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After 40 years, 15 studio albums, and over 1,700 shows Sepultura are calling it a day. With one last tour ‘Celebrating Life Through Death’ the Brazilians played to a sold-out Barrowlands on Monday night. With early doors, at 5, support came from relative newcomers Jesus Piece, fellow veterans Obituary, and Ukraine’s Jinjer (or Ginger if you’re the man selling bootlegs on the pavement).
Starting the evening were Jesus Piece, formed in 2015 in Pennsylvania, with only half an hour’s set, they made it count. A more modern style than the rest of the bill, some of the old-school fans were unimpressed, mostly with the hardcore kids’ karate. As drummer Luis Aponte said ‘some of you have never heard of us, and will never want to hear us again, but this is music now, [bands like] Obituary and Sepultura are then’ and thanked them for having Jesus Piece. But many will want to hear them again, whether they knew them before or not. I definitely will, I missed them when they last played Glasgow, in 2023, but won’t let that happen again! They didn’t disappoint. Their latest album, …So Unknown, came out last year on Century Media Records.
Up next were Florida death metal legends, Obituary, on surprisingly early in the night. Very much old-school death metal, there was no karate in sight, just a lot of hair. Full of energy and, ironically, life, Obituary proved why they’ve been one of death metal’s most successful acts for over 30 years. Everything I’d hoped, I’ll be keeping an eye out for them next time. Ending their set with the title track of their first album, Slowly We Rot, they’re a long way from rotting yet.
The third act of the night was Jinjer. The crowd were well and truly warmed up by now, and big into Jinjer, many were obviously already fans and knew the words by heart. But they’ll definitely have earned some new followers too. I don’t know what foundation/setting spray vocalist Tatiana uses, but they should sponsor her, fifty minutes of headbanging, screaming, and shouting in the by now pretty warm Barrowlands and it hadn’t budged a bit. Impressive. Their fifth studio album, Duél, is due out in ‘the beginning of winter, 2025’ via Napalm.
Now the reason we were all there, Sepultura. An almost two-hour set and they didn’t stop once. Playing a range of songs from across their catalogue, the only break for the crowd was during Kaiowas (tribal jam) which they brought back to Glasgow one more time. And to be honest the crowd needed a break, the heat and the crushing didn’t let up once. Which was unfortunate for the woman trying to smoke in the pit, I think she did get a few puffs in before it was lost. A good effort. Frontman Derrick Green was impressed by the enthusiasm for a Monday night, and said as much, which only re-energised fans. Jesus Piece’s hardcore kids will have learned a thing or two, no room for karate in this pit.
No gig at the Barrowlands is complete without some ‘here we fucking go’, and for Sepultura’s last visit, nearly 2000 fans put their heart and soul into it. Although the crowd was relatively mixed, many of them had no doubt been with Sepultura for most of their 40 years. So while it was a joyful send-off, there was an air of sadness, especially as the lights came on. The end of an era.
Stepping over clumps of hair, hats, ear gauges, and a whole lot of plastic glasses, as well as a single shoe, we said goodbye to Sepultura one last time and joined the usual Barrowland bottleneck. Bruised feet are always the mark of a good show, and mine wouldn’t look out of place on a morgue slab. That and a bald spot from being virtually scalped, my only proof I was there. Thank you, Sepultura.
The tour continues through the last of this year and into the next, as they record one last album, made of 40 songs recorded in 40 cities across the world, summing up an impressive career.
Review – Morven
Sepultura photo credit: Edu Defferrari
Jinjer photo credit: Lina Glasir
