Last time I saw Sepultura was at The Great Northern in Byron Bay when they were on tour with Death Angel back in 2018.

A venue in a regional surfing town in New South Wales that was packed to the rafters with rabid metal heads who all jumped at the chance to see two legendary bands in an unlikely setting on the side of their massive tour at the time, truly epic stuff and one of my favourite gigs ever.

After the global touring set back due to the pandemic, Sepultura have finally returned down under for the annual Good Things Festival and a few sideshows around it, with tonight’s final show of the run being held at The Princess Theatre in Brisbane, an incredible venue and one of the cities true hidden gems.

Kicking off the night is Aussie groove legends Deprivation who are fresh from their appearance at this year’s Wacken Open Air in Germany.

The band have been perfectly selected alongside Hidden Intent to open for Seps on their Australian sideshows and they hit the stage with hellfire and fury.

Frontman Benn Weber is one of the best in the country, his energy and presence is unmatched while running laps across the stage without missing a note, demanding the attention of everyone in the room.

As their drummer was unable to make the trip to Queensland, the band have called in Brisbane legend Daniel Trickett to fill in behind the kit, it’s truly astonishing how tight the band are with only one rehearsal with him prior to it and every song hits hard and leaves and impression with the growing numbers as their set progresses.

Deprivation has come a long way over the years and a lot of people here tonight will be watching for what they do next that’s for sure.

Next up are Adelaide thrash favourites Hidden Intent who have gained quite the loyal following not only here but abroad, recently coming back from playing Wacken in Germany as well.

The band are renowned for their high energy live performances and Aussie culture inspired lyrics which is a large part as to why they are embraced by so many metal heads around the world.
Launching into ‘A Place of Horror’, the trio set the pit in motion and it’s full speed ahead!

With frontman Chris McEwen’s slamming bass tone, VB-soaked commanding vocals and flannel shirt combined with Phil Bennett’s green and pink neon face melting guitar shredding over Paul Lewis’s hard driving beats, the band are an unstoppable force of old school classic thrash that wins over the room instantly, especially with tracks like Dead End Destiny, Drop Bears Are real and a killer cover of Slayer’s Altar of Sacrifice to top it off.

Whether it is their own headline show or opening support, Hidden Intent are always a good time and make sure that anyone who wasn’t familiar with them before definitely walk away as new fans.

As the lights go out, Policia by Titãs blasts through the PA which starts to get the fans (especially the Brazilian ones) all riled up as Sepultura hit the stage, opening with Isolation from their latest album Quadra which sounds massive live.

Following it up with the classic Territory, the band then weave in and out between the past and present with tracks like Means to an End, Attitude, Kairos and Propaganda.

Derrick Green is an absolute beast of a frontman and it’s always impressive to watch him belt out these songs live, his monstrous vocal tone and size is intimidating, the room literally shakes as his voice booms out the lyrics through the PA, making every word impactful, both metaphorically and physically.

The tone of the evening shifts slightly as the next song Guardians of Earth is dedicated to the indigenous people of the Amazon, a cause that the band support wholeheartedly.

The acoustic instrumental intro played by Andreas Kisser is nothing short of a beautifully written tribute with the electric guitar solo coming in later as being one of the most emotionally moving pieces I have heard live and something that is missing from a lot of bands these days.

It’s from this point on that the set rips back into full gear with Dialog, Ali, Dead Embryonic Cells and Agony of Defeat with drummer Eloy Casagrande proving why he is one of the best drummers in the world as he drives each song with insane technical precision, keeping locked in with legendary bass player Paulo Jr throughout making them one of the best rhythm sections in metal.

The band are about to celebrate their 40th Anniversary next year and excitedly tell the fans that they are being recorded for a live album set to be released in the future, this combined with the four hit punch of closers Refuse/Resist, Arise, Ratamahatta and their biggest hit Roots Bloody Roots, tops the night off in spectacular fashion with bodies being thrown around the pit and voices singing as loud as they can in hopes of being immortalised in the recording.

Sepultura may only visit down under every once in a blue moon, but they always leave an impression and there is never any love lost for these guys, if anything it strengthens the bond between fans and band with each visit and we hope to see them again sooner rather later to relive the chaos.