Max & Iggor Cavalera: Return to Roots at the Gramercy Theatre

Max Cavalera

In 1981, Massimiliano "Max" Cavalera and his younger brother Igor (who since 2006 spells his name Iggor Cavalera) saw Queen live when they were growing up in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, and this concert inspired them to become musicians. As teenagers in 1984, the brothers formed Sepultura, a pioneer thrash metal band that sold more than 20 million records worldwide. Max left Sepultura in 1996 and Igor left 10 years later, making Igor the last original member to leave the band. The brothers regrouped briefly in Max's band, Soulfly, and in 2007 as the Cavalera Conspiracy, but are touring currently as Max & Iggor Cavalera: Return to Roots. Max now lives in Phoenix, Arizona, and Iggor lives in London, England.

Max & Iggor Cavalera: Return to Roots revisited Sepultura's sixth album, Roots, originally released in 1996 and the last to feature Max Cavalera. At the Gramercy Theatre tonight, the brothers, joined by guitarist Marc Rizzo (of the Cavalera Conspiracy) and bassist Tony Campos (of Soulfly), performed the album track for track. Towards the end of the main set, members of the opening acts, Immolation‘s Steve Shalaty and Full of Hell’s Dave Bland, joined the band onstage for a heavy-on-the-percussion jam. To begin the encore, Max and Iggor walked on stage alone, jamming on older Sepultura riffs like "Desperate Cry," before the rest of the band joined them for covers of Venom's "Black Metal" and Motörhead's "Ace of Spades," closing with a reprise of Sepultura's "Roots Bloody Roots." While the band engraved the legacy of Sepultura through the song catalogue, the band simultaneously proved that the Cavaleras have a life after Sepultura. Max was a forceful singer and guitarist, and Iggor was a master at the drums, incorporating tribal rhythms with the hard-hitting thrash style. Although the band did not perform "Canyon Jam," the final hidden song on the album, the original recording was played over the speakers as the audience was leaving.

Visit Max & Iggor Cavalera at www.maxandiggorreturntoroots.com.

Setlist:

1. Roots Bloody Roots (Sepultura cover)
2. Attitude (Sepultura cover)
3. Cut-Throat (Sepultura cover)
4. Ratamahatta (Sepultura cover)
5. Breed Apart (Sepultura cover)
6. Straighthate (Sepultura cover)
7. Spit (Sepultura cover)
8. Lookaway (Sepultura cover)
9. Dusted (Sepultura cover)
10. Born Stubborn (Sepultura cover)
11. Itsári (Sepultura cover)
12. Ambush (Sepultura cover)
13. Endangered Species (Sepultura cover)
14. Dictatorshit (Sepultura cover)

Encore:

1. Desperate Cry (Sepultura cover)
2. Black Metal (Venom cover)
3. Ace of Spades (Motörhead cover)
4. Roots Bloody Roots (Sepultura cover) (reprise)