The beast that is Sepultura awakens from hibernation two years after the release of Quadra and makes a triumphant return to North America.
First to take the stage is Art of Shock, a four-piece thrash metal band based out of Los Angeles. Their adrenaline-filled set opens with the title track from their most recent album, Dark Angeles. Art of Shock gets the crowd moving with their high-energy performance featuring fast riffs, thunderous drums, and snarling vocals. Art Geezar, vocalist, shows he has the metal chops by transitioning effortlessly between deep growls to singalong choruses. These guys have a look that screams thrash metal and incorporate a lot of windmill headbanging into their set.
Next on stage, Crowbar steamrolls into their set with “High Rate Extinction” from their self-titled album released in 1993. The brute strength Crowbar exhibits live can’t be matched. Kirk Windstein’s gravelly vocals and guitar tone hit you like a freight train. Crowbar goes to show it doesn’t have to be fast to be heavy as hell. Kirk takes a moment to talk about the release of their new album Zero and Below. They finished the album right before the pandemic started and have been sitting on the album for two years waiting to put it out. A groovy riff breaks out which is the intro to “Chemical Godz,” a song from their newest album. Crowbar returns to their roots with this album, featuring a more doom feel with chugging riffs, great tone, devastatingly heavy punchy drums, and throaty vocals. Their set ends with “All I Had (I Gave),” leaving the crowd chanting “Crowbar” and pumping their fists in the air. During soundcheck, Phil Rind, vocalist and bassist of Sacred Reich, takes a moment to shout out Mat Hoffman, an American BMX legend from Oklahoma City. Rind goes on to say that the last time Sacred Reich played in Oklahoma City, he was fortunate enough to meet Mat at the show. Rind dedicates tonight’s performance to Mat who can’t be in attendance. Sacred Reich gets right into it with quickness, starting the night off with “Divide & Conquer” and “Manifest Reality” from the 2019 album Awakening. Awakening was the first album Sacred Reich has released in the last 23 years. The new material is well-received by the audience of fans circling the pit with smiles on their faces. Sacred Reich’s joy to return to the stage is evident as this passionate performance shows what it means to play live again.Phil Rind’s clean and majestic vocals live have held up impressively throughout the years. Before each song, Phil explains the meaningful lyrics behind each song. Sacred Reich has taken their reigns of the thrash metal scene back by storm with Wiley Arnett’s masterful riffs and intricate solos. Dave McClain’s return to the band is the perfect recipe for Sacred Reich, making the drums sound fuller than ever before. His technical skill is a sight to behold. Sacred Reich takes it back for old-school fans with their title track from the 1987 album Ignorance. Sacred Reich closes out their performance with the thrash masterpiece “Surf Nicaragua.” Sacred Reich made an excellent addition to the bill due to their long-standing chemistry with Sepultura. Their relationship dates back to when Sepultura played in the US for the very first time at a Halloween show at The Ritz in New York City in 1989, at which Sacred Reich also performed.
It’s been two years since Sepultura released Quadra, and the tour supporting the album has been pushed back several times. During the time away from being able to play live, Sepultura has been busy. They took it upon themselves to give the fans something to look forward to by creating a YouTube channel with live Q&A and jamming old Sepultura songs with various guest artists, later putting out an album called Sepulquarta featuring 15 of these collaborations with amazing guests.The theatrical intro to “Isolation” plays as Sepultura makes their way to the stage. Andreas Kisser, guitarist, shreds through the intro riff with surgical precision, and Derrick Green, vocalist, lets out a demonic deep growl which instantly erupts the crowd into chaos. Sepultura’s current lineup is a well-oiled machine and their time away from the stage gave them the ability to recoup and come back heavier than before. Eloy Casagrande lets out a full-on assault on drums with masterful craftsmanship during “Means to an End.” Eloy’s accuracy and speed is an impressive feat to behold. From an early age, Eloy has been an exceptional drummer. At the age of 14, Eloy won the Under 18 Modern Drummer Contest, a drum contest held by the prestigious drum magazine Modern Drummer. He then joined Sepultura at the young age of 20 in 2011. The skill Eloy brings to the table for Sepultura makes them remarkably heavy.
Derrick expresses that Oklahoma has a lot of heart and that this is his first time ever playing at the Diamond Ballroom. Derrick’s hardcore punk background shines through strong as he belts out the lyrics to “Propaganda” from the album Chaos A.D.. Andreas addresses the crowd about being excited to play the new songs two years in the making as Sepultura begins to play “The Pentagram,” the only instrumental song of the evening. Sepultura’s excitement to share a stage with fans and fellow musicians makes for an unforgettable experience. Sepultura encores with “Ratamahatta” and “Roots” showing off the band’s ability to combine exotic tribal Brazilian music with thrash metal in a way that only Sepultura is capable of.
If you are thinking about catching them on the North America tour, there are still several dates throughout April but act fast because these dates are already beginning to sell out.SEPULTURA
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CROWBAR
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