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... tired from the dance on the volcano, Maximilian took his big edit, and faster than I could react, he scrabbled his autograph on my white silkshirt. He grinned pretty cheakly and said: "yeah of course I remember..."- 
Okay, it doesn't matter here what that was, but the fact was, I had experienced a great show, sacrified my best shirt, but therefor received the brasilian charme of Max. 
Long talk short sense, this happened almost exactly 17 years ago at the London Marquee Club. And since this occassion not only some, but many things have changed. Max Cavalera left quite a while ago in 1996. And there is only one member left of the original line up of Sepultura who is bassist Paulo Pinto Jr.- No guitarist Andreas Kisser ain't an original if you take it really straight. He came in the band 3 years after the were founded in 1984 in BElo Horizonte, Brazilia. The latest original who left was Igor Graziano Cavalera, the brother of Max, who went off last year. For him Jean Dolabella came in. Last but not least to complete the current line up, it's chocolate sweetie Derrick Leon Green. He is in the band now for almost 10 years. 
Have I  seen this band last year supporting InFlames, so it's this time the headliner position with full power we get served on a tablet.  

But first of all two other groups fire the oven, starting with Forever Will Burn http://www.foreverwillburn.com/ from Southafrica followed by Betzefer http://www.betzefer.com from israel. So this is here a true multi culti band threesome. Although I dismissed some of the performances of the two just mentioned acts, so I still could figure out some clear potential and a interesting structure, which ain't easy with bands of this kind of Thrash-Speed-Death-hardcore stylistic. One thing is for sure, Betzeferhave taken on some similarity to their bosses Sepultura here. 

And  Sepultura themselves ?.... Alrighty, it is definately what it used to be, that's for sure......

I guess, the individual sparkle has gone somehow a different direction over all those years. But maybe it's also the fact, that a former cultband has lost it's typical aspects - it's heroes. And those heroes were Max and Igor. But don't let's talk about the past. Whatevern has happened in the past, has happened. And we are here tonight and have to take on what we get offered.
I have to give 'em that much, that I like the band much more this time than last time supporting the InFlames. I got the feeling, the boys are feeling better in a smaller venue than in a huge hall, like our behated Zenith here in Munich. Here at the Backstage Werk they truly fill the stage 'till the very last corner with their presence and the heirs of Cortez' shoot their fire towards our ears. Phototechnicalwise a Sepultura Gig was and still is an absolute disaster with it's fast exchanging light flashes, which burst on an explosive high energy level almost through the sound barrier. Exspecially the first three songs  Lost,  Dark Wood of Error and  Refuse/Resists, where we are allowed to take pics in the pit are rather short with just about an aprox. 3 minutes lenght. Not too much to take some decent Pics under this difficult conditions. 

Musically it's a colourful mixture of new and old stuff and a tribute to U2 with the cover of 'Bullet The Blue Sky'. (I didn't almost recognize it to be honest)
Over all it is a pretty powerful performance Sepultura 2007 presents us here tonight. And most of the 400 kids in the audiance are happy with it. Although something is missing. Maybe it's the second guitar, which doubled the pressure and the sound in the past. Or it's rather the classical tracks like 'Roots Bloody Roots' and 'Arise' which sound somehow different when sung by Derrick Leon Green instead by Max Cavalera. But you can't ignore these pieces of music every fan expects at a Sepultura show.. They definateley  will do hard to hold the same status in todays constallation. Like I said before, not bad at all, but it's not the same and the famous sparkle is gonne. But maybe they'll catch up with it again some time in the future, for instance in form of a reunion in the original line up. It's not very much likely though, because Mr. Kisser and Mr.Cavalera still don't talk to each other. But as we say so - never say never again. And some others have proved this in the past, didn't they?!
PS: By the way, I still got that silkshirt from 1990, but I won't wear it anymore. 

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