Preview for a Sao Paulo gig featuring two of metal’s biggest names, written for Time Out Sao Paulo October 2011.

Sepultura and Machine Head
14th October 2011
Via Funchal

A double header of Sepultura and Machine Head proves that heavy metal’s light need never die out, in fact it only seems to get brighter. Sepultura were one of heavy metal’s big guns in the genre’s hey-day of the 1990s – as well as being the most successful Brazilian heavy metal group of all time – setting the blueprint for modern bands like Korn and Slipknot. In the last 15 years they haven’t changed their formula much, the sound is just as heavy and the musicianship as intricate as ever, though line-up changes have seen their lyrics change from political to conceptual; their last two albums were inspired by Dante’s Inferno and Clockwork Orange.

They will be joined by Californians Machine Head, who haven’t been in the game quite so long – they started in 1992 – but entered with a bang. Their early albums combined the bombast of heavy rock with the ferocity of thrash metal for an intense manifestation of metal. They lost their way a bit after that but a resurgence in the 2000s has brought many of their fans back to one of metal’s true stand-out acts.