Story and Photos: Spencer Fleming
The Waiting Room was graced by metal royalty Thursday (2.29) when the legend Max Cavalera brought his new band Go Ahead And Die to Omaha. With a name like that you already know it was fast, heavy, and in your face!
While this band is fairly new there's a bit of backstory here. In 1984 Max and his brother Igor Cavalera formed the band Sepultura. The brothers took an early influence from bands like Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and Deep Purple, but eventually found their way to heavier acts like Venom, Kreator, and Exodus. From the late 80s to the mid-90s Max and Sepultara released some of the most influential metal albums of all time.
In 1996 Max departed Sepultura and would go on to form the band Soulfly. This is where I first learned of Max and his beautiful brutality. Soulfly was never as big as some of the main stage acts at Ozzfest, but they headlined the second stage several times and they toured relentlessly. During the 2000s I probably saw Soulfly like seven times. I had the pleasure of shooting photos when Soulfly played the Waiting Room in March last year and it was amazing. They still sounded just as good as when I saw them at Ozzfest! Through the years Max has had his hand in several projects like Nailbomb, Killer Be Killed, and Cavalera Conspiracy. Keeping things in the family, Max's newest band Go Ahead And Die features his son Igor on guitar and lead vocals!
Before Go Ahead And Die played the slam metal band Bodybox from Florida was up first. I had seen Bodybox open for Spite at the Reverb last year. Just like last time the riffs were super heavy and the drums were pounding. The lead vocalist stood stoically in socks and graveled for twenty minutes. The crowd was still filling in a bit, so it gave the local hardcore crews a wide berth for spin kicks and air punching. Slam bands and hardcore make for the best people watching. I'm too old to stage dive or get kicked in head from a spin kick, but I love seeing other people expel copious amounts of energy during an extremely heavy set.
After a short setup it was time for our ears to bleed! Go Ahead and Die took the stage and started melting faces right from the start. They opened with "Desert Carnage", the second single from their sophomore album Unhealthy Mechanisms.
Lead singer Igor has stated "Desert Carnage' is a blistering fast song that is as scorching hot as the Sonoran desert itself. The barbaric theme of the song stems from the cruelness and inhospitable terrain of the desert, as desolate and unkind as a place can be."
The blazing fast riffs had the front row banging their heads in appreciation. I swiftly tried to capture the ferocity of Max and Igor as they thrashed their hair about and growled into the mic. Moving through the set, another highlight was the song "Tumors", the lead single from their new album Unhealthy Mechanisms. The animated video for the song depicts an apocalyptic nightmare where phones and social media spew forth snakes and insects, infecting our brains like tumors (ain't it the truth?). While I agree, social media has a host of problems, it helps me connect to our local music scene and meet people I otherwise may have not met, so take the good with the bad I suppose. Anyways, the song crushed! The deep grinding riff that moves throughout the song is super heavy, but really catchy. I can see why they chose it as the first single.
For a solid hour the band pummeled the Waiting Room with cuts from both of their albums before taking a short break. After the break the band returned with Max donning a sheriff shirt like in their video for "Drug O Cop". His Sherrif name was officer Buzzkill, but he didn't stop the party. Max and Igor shared lead vocals on this old school skate punk thrasher. With cop sirens wailing Max and Igor laid down some wicked tapping solos and set the place on fire! This was for sure the best choice for their closer. There was nothing left standing after that barn burner.
Go Ahead And Die puts on a killer show. Make sure to check out their new album Unhealthy Mechanisms which is available on Nuclear Blast Records and streaming wherever you get your music. A huge thank you to Nuclear Blast Records for photo access and to the Waiting Room for all your hard work keeping the scene alive!
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Go Ahead And Die!
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