Gig

Cavalera – Gig Review & Photo Gallery 17th January @ Liberty Hall, Syd NSW

Duane James

Jan 20, 2025

7 min read

Cavalera
Liberty Hall, Sydney NSW
Friday 17th January, 1986…I mean 2025
Supports: Algor Mortis and Phantoms

Sydney’s Entertainment Quarter is a busy piece of real estate this evening. In addition to the mighty Cavalera kickstarting their Aussie leg of their Third World Trilogy tour at Liberty Hall, Kaytranada is playing the Hordern across the street and the Big Bash cricket is on at the SCG just up the road. As a result, incoming traffic is backed up into the tunnel and it doesn’t help that some drunk flog in a Tupac shirt is walking on the road through a sea of moving vehicles, lecturing drivers on the safety of merging, all while holding a can of Wild Turkey and it looks to me like he’s only just gone and pissed his pants. We dodge this congestive shitfight, head to my super secret parking spot and get to Liberty Hall in time to grab a beer, a shirt and catch the opening act of the evening.

Phantoms, the long serving hardcore band from Sydney come out to a half filled hall and straight up I notice Lee Jowono from Potion on bass. The sound sucks to start, but the band persevere and after a few bars the sound guy gets to work, the band locks in and it’s not long before this quickly growing mob on the floor are nodding in unison. A few crowd killers have a go in the pit and amongst them is the Tupac Pissboy from the earlier traffic jam doing his best to not fall over. This cold crowd warm up very quickly as vocalist Caed Francis points out the merch table and asks “Do you like camo? We’ve got heaps of it”. He introduces their song ‘Souled Out’ off their latest EP All The Devils Are Here, a thrashy hardcore number about the NWO: Hollywood v Wolfpac feud in the WCW pro-wrestling company of the late 90’s. It ticks a few boxes for me and judging be the reaction in the room, it does for a large number of other punters on hand. Whoever picked Phantoms as support for this show gets a high five. A solid start to proceedings. Great work lads.

Algor Mortis swan on out to an excited audience and ever so nonchalantly blow the heads off of every bastard in this room. All eyes are drawn to vocalist Cecilia Keane as the band rip into opener ‘Severed’ and bloody hell, those lows. While there are a lot of Algor Mortis fans in attendance, a large subsection of the audience are new to this Melbourne quintet. Looking at the reaction of the rabble on hand, a few folks are wondering how this person, who came out talking to us like she was about to shush us in a library can make a noise this brutal. While roaring through ‘Welcome To Hell’, ‘Eyeballs to Entrails’ and new song ‘Ensoulment’, the pit quickly opens up and at only a few songs in, this room is primed for an assault. The band are happy to oblige as they maul their way through ‘Rotten To the Core’ and ‘Intravenous Idolatry’ and its easy to see why they’re one of the more revered bands in Australia’s underground. I’m a sucker for a twin guitar attack, and coupled with this brutal rhythm section, this band sound incredible and it’s like they were custom made for a room this size. ‘Taste The Wound’ gets the hugest reaction from the crowd when one of the guitarists throws his vocal weight in the mix, with the resulting convergence blasting through Liberty Hall like a shockwave. As they close out with other new song ‘Spoiled’ this crowd raise their horns in unison and make their way to the merch table. Algor Mortis absolutely earned their spot on this tour tonight. I’d watch this mob again in a heartbeat.

I grab a beer and catch up with the lads from local metal band Slaughtercult. It makes me feel old to think that these lads weren’t even born when Sepultura reigned in the late 80’s/early 90’s. But they know the history and understand the importance of seeing this event unfold tonight. The last of the stragglers that sat in the outside bars instead of catching the opening bands pile in and the place, both downstairs and the upstairs balcony, are chockers. We get primo spots on the steps in front of the bar at stage right with a clear view of everything and as sure as I’m here, Pissboy turns up and stands right in front of me. After a quick nudge and a gentle suggestion to fuck off elsewhere, the lights dim and the first family of Brazilian heavy metal are welcomed back to Australia by a hall packed full of excited Cavalera era Sepultura fans.

As ‘The Curse’ from the Bestial Devestation EP plays over the speakers, drummer Iggor Cavalera emerges from the smoky red haze to take his place behind the kit and is soon joined on stage by his brother Max Cavalera. Just seeing these two on stage together is a gift. A sight that, for the longest time, was something I thought I’d never get to see. Plus having them perform the best music from their first three Sepultura releases, well I wasn’t missing this for all the studs on Max’s jacket. Guitarist Travis Stone (Pig Destroyer, Nailbomb) and Max’s son Igor Amadeus “Sorcerer” Cavalera (Go Ahead and Die, Healing Magic) join the brothers on stage, Max yells out “Sydney” and the opening riff to ‘Bestial Devestation’ ignites this crowd into a frenzy. It’s 1986 all over again as Max yells out “The only Sepultura, tonight is here” and no one here disagrees. After they plough through ‘Antichrist’, Max announces “Tonight is the night that we give you original Brazilian black metal of the 1980’s” before launching into ‘Necromancer’ and this Sydney crowd is eating it all up. After close to 40 years as one of the most prolific musicians in metal, the Cavaleras have amassed a massive multi-generational following and tonight’s crowd is a perfect example of that. Amongst the Gen-X metal dads floating about are a lot of kids that definitely needed to have their ID’s checked tonight.

