Soulfly @ the Waterfront

The Waterfront on a Saturday night is not usually full of leather and flowing locks but for this, a Soulfly gig, I'd expected nothing less. The 40-50 year old metal fraternity were truly out in force with the joint about 2/3 full, and all looked chuffed to bits to be there.

I missed first support Incite, apologies. Straight in with Australian outfit King Parrot, then, with bald, topless lead guy Matt Young spitting water all over himself in a full on rage, half screaming, half growling his indecipherable lyrics. Their sound is deep and loud, chuggy, thick and sludgy, with a fast drumming throughout like a pounding train. This band are chockful of testostorone. The crowd are into it in the usual Norwich stylee; the nod, the hands in pockets, the two chaps having their own circle pit with some good old fashioned headbangers at the barrier. When it slows down, King Parrot's sound gets real sexy and has a gyrating groove to it that floats my boat. On the penultimate track he gets himself involved in the circle pit and roams around the crowd being generally furious. Throwing water on the audience, he returns to the stage with a bleeding back. Meeting him afterwards he's an affable, warm and upbeat fella. God I love metallers.

In combats with a matching camoflage guitar, matted dreadlocks and Genocide Pact on his sleeve there's no mistaking Max Cavalera, ex Sepultura front man and leader of Soulfly since their inception in the early 90's. The crowd are well up for seeing them; I spot some previous Soulfly tour tshirts, some from over 20 years ago. Starting their hour long set with We Sold Our Souls To Metal, we're treated to some incredibly complex and beguilingly crafted wailing guitar work from Marc Rizzo, and full on powerhouse drums from Max's actual son, Zyon Cavalera, who looked a bit like he should be in an Arctic Monkeys cover band. Drenched in sweat he gives one million percent the whole time, flinging his sticks up and catching them mid track. Amazing. The audience are horns up from the beginning of this set and there's a jostly good natured circle pit. Soulfly's music is gruff and serious stuff. It's a swaggering, no messing, bravado-filled march towards certain annihalation but in the name of everything you stand for. Later I read the following quote from Max back in 2010.."The music is like a missile, and the lyrics are the warhead for it." Spot on. It's a mix somewhere in the middle of death metal, hip hop, classic metal and rock and when it breaks down it's absolutely strong as fuck. It's full of fervour rather than rage, and Max is calm, controlled and happy at the front of the stage, showing the years of experience behind him, encouraging us to scream throughout the gig. Refuse/Resist is belted out, followed by Sodomized which takes the whole thing up a gear. It gets way louder and there's a sweet-ass rolling beat and bassline that gets me properly hot under the collar. (Yes I know it's called Sodomized. No comment.)It's pounding and unrelenting, vibrating through my whole body and physically shaking me. I love it. Babylon hits us like a grown up furious version of Rollin' by Limp Bizkit. No has an incredible middle section, soulful and punishing, with a singing guitar solo that just about breaks my heart. Back To The Primitive is a real crowd favourite as is Roots Bloody Roots, prompting a stage diver to do his thing. Jump Da Fuck Up and Eye For An Eye slay the crowd during the encore, and even though they've only played an hour it's been an incredibly skilled and passionate performance by all concerned, and well appreciated by the crowd.

Young rock and metal bands have a lot to live up to if they ever want to reach the heights of Soulfly's ability and presence. A full on fun night of metally wowness.