What better way to celebrate 20 years since Sepultura’s first release, than with a concert in Unfortunately this doesn’t always seem to translate to the DVD. The intro footage gives you a taste of the lighting setup, the video screen, the giant S logo behind the drums and the silhouettes of band members printed on the floor as well as the size of the crowd that came to see them. From the moment they start, the focus shifts to the band, as it well should, but the choice of camera angles is rather pedestrian and becomes rather repetitive by the end. There are also issues with the sound quality. The stereo mix is quite soft and rather muddy. Fortunately this is fixed in the surround sound channels which come through much clearer, but it could still do with a stronger guitar attack.
But these are technical faults. Much harder to fault is the performance. The setlist draws from every album the band have released during their career and it’s easy to see why they have been such a commanding force throughout that time. Particularly impressive is the tribal influenced drumming of Igor Cavelera which defines so much of the Sepultura sound. He is joined by bassist Paulo Jr. and guitarist Andreas Kisser who moves around stage as a blurring mess of hair while still shifting effortlessly between solos and the heavy riffs that make up the meat of the songs. The only member to come under criticism, perhaps unfairly, is singer Derrick Green. As a singer in his own right, Green is very good and had he rose to fame in another band, he would have been treated as such. But by taking on the role of the “new guy” in Sepultura he has always had to live in the shadow of Max Cavelera, who left the band in 1997 to found Soulfly. When performing songs from any of the three albums since Cavelera’s depature, this is not an issue, and songs such as Sepulnation, Apes of God and Choke hold their own in the setlist, showing that Sepultura was always more than a one man band. But when playing classic songs such as Territory, Refuse/Resist and Troops of Doom, many may find themselves wishing for Max’s distinctive drawl and powerful roar. Both Live in São Paulo and Soulfly’s 2005 DVD The Song Remains Insane feature live versions of the most well known Sepultura song Roots Bloody Roots, and it is Soulfly’s version which comes out on top of the two largely due to the vocal performance (and despite the stage attire of Soulfly guitarist Marc Rizzo earning it the nickname “Backpack Bloody Backpack”).
The connection between the band and their homeland is also highlighted by the number of guest musicians who join them on stage including original guitarist Jairo “Tormentor” Guedes and Alex Kolesne from Krisiun who join the band for Necromancer off the very first Bestial Devestation EP, and hip hop artist Bê Negão who provides some Portuguese verses to a cover of Public Enemy’s Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos.
Special features on the disc are rather varied. The “Making Of” featurette provides a sense of how respected the band are in their homeland, while Disc 2 contains a documentary shot by Derrick Green which provides his viewpoint of joining the band and developing a kinship with the Sepultura tribe. Overall Live in São Paulo is a strong show, which unfortunately hasn’t been captured as well as it could have been. This is further highlighted by the extra live footage and video clips also contained on Disc2. The studio versions of songs such as Bullet The Blue Sky and Choke are much fuller than the live ones, while extra footage from an earlier concert has more interesting edits from what seems to be a fewer number of cameras.
(Originally published on FasterLouder)
No comments:
Post a Comment