The lights dim and ‘Carmina Burana: O Fortuna’ by Carl Orff plays over the speakers while the band has a quick breather. It serves as a tribute to Max and Iggor’s late mother Vania Cavalera, whose picture adorns the screen behind the kit. Her memorial fades and the Cavalera logo shines as they tear into the Morbid Visions section of the night. Bludgeoning their way through ‘Morbid Visions’, Mayhem’, Crucifixion’ and ‘Funeral Rites’, the pit really starts to churn and it’s also worth mentioning that Max looks a million bucks tonight in his massive studded leather vest with crossed over bullet belts. It makes anyone else’s battle jacket look like their little sisters tutu.

‘Intro’ brings in the Schizophrenia era and I’m starting to make this sound like a Taylor Swift Eras Tour setlist layout. Punching their way through ‘From The Past Comes the Storms’ and ‘Septic Schizo, I look over to Max’s son Igor and he is having the time of his life on bass. If you didn’t know better, looking at him you’d think he’d timehopped from the late 80’s straight onto the stage. He looks the part and brings the most energy out of the four playing tonight. He didn’t just grow up listening to this music, it’s ingrained in his very being. This music is part of his legacy and nepotism aside, he’s a million percent earned his spot on this stage tonight, every bit that his brother Zyon does when he mans the kit in Soulfly. I can only imagine the pride Gloria Cavalera feels when she stands side stage watching it all unfold. ‘Inquisition Symphony’ bleeds into ‘Escape to the Void’ before closing out this section with ‘R.I.P (Rest In Pain)’. The band leaves the stage to kick off their first fake encore as Iggor sits at his kit in the dark. As the crowd waits a backing track starts up…

“I RE-E-E-E-FUSE!!! I RE-E-E-E-SIST!!!!” repeats over and over as that iconic drum track echoes behind it. The punters are losing it at this point and the mob are already starting to surge but it gets too much for one bloke as our mate Pissboy grabs his shit and heads for the door. Dodging the Sydney traffic earlier has taken its toll as he’s clearly not coping with the maelstrom of bodies he’s leaving behind. Iggor starts as Cavalera launch into a Chaos A.D medley of ‘Refuse Resist’, ‘Propaganda’ and ‘Territory’. The only bloke on stage without the Cavalera name, guitarist Travis Stone is throwing himself about like he’s having the greatest time of his life. It’s the day before his birthday so why not start the celebrations early. I mean it’s not everyday you get to play these iconic songs on the other side of the planet with the two founding fathers of Sepultura.

Fake encore part two is killed when the family re-emerge and belt out all time classic ‘Troops of Doom’. My mate Paz turns to me and says “This is good old fashioned 80’s thrash”. She’s bloody right and after nearly 40 years it still holds up. Max takes a moment to tell us they love being back in Australia, before introducing the members of the band, a quick “Aussie Aussie Aussie” and then asks ever so nicely for a wall of death. The crowd abides with a great divide as the band starts playing the intro to Slayer classic ‘Black Magic’. A welcomed surprise and things get messy when Max calls for the walls to collide. They break out into medley of ‘Morbid Visions’, ’Dead Embryonic Cells’, ‘RIP (Rest In Pain)’ and ‘Bestial Devastation’, and the rabble collide at speed. Amongst the bodies in the grinder I see the lads from Slaughtercult and the frontman from Durry, but other than that, it’s a blur.

The instruments are put down and Cavalera stand before us united. With Iggor standing front of stage for the first time tonight, the four of them embrace and take a bow. An epic way to close out this celebration of Max and Iggor Cavalera’s legacy and I’m already looking forward to when they re-record and tour the rest of their Sepultura catalogue. Especially given that Arise, Chaos A.D. and Roots were so important to that fabric of heavy metal in the early 90’s, and the history of the genre as well. As for now, this show was epic. A modern glimpse into the Brazilian thrash metal underground of the late 80’s. A once loathed genre locally, now celebrated lovingly worldwide. A truly momentous night. Shame on you if you missed it. Thanks for making the trek legends.

And Australia, don’t be like Pissboy.

Review by Duane James @duanejames666

Photo Gallery by Courtney Stark @crtnylstrk_imagery
Please credit Wall of Sound and Courtney Stark if you repost photos.