memory lane.

Cavalera (c) Sean Larkin

But first, local crew Centrilia had been drafted in to warm up the crowd… not that they needed warmed up. By the time we walked upstairs the sold-out crowd was all very much in attendance and the small but perfectly formed venue was packed for the openers. As should always be the case.

With limited space on the small and crowded stage, Centrilia let the music do the talking as there wasn’t much room for anything else. They cover a range of sounds, though give their new single “Liminal” a listen and you can really hear the Lamb of God influences coming out. They’re not a quiet band by any means, pouring anger into every note and holding the crowd for their half hour set.

It’s great to see that Cavalera have opted for local support on each date, and the Centrilia boys proved that faith had been well placed. A shout out also to Internal Conflict who opened in Leicester, so they got their pics taken by Sean Larkin who covered that show!

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The main show is interesting given the history behind the brothers Cavalera, their formation of Sepultura, their departure (one at a time), and the fact that they are now both re-recording and playing “old school” Seps songs at the same time as the “real”(?) band are doing their farewell tour. Max does shout at one point about the band on stage being the “real Sepultura”. Given that Paulo Jr and Andreas are still with Sepultura, it seems more of a 50/50 split – though the band was arguably initially formed by the brothers. Either way it means that we currently have two iterations of the band touring, playing superb music.

Cavalera (c) Sean Larkin

Cavalera (who seem to have dropped the Conspiracy) are very much focusing on the older material, with recent tours and re-releases including the likes of Beneath The Remains andĀ Arise (a tour I’m gutted that I missed). Tonight’s setlist was largely made up of songs from even further back. The opening salvo was the entireĀ Bestial Devastation EP, followed by a selection fromĀ Morbid Visions andĀ Schizophrenia (itself the most recent re-recording).

I’ve never been a huge fan of the first album-and-a-half, but jumped on board the Sepultura train proper with Beneath The Remains, and stepped back to Schizophrenia. There is a large jump in sound from the full on death metal sounds ofĀ Morbid Visions andĀ BtR and, on reflection,Ā Schizophrenia joins those musical dots. This is far more apparent in the live setting where the songs just flow more than they do when listening to them on CD.

And talking about live… this is where that very early material shines. It’s very rough and ready when you listen to the recorded version, but the raw, uncut, garage band attitude that became the Sepultura / Cavalera with that huge fan base is no more apparent than when they blast these songs at you from a tiny stage. I’ve never enjoyed listening to the likes of “Crucifixion” and “Necromancer” as much as I did this evening.

It wasn’t just me either. The crowd were obviously well into it, and Max himself had a grin on his face for most of the set. Audience interaction wasn’t huge, but that didn’t stop plenty of pit action and more than a few crowdsurfers.

The best, and I gauge this on my own opinion and crowd reaction, was was saved for near the end. A truncated “Refuse/Resist” and “Territory” pulled in the fans of the more recent (or at least less old) material before “Troops of Doom” opened the biggest pit of the night.

Old school Brazilian death metal needs to be enjoyed in a small, sweaty venue. Which worked out quite well for us tonight.

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Photos by Sean Larkin Photography

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June 19, 2024 4:05 PM

[…] merch for sale. A quick look online and it seemed that for the second time in two nights (Cavalera did it at King Tut’s), a big band had opted to give some local upstarts a chance to open for them. So welcomeĀ The […]