Max Cavalera is a living legend, an innovator of many extreme metal genres who boasts a colossal resumé of certified classics. This time he returns to Manchester with nu-metal legends Soulfly, and one of the best “one and done” bands of all time, Nailbomb. Exorcism joined as main support.
Exorcism were first, and they were a solid ’80s thrash throwback with clear influences from bands like Sodom and Kreator. If you’re a fan of blackened thrash with that bit of European snarl, then Exorcism are an easy recommendation. The mix was a bit messy, with drums and bass taking over most of the time, but the slower breakdown passages on tracks like ‘Lobotomiser‘ make this band one to watch. They even closed the set with a cover of Exodus‘ ‘Bonded by Blood‘ for that extra bit of legitimate thrash cred, and the centre of the room went ballistic.
There’s no shortage of thrash revival bands, but you could do much worse than Exorcism. They seem fairly young, and going by their studio output they’ve got a real knack for catchy riffs. They’d just benefit from a better live sound. They fully match the energy of a young Kreator or Sodom, and that energy will get them far. It’s clear they have a hunger for it. Best of luck to the Brummie thrashers, not that they need it.
After a short yet still unbearable wait, Manchester was ready to experience the full force of Nailbomb for the very first time. Having caught Nailbomb‘s first ever UK show at Bloodstock back in 2025, I can say this support slot with Soulfly was infinitely better. An open-air show has its own problems: there’s no cap on people trying to get close to the stage, and it’s hard to get a mix that sounds anywhere near what a club show can manage.
All respect to Bloodstock, they always do everything they can to create an amazing show and they almost always succeed, but Nailbomb‘s set made the best of a difficult mix. This time around, Nailbomb hit all the same beats, playing (almost) all of their iconic album, Point Blank. The set was full of absolutely insane crowdsurfers and vicious moshpits, all working in tandem to create a beautifully hostile environment, just as Max and Alex Newport intended when they created this legendary piece of experimental extreme metal.
Opening with a bass-heavy mix but quickly course-correcting to a pristine and heavy-as-hell mix, Nailbomb unleashed their breed of industrial death metal lunacy with ‘Wasting Away‘ and ‘Vai Toma No Cú‘, and the crowd responded in turn by losing their goddamn minds. The most interesting part of Nailbomb has always been the industrial elements, with tracks like ‘24 Hour Bullshit‘ sounding like a more extreme version of Ministry. With the noise and synth engineering of Alex Cha from Pig Destroyer, all of these tracks sound absolutely immense. There are some minor changes to how these tracks are performed, like ‘World of Shit‘ being considerably faster, which gives it a bit of a Pantera feel and adds that little bit of savagery.
The lineup being largely composed of members of Pig Destroyer gives it that extra bit of marquee value, and it obviously adds the explosive power a band like Nailbomb needs. Igor Amadeus Cavalera, Max‘s son, brings it to an almost grindcore level of intensity, with tracks like ‘Guerrillas‘ making this a wild and unhinged set in every capacity.
There’s no telling how long Nailbomb will be around, so if you get the opportunity to catch them, absolutely do it. The fact that Max can do two sets at this level of energy is staggering, and it makes for a truly one-of-a-kind tour.
After another break, Max returned to the stage with Soulfly. It was a very different but still high-octane set, complete with bouncy nu-metal-style riffing and metal club bangers like their opener, ‘Back to the Primitive‘. Before the show I could see Max and his wife give each other a fist bump, and that seemed to give him the energy to come back and absolutely lay waste.
Soulfly is the Cavalera project I’m least familiar with, and having experienced them now with minimal research, I can say this is one of the more accessible yet engaging things he’s involved with. You can tell there’s a lot of passion still there, and Max‘s connection to his Brazilian heritage makes it all the more engaging, especially given the band’s use of traditional South American instruments and passages in Portuguese.
Tracks like ‘Fire‘ and ‘Tribe‘ lean into this style without letting up any of the intensity, and would comfortably fit on Roots, but the more mature songwriting makes them feel much more dynamic and complex without ever seeming overwhelming. The room has cleared out a little, but it’s still a well-populated and active audience, ready to throw down and jump around like lunatics to the impassioned chants of “This is our tribe, not your tribe”.
Despite Soulfly being a more rhythm-based and less heavy band than Nailbomb, they still deliver some bone-rattling riffs, like ‘Downstroy‘, which feels like a Mechanize-era Fear Factory track, and a recent one, ‘Favela‘, which invokes Max‘s time in Sepultura with its blistering intensity and breakneck speed. Max confidently says “bring the thunder” as he introduces ‘Bumba‘, a fan favourite complete with simple yet savage riffs that cause a massive ruckus towards the end of the set. But it’s still not over yet.
For the final minutes of the show, Max asks everybody to get down low, and everyone who doesn’t have bad knees hits the deck. After a few seconds of testing everyone’s ankles, Max screams “now jumpdafuckup” and everybody Jumpsdafuckup to the classic, iconic metal club rager and title of Max‘s soon-to-be-released aerobics DVD, ‘Jumpdafuckup‘. It’s a legendary end to a masterful set of wild intensity.
This bill has some real differences between Nailbomb and Soulfly, but that’s a testament to just how versatile Max has been over the past few decades as a songwriter and a performer. Whether it’s Soulfly, Nailbomb, Sepultura or Killer Be Killed, you’re going to get a different form of Max, and the other musicians in his bands do just as much work helping create a unique, sonically hostile environment. Every single band on this bill is worth seeing, but Nailbomb is the one that may be existing on borrowed time, so prioritise them for the time being. As Max said during the show: “This is a brotherhood, this is a tribe, this is all of us”.
