There’s little doubt that Max Cavalera is regarded within the heavy metal community as being at the forefront of Brazilian metal. And just in case anyone would think his co-founding of Sepultura with his brother Igor wouldn’t justify that on its own, Cavalera has graced the industry with other outfits such as Soulfly, Cavalera Conspiracy, Killer Be Killed and Nailbomb.
Yet somehow, Cavalera may have been upstaged as far as “the story” goes when Soulfly returned Feb. 3 to the Rock Box. And he certainly didn’t seem to mind.
With Cavalera recently recruiting San Antonio / San Marcos native Mike DeLeon as Soulfly’s touring guitarist for the next nine weeks, the show marked the latter’s homecoming — on his birthday no less.
A member of Pantera vocalist Philip H. Anselmo’s solo band Philip H. Anselmo & The Illegals as well as guitarist in San Antonio death-metal band Flesh Hoarder, DeLeon had the time of his life in one of his first gigs with Soulfly. And that was long before Cavalera introduced the band prior to encores “Eye For An Eye” and “Jumpdafuckup.”
Cavalera had the packed Rock Box serenade DeLeon with “Happy Birthday” and chants of “Metal Mike, Metal Mike!” as the man of the hour headbanged his mane. Then, after pointing to DeLeon and saying, “This guy is the fucking best,” Cavalera inexplicably twice called him Mike DeLeTron, although he may have been trying to make a play on words for the Soulfly tribe by calling him DeLeTribe.
Another possibility is that Cavalera confused DeLeon with the man to Cavalera’s immediate right — bassist Mike Leon.
That was a joke, folks.
But seriously, the former Havok bass player and Texas guitarist differ in first and last names by only two letters.
Soulfly thrashed and “destroyed this fucking place,” as is Cavalera’s wont. Also accompanied by his son Zyon on drums (click here to watch ATM’s interview with Max and his two sons from Soulfly’s 2016 tour kickoff at the now-defunct Korova), the band emphasized Soulfly’s first four albums dating back to the 1998 self-titled debut with several Totem tracks mixed in.
That included “Filth Upon Filth,” which blended with older tunes “Prophecy,” “Fire,” “Porrada” and “Bleed,” all of which can be viewed below.
It wouldn’t be a Cavalera show regardless of the band name on stage without some Sepultura, so the fired-up frontman pulled out “Refuse/Resist” before offering up the lone Nailbomb tune of the night, both of which can be viewed below.
The nine weeks are sure to fly by for DeLeon, a man who last fall was actually filling in for Zakk Wylde at the initial rehearsals for the reunited Pantera and informed this writer of that fact at a Steve Vai concert Oct. 9, roughly three months before it became national news.
And while Cavalera has made it clear that it’s been his intent to have revolving members on tour in Soulfly, DeLeon may in fact wake up several weeks from now and wonder if the whole journey has been a dream.
If that’s the case, he’ll have some photos and videos to look back on and perhaps one day tell his kids he didn’t just share the stage with the Ayatollah of Rock N’ Rolla for nine weeks. He’ll be able to say he shredded it and killed it.
And flew the flag for South Texas in the process.
