Since quitting/being thrown out of Sepultura back in 1996 (it’s all still a bit murky), Max Cavalera has been anything but idol, there’s been the short-lived Nailbomb, recent reunion with brother Iggor for Cavalera Conspiracy and collaborations with everyone from Dave Grohl to Mike Patton. But Soulfly is his most established concern, now on their seventh album (the ferocious and bloody Omen).

With the whole crowd chanting ‘Blood Fire War Hate’ before they even step on stage, the mosh pit exploding as the first vicious riffs ring out across the packed sweaty venue. Cavalera comes across like a manic hobo jester, a blur of dreads and thrash guitars. New tracks such as ‘Lethal Injection’ power into the pit with intense punk aggression, but they show their breadth of talent and Brazilian roots during an extended instrumental jam. It’s Sepultura’s ‘Refuse/Resist’ that incites the first circle pit, a swirling mass of flailing bodies, swiftly followed by ‘Doom’ (and it’s rabble-rousing chorus of ‘scream motherfucker’) that keeps the mob thrashing (as well as a welcome blast of Pantera’s ‘Walk’). The encore battering the crowd into submission with the likes of the warped backward rhythms of current single ‘Rise of the Fallen’ and the always incendiary ‘Jumpdafuckup’. Hard, fast and brutal tribal metal.

Setlist

Blood Fire War Hate
Prophecy
Back to the Primitive
Seek N Strike
Fire/Mars
Lethal Injection
Refuse/Resist (Sepultura)
Doom
LOTM
Walk (Pantera)
Porrada
Troops of Doom (Sepultura)
Unleash

Rise of the Fallen
Defeat U
Roots Bloody Roots (Sepultura)
Jumpdafuckup
Eye for an Eye