I have been lucky enough (or old enough) to have seen Max Cavalera in every show that he has given in Greece with SEPULTURA and SOULFLY apart from the last one with CAVALERA CONSPIRACY.
As you can imagine I was more than happy with the news that 'Infliktour' would make a stop in Chicago because it would be nice to see Max and Igor together after more than a decade!

I arrived at the venue a little bit early since I had scheduled a face-to-face interview with Max that will get online the following days. Although, the venue is hosted in a rather old building, it is in a very good condition and well preserved. The stage is high enough to get a nice view from the arena while the balcony offers a better view for the metalheads that don't want to get 'dirty' inside the pit.

Due to the interview with Max I did not see INCITE and lost most of BURY YOUR DEAD's setlist. From what I saw BURY YOUR DEAD were pretty energetic and with the distinct Metalcore direction managed to warm the people who came early that working day. During my stay in the US I tried so hard to get used to this kind of Metal where the energy is the main issue but now I can safely say that I failed. There is no way I will like this genre that is exclusively based on power chords, fast tempos, screaming vocals and a lot of jumping up and down.

Man I was unlucky that day! It seemed that all the supporting bands belonged to this exactly music scene. I believe that the promoters thought the CAVALERA CONSPIRACY could attract more people if they were supported by bands from this scene that is most popular in the US especially in the younger ages. Judging by the crowd's reaction I can definitely say that they were totally right on this.

THROWDOWN were next and I have to admit that from what I have heard on their myspace page they sounded interesting. This band comes from Texas and it is no surprise that is deeply influenced by PANTERA. The guitars have or at least try to have a Dimebag's vibe and groove. The stomping rhythm and Dave Peters' Anselmo looks and vocals really tops things off. The fact that THROWDOWN's music keeps a safe distance from Metalcore made me enjoy the band's performance that was full of energy and sweat. The sound was a little bit louder than the small venue could handle so we were served with some significant amounts of noise.

I had never the chance to listen to THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN despite the growing fuss around their name. And due to this fuss I was kind of expecting something special from them that night. Well, I did get a surprise but it had nothing to do with their music. These guys sweated their asses off by running around the stage making it difficult not even use your camera but to keep track with all the happenings. The two guitarists were jumping on and off the PAs or the stage monitors while the singer was more into climbing upon the lights supporting bars. The sound was even louder than before making it almost impossible for me to understand their music. The crowd that totally loved them was getting more and more physical with large mosh pits and lots of falling down. Ok, THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN have some pretty original ideas in their songs but they were too noisy for me and did not earn me even with the fast and almost cool cover on VAN HALEN's Hot For The Teacher. Close to the end the singer and one of the guitarist stepped off the stage and joined the violent crowd while singing and playing, respectively. It was very wild and I have to give the band some credit for this.

Well, enough with the supporting acts; it was time for some heavy shit as Max usually says. The stage was ready with the Brazilian flag and the CAVALERA CONSPIRACY logo on the back. After 30 minutes Max and co took over the stage and literally the whole venue. Igor took his place behind the drum kit after being enthusiastically welcomed by the already sweaty metalheads. Inflikted was the logical setlist opener followed with no pause by Sanctuary and the first SEPULTURA treat, Teritory. I really liked that the setlist was like a 'best of' of the Cavalera era instead of just focusing on the Inflikted album and some SEPULTURA tracks near the end.

There were some sound problems with Max's microphone and this gave him a hard time taking into account his screaming singing style. After several mic changes the sound became better with some minor too much bass problems. Max was the usual Max on-stage; this guy has the unique ability to connect with the crowd from the very beginning getting from them 100%. I was positively surprised with Biotech Is Godzilla from the Chaos A.D. album and totally stoned by the faster and heavier version of Orgasmatron that was served with Hex without pause.

Black Ark brought Max's son Richie on-stage who also faced some problems with his mic that remained silent the first seconds. Another member of the Cavalera family joined Max and co; his son Igor took his uncle's place behind the drum kit for Troops Of Doom and did a fine job taking into account his young age.
Marc Rizzo did his stuff with the shredding riffs and solos while performing the trademark Capoeira round house kick. The band chose to play music with almost no pauses in between raising the inside temperature and adding greatly to the indoor humidity. Things became really violent with Refuse_Resist, Roots and Cockroaches from the NAILBOMB days.

So, after almost 90 minutes the Brazilian based band left the stage and every one exhausted and 100% satisfied. This is exactly what I like with Max's bands; everyone puts his heart on it performing with a sincere attitude that many in the Metal scene have forgotten to do. Thanks Max!

Setlist:

01. Inflikted
02. Sanctuary
03. Territory
04. Terrorize
05. Beneath The Remains
06. Cockroaches
07. Propaganda
08. Biotech Is Godzilla
09. Doom Of All Fires
10. Desperate Cry
11. Orgasmatron
12. Hex
13. Black Ark
14. Arise
15. Inner Self
16. Nevertrust
17. Attitude
18. Blood Brawl
19. Must Kill
20. Troops Of Doom
21. Refuse/Resist
22. Roots

(photos by the chubacabras)

BURY YOUR DEAD

THROWDOWN

THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN

CAVALERA CONSPIRACY