LIVE REVIEW: Sepultura @ The Fleece, Bristol
On the whole, downsizing a venue is a good thing. Sure, the band in question may face a bruised ego but far better to play for a packed, smaller venue than a half-empty bigger one. For SEPULTURA, the decision to move from the larger SWX to The Fleece and sell out the Bristol leg of their Machine Messiah tour is a no-brainer and displays that, despite the continuing shadow of their former leader’s departure over twenty years ago, they are very much here to stay and want to do the right thing. Plus, The Fleece is legendary and a perfect sweatbox for these types of events.
Kicking off tonight are FIT FOR AN AUTOPSY, who one could argue are the odd band out on this four-act bill with their foundations very much in deathcore than the groove or the thrash of the headliners. There’s still plenty of the latter in there though, particularly Saltwound which has more groove than most pairs of corduroy trousers. The filthiness of Heads Will Hang causes a complete assault on the sense, as does the gnarly Iron Moon and closer Black Mammoth sounds as giant as its namesake. The big downer is the room remains very stationary throughout, which is far less than FIT FOR AN AUTOPSY deserve; they’ve got some serious chops and are great at what they do.
Rating: 6/10
No such problems for movement when it comes to blackened death outfit GOATWHORE…well, unless you count frontman Ben Falgoust, who suffered a broken leg whilst out in mainland Europe and is confined to sitting on an amp box for their 35 minute set. Outside of him though, there’s a huge amount of support in the venue tonight and the boys from Louisiana duly deliver, the likes of Chaos Arcane and Under the Flesh, Into the Soul going down a treat with some serious pits opening up at the front. Tighter than a last-minute football transfer on Deadline Day, GOATHWHORE are seriously impressive tonight, the wizardry of Sammy Duet on guitars roaring through the speakers and bouncing off the walls with tremendous force, no clearer than during a superb Apocalyptic Havoc. Which, quite appropriately, is exactly what they cause.
Rating: 7/10
Things take a more leisurely pace with the arrival of OBSCURA and their tech-death metal from Germany, which unfortunately does nothing for them or the atmosphere. They’re technically brilliant, no doubt about that, but for all their ability there is a distinct absence of presence. As a result, songs like Akróasis and The Anti Cosmic Overload are lacking in personality and get bogged down despite their meticulous and impressive compositions. It’s also not helped by guitarist Linus Klausenitzer looking like he would rather be anywhere else but on stage tonight, drawing away all focus from frontman Steffen Kummerer and the dexterity of bassist Rafael Trujillo, the former of whom grows in confidence somewhat as the set goes on and is likeable enough. By the time Centric Flow finishes proceedings, there is a noteable thinness in the crowd.
Rating: 5/10
Next to SEPULTURA, OBSCURA look even worse, because the headliners come charging out like a freight train into I Am The Enemy and pummel The Fleece into submission over ninety furious minutes. People can pine for the Cavalera brothers all they want, but there isn’t an individual here tonight who honestly cares about the band’s former guise, giving as much energy back as is being delivered to them. The pit is constant, the crowdsurfers are many and Derrick Green, now a part of the band for two full decades, is smiling broadly from ear to ear. A giant of a man anyway, tonight he seems even bigger and manic, leading a merry charge through six choice cuts from new record Machine Messiah plus a bunch of fan favourites. Andreas Kisser is also on great form, cementing his place as one of the world’s most underappreciated guitarists with the likes of the new album’s title track and Against sounding particularly vicious this evening.
It’s also testament to SEPULTURA that they place a lot of faith in their new material to air so much of it and, whilst the classics definitely get the bigger cheers, the difference is not as big as one might expect, especially when they delve right back to their major label debut Beneath the Remains at one point. That said, Refuse/Resist and Arise are simply colossal and the double-salvo of Ratamahatta and Roots, Bloody Roots bring the house down in a very satisfying way to finish off a triumphant SEPULTURA show; it’s quite obvious that they’ll always have their critics, but if they keep playing to packed houses like this, does it really matter?
Rating: 8/10
Check out our photo gallery from the night’s action in Bristol from Normandy Photography here:
