What happens when a tour packs San Antonio’s Paper Tiger with a diverse array of metal bands capped off with a searing set by Soulfly? You get a venue full of unbelievably heavy sounds — and a set that proves the headliner’s staying power and importance within the genre.
A sprawling package tour headlined by Soulfly — the U.S. metal act fronted by Sepultura’s Max Cavalera — stopped in San Antonio Wednesday night, bringing a half-dozen other bands to two separate stages inside the St. Mary’s Strip venue. In addition to the headliner, the bill included Crowbar, Eyehategod, Mutilation Barbecue, Morbid Visionz Skinflint, Inner Self and Life Cycles.
The riffs of New Orleans’ legendary Eyehategod slithered into the audience’s ears and sludged out the other side. For a band known for producing such torturously slow songs, Eyehategod also managed to bring feverish intensity to its faster moments.
Although a well-known act in the sludge-metal genre, the group struggled to win over enthusiasm from much of the crowd. Could it have been because many were unfamiliar with its music? Hmm.
Second-billed Crowbar fixed the enthusiasm issue issue quickly. Like Eyehategod, Crowbar is a well-regarded and long-running sludge metal band from New Orleans. The difference, however, is that its music includes more melody along with hypnotic dual guitar work.
The SA crowd was clearly there for both. Grown men sang and threw their hands in the air as if they were teenage girls at a Harry Styles concert. Frontman Kirk Windstein’s croaky vocals, paired with riffs that sounded like they could bring back spirits of the dead, filled the venue.
Finally, headliner Soulfly got the audience to headbang, jump and even dance throughout a set that combined thrash and groove metal goodness with nu-metal touches. Cavalera formed Soulfly after his late-’90s departure from Sepultura. Now, almost 30 years and multiple trend cycles later, the band still resonates, which was obvious from the number of younger individuals in the audience.
Cavalera’s son Zyon capably handled drums duties on this tour, while San Marcos resident Mike DeLeon shredded on guitar. Soulfly played an array of songs from its catalog, including the popular “Jumpdafuckup” and “Prophecy” along with a Portuguese-language song that included a stick-like instrument and made use of Cavalera’s continued interest in Brazilian tribal music.
Although Wednesday’s show served as a strong showcase for a diverse variety of metal acts, Cavalera once again proved he has a Midas touch when it comes to creating compelling music and keeping its legacy alive.
