Page 51 - ION Indie Magazine JanFeb 2018

When I am scheduled to cover a national metal act on behalf of ION Indie Magazine and I arrive at the venue,
the first thing I look for is whether there is a barricade. Admittedly, I’m not in my 20’s anymore, and although
there is something to be said for immersing one’s self in the full metal experience, the elbowing and jostling
that my body could potentially endure is not something that holds the same fascination that it would “back in
the day”. After all, there’s nothing “metal” about a photojournalist that must utilize a walker due to sporting a
broken hip – although the bragging rights might earn me some street cred.

Thus, there was no small amount of trepidation upon my arrival at Tricky Falls in El Paso, Texas on November
7th for the Soulfly show and then noting the absence of any barricade protection for the photo pit. And knowing
the sort of enthusiastic physical response that Soulfly evokes from their rabid followers, I knew that I was not
only in for a taste of metal at its finest, but would probably emerge from the night’s festivities with several new
discolorations of the bruising variety, moshing being what it is.

But on to the task at hand…the Phoenix, Arizona-based Soulfly,
founded in 1997, was here to perform founder Max Cavalera’s
previous project, Nailbomb’s album “Point Blank” in its entirety. This
album, the only one produced by Nailbomb, has been an underground
favorite for the past 24 years. However, to their credit, to date, Soulfly
has released ten studio albums, one tour EP, twenty-three singles, one
video album, and twelve music videos. Fans will remember Max
Cavalera as the Brazilian band Sepultura’s frontman in the early 90’s.
Once he parted ways with that project, it was
Soulfly all the way.

Now there has been numerous lineup
changes since the inception of Soulfly, but
Max remains the only original member. Soulfly is
no stranger to touring -- with 19 concert tours
under their belt, they have shared the stage with metal
greatness…bands such as Ozzy Osborne, Tool, Megadeth,
Snot, and System of a Down, to name a few.

On this evening, we had a stellar lineup, including one local
by the name of Sabrewulf. Supporting nationals were
Harm's Way, Noisem, and Lody Kong. It’s interesting to note that
Lody Kong is a three-piece, with Igor Cavalera on bass and
Zyon Cavalera on the drums, who are both Max’s sons --
with Zyon also doing double drumming duties with his father
in Soulfly. Talk about a family affair!!

Pre-sales for this show were light, in fact, maybe 200 people
were in attendance in all. But those 200 were straight-up
Nailbomb/Soulfly fanatics. I was braced for the prodding
and pushing that I would receive from this hyped-up crowd
and that this would be a challenging show to shoot sans
the proper barricade protection for the non-existent pit.
As feared, I did get hit twice from some “moshers”,
despite me being on heightened alert -- with one eye
in the lens and one eye watching for the launching