LIVE REVIEW: Soulfly @ The Key Club, Leeds

At 55 years old, Max Cavalera is still one of metal’s most prolific and hard working personalities. It’s only two years since SOULFLY released their last album, the raging, thrash inspired Totem. Many bands would still be in the mode of touring to promote such a recent offering, but since 2022 Max has released five other albums and EPs under the guise of his other side projects CAVALERA CONSPIRACY, KILLER BE KILLED and GO AHEAD AND DIE.

As such, it seems that for the current incarnation of SOULFLY, completed by Max’s son Zyon on drums, Mike Leon on bass and ‘Texas’ Mike DeLeon on guitar, promoting Totem isn’t high on their agenda. Instead, they’re here to play strictly bangers and have a SOULFLY Party. Although most of the dates on UK leg of their seven week European tour have had support acts, because The Key Club has a 10pm curfew due to its usual Friday alt-rock/metal club night and the fact that SOULFLY’s set is a generous 90 minutes long, the Arizonans have chosen to forgo any openers and treat tonight as ‘an evening with…’ kind of affair.

Tonight’s show has been sold out for weeks and although the promoters may have missed a trick in not upgrading it to a slightly larger room, it’s certainly a treat to be able to watch a band of this calibre and pedigree in such an intimate venue. Any concerns about the lack of support are dispelled as soon as SOULFLY plough into the Back To The Primitive. Within just one song the packed crowd is suitably warmed up.

The band don’t let up, and blast through another four songs including the thumping blast beats of most recent single Superstition and the glorious bounce of Downstroy before eventually allowing the band and crowd to take a breather. The momentum is kept a high with the thundering Prophecy. Bumbklaat and Tribe get the crowd bouncing, Max commanding the crowd into chants of “Oi Oi” while Leon challenges them to give more in the pit. Zyon Cavalera is on fire too, showing he has the chops to rival drummers twice his age. He’s clearly learned a thing or two from his uncle Igor.

Although ‘Texas’ Mike is certainly a capable shredder, the absence of former guitarist Marc Rizzo is felt in the conspicuous omission of material from the 2010s era. Ritual and Archangel in particular are real high points in the latter half of the band’s career due in no small part to Rizzo’s blistering fretwork, but for whatever reason they are shelved for now. A snippet of Cannibal Holocaust from 2013’s Savages album does get an airing and incites one of the night’s most kinetic circle pits, even if it only lasts a minute or so.

There was also a time when you’d be guaranteed a few choice SEPULTURA and even NAILBOMB cuts but that’s not the case tonight. But you can’t complain when you get the likes of Fire and Bumba instead. There’s a couple of other deeper cuts in the form of Filth Upon Filth and the colossal doom grooves of Blood Fire War Hate but the rest of the set is purely old school classics from the first two albums. Bleed incites one of the most violent pits of the night while Boom gets the crowd skanking as sweat literally drips from the ceiling.

A rousing rendition of No sounds as vital as it ever has, the audience revelling in shouting along to the infamous “Hootie and The Blowfish” line. Getting the crowd to kneel down for a breakdown in a song is now something that seems to happen at every other gig these days but for their encore SOULFLY are here to remind us that they were early adopters of the technique. Is there a more appropriate song to deploy this move for than Jumpdafuckup? Probably not. Eye For An Eye brings the evening to a close in deliciously violent fashion. Yes this may not be the most thrilling incarnation of SOULFLY but as they’ve proven tonight, the back catalogue speaks for itself, especially when delivered with such energy and intensity as they have tonight.

Rating: 8/10

Check out our photo gallery of the night’s action in Leeds from Rhys Haberfield Media here:

Like SOULFLY on Facebook.