The Moshville Times - Soulfly / King Parrot / Incite – Glasgow King Tut’s, 4th Feb 2016

The night started with an impressive set from the American groove metal band Incite hot off a tour with the Cancer Bats.

From the off, Richie Cavalera was talking to the crowd and generally creating a great atmosphere. The band kicked off with the title track from last years album The Slaughter with Lennon killing the drum kit pounding away on the tracks intro. Ritchie’s vocals are intense, Christopher looking like a cool extra from Suicidal Tendances, Dru raging away on guitar.

We are into “WTF” next from 2014’s Up in Hell with Ritchie really going for it vocal style, we have “Nothing to Fear” next. Again that powerhouse Lennon leads us in with Dru’s guitar entwined with it – a fantastic track, bit of a favourite from the set tonight. We head into 2012’s All out War next with Ritchie screaming for us to “Feel the Flames”, again another great track with killer guitar and bass.

I missed the title of the next track – a new one I believe – and have to apologise for that as we come to “Tyranny’s End” with a driller killer of a guitar sound through it combined with Ritchie’s fantastic guttural singing. We head into the last track of an all-too-short set with another from the excellent album The Slaughter in the form of “Army of Darkness”, a great track to end the set with.

The band, and in particular Richie, have definitely come out from the huge shadow that is Soulfly and easily stand on their own. As Ritchie stated in the earlier interview, “I think I’m the best singer now, I think I’ve ed everybody”. I for one will not take a side in a very talented family debate and leave that for you, the gig-goers and readers, to decide for yourselves. One thing though – go see Incite and you will not be disappointed.

Setlist:

The Slaughter
WTF
Nothing to Fear
Feel the Flames
New Song
Tyranny’s End
Army of Darkness

Australian band King Parrot up next. What can I start off with apart from “they are a bit mental on and off stage” and I mean that in the most flattering . They were energetic to the extreme, at least in the form of singer Matt who spent a lot of his birthday night perched on the barrier soaking the crowd with water. Max had warned me earlier!

We head into a setlist nicely split from 2013’s Bite Your Head Off and last years fantastic Dead Set. The band kick off with “Epileptic Butcher” from Bite Your Head Off, a rip-roaring 110 seconds of pure joy with Toddy on drums pounding away and the band following with Matt in pure guttural fury. We head into the first track from last year’s Dead Set in the form of “Anthem of the Advanced Sinner” coming in at 1min 35sec.

This is a band in firm control of where they are going, an intense full-on blast. A well-named out-of-control freight train of a track, “Hell Comes your Way” next as Matt gets birthday cake on stage along with a kilt. Yes, you read it correctly, the carnage that followed with him changing into it on the barrier was a joy to behold (photos to follow). A big shout to King Tut’s security for the night helping him to get dressed in it. It’s going to be hard to get the sight out of my head but I digress.

A few tonight might say the next track, “Sick in the Head” applies to Matt, but he is all about fun and bringing it to the crowd and boy does he. The track has a killer bass intro and is a full on headbanger, another favorite of mine from their set. A Black Sabbath-style intro leads us into the doom ridden “Home is where the Gutter Is”. This track has early Sabbath brought up to date all over it.

Not so much of a “Dead End” next, more of a more of a 70sec rush down the German Autobahn – such a great short track. The first track from Bite Your Head Off next – “Bozo” – which really sets the guttural/grind tone that the album has in bucketloads. We have no hope now as “Tomorrow Turns to Blood” from Dead Set. You can really hear the difference in the two albums tonight with both being fantastic in their own right.

I tell you what, Toddy must have needed a rest after “Silly Ol’ Mate”, a drummer-punishing track of rhythm intensity. The band reckon they “Need No Saviour” next and I think that is true as this track would kill all before them with its intensity. Sadly another short but exciting set comes to an end as we “Shit on the Liver”, a truly great screamer of a track to end with. I will definitely be seeing them again the next time these crazy guys come back to Scotland and I urge you to go see them and check out their albums.

Setlist:

Epileptic Butcher
Anthem of the Advanced Sinner
Hell Comes your Way
Sick in the Head
Home is where the Gutter Is
Dead End
Bozo
Tomorrow Turns to Blood
Silly Ol’ Mate
Need No Saviour
Shit on the Liver

So onto Soulfly. The band run by the head of the Cavalera clan needs no introduction. This is a compact venue for them to play given they can fill much larger venues than King Tut’s, but we are not complaining about seeing this great band up close and personal tonight.

The band kick off tonight’s proceedings with “We Sold Our Souls to Metal” from Archangel, probably my favourite track off the new album and a killer starter to any gig. The title track “Archangel” quickly follows; a very complete track, hard to describe how well this track comes across live. We head to a favourite of Max’s to sing from the Conquer album with the heavy “Blood Fire War Hate” – a favourite of the crowd as well judging by the reaction, with the name of the track such a killer hook to sing back to Max.

The past will always be with Max and rightly so as we head into the first of several Sepultura tracks, “Refuse/Resist” from my personal favourite album Chaos A.D. I have seen Max with them in the past I can tell you he has lost none of the ferocity in singing these classics with Soulfly. We head back to the new opus again with the excellent bass driven “Sodomites”, and next we head all the way back to Soulfly itself for “Tribe” before “Prophecy” kicks in big style.

This band always has had a big back sound in of killer drums and bass. We head into “Seek ‘N’ Strike” next from 3. In of crunching guitars, killer back line in drumming along with Max’s vocals this is a band who will never get lost in the crowd but will always be there out front keeping it real. We head to the Dark Ages now and “Babylon”, just one of those tracks that has your head going, a real headbanger with killer riffs.

Max has a real ion for riffs and it’s up there with the best out there. Another set of killer riffs herald the arrival of “No Hope = No Fear” from Soulfly. It is the constant quality of these tracks that make all of the albums a must to listen to with the songs taking on a whole new life when played live, especially with Max and Marc on this track. We head all the way back now to Arise with “Arise”/””Dead Embryonic Cells”. There is a rawness in these early tracks whereas Soulfly sounds more evolved. This is not a bad thing, just the way it is when you grow as an artist and refine your craft while still keeping the heavy killer beat going strong.

We stay in the past with just a killer track loved by all heavy metal fans, “Roots Bloody Roots”, truly a classic slice of brutality which will always stand the test of time with Sepultura/Soulfly fans. If you blinked you missed the cover of “You Suffer” by Napalm Death”, then as the set ends we head back to the Dark Ages as we reach the “Frontlines”, one of the heavier Soulfly songs and fantastic live.

The encore kicks off with what else but “Jumpdafuckup/Eye for an Eye” with the crowd erupting. It was fun watching the moshing in such a small venue before we head into the final track, a blinding version of Maiden’s “The Trooper”. We head out with big smiles all round due to a killer three-band line up in one of Glasgow’s best venues. Gimme Soulfly and the Cavalera clan here any day – an awesome night all round.

Setlist: