Cavalera, Algor Mortis Apocalyptic Annihilation @ Hindley Street Music Hall, Adelaide 23/1/2025
‘At the end of the show, I’m totally exhausted every night. I’m just done. I got to go lay down!” Max Cavalera told me only last week as he prepared to tear up stages across Australia on the Third World Trilogy tour. Tonight, in Adelaide, the man is true to his word.
The ‘Third World Trilogy’, a name given to the first three releases of the fledging Cavalera brothers career with Sepultura, pays homage to records recorded deep in Belo Horizonte on a budget that would barely buy you a knock off Brazilian football shirt while sounding like it was recorded in a tin can.
The band have recently re-recorded those releases, keeping the piss and vinegar attitude however mixing it with modern craft and they do make for pleasant listening. Tonight though, after trawling across the length and breadth of Australia, it’s Adelaide turn.
Warming the crowd up first is hometown heroes Apocalyptic Annihilation and the big stage doesn’t over raw them, it’s made for them. The blasts of death metal, the artillery of drummer Ryan David’s drums, the guttural vocals of James Osman – that sound like he’s had a gutful of spicy chicken nuggets – and the deathly guitar barrage up front is glorious. Each song a journey through the darkest emotions, high and low to the soundtrack of pain and torture. Splendid chaps.
Melbourne’s Algor Mortis take you somewhere else. Somewhere deep in your psyche that has been locked by a door for a long time. And with good reason. It’s not for the faint hearted. The meaty riffs and nuclear drums only matched in intensity by vocalist Cecilia Keane’s roaring vocals. For this crowd, the low sound that kicks you in the gut and then pounds your head is welcomed. Each breakdown bringing more fire and chaos to a pit that is providing the petrol to ignite the room.
However, as the clock strikes ten, Cavalera appear and go straight into a slew of tracks from Sepultura’s debut EP including the title track, Antichrist and Necromancer.
A short break and then Morbid Visions era tracks are lined up. The songs actually do sound enormous, a far cry from the albums tinny production. Travis Stone shreds away while Max Cavalera hasn’t moved around the stage with this much vigour in years. It all adds to the undeniable power of the songs.
Somehow managing to get people to sing a long to Funeral Rites may be one of Max’s greatest achievements, however the night takes a notable, and chaotic turn, for the Schizophrenia section.
Escape To The Void, a snippet of Inquisition Symphony and RIP, underpinned by a more expansive drum style of Igor Cavalera, sound as vibrant as ever.
I don’t need to tell you that the mosh pit matched the ferocity of the songs, however when the encore starts with newer Sepultura classics such as Refuse/Resist, that brain shaking riff of Propaganda and Territory, the pit goes nuclear.
Finishing with Troops Of Doom and a medley of songs already played – with a cheeky snippet of Dead Embryonic Cells thrown in – and the seventy five minutes of brutal crushing death metal, a celebration of Brazil’s finest at its genesis, is complete.
One thing can be said if you’ve followed this Cavalera journey over recent years, it is that they have literally toured every Sepultura release they were on. For a few in the crowd who were there at the original time, it was nice walk down memory lane. For those new, it was a dream come true.
For me, well? My neck is gonna be damn sore tomorrow.
Live Review By Iain McCallum