Skinflint

Max Cavalera and Soulfly put a crack in High Street outside Skully’s in Columbus this week on their Totem tour.

Skully’s Music-Diner is a regular stop for metal bands when they are in the middle of the country. With no pit and not even a barricade, really, fans can get right up to the stage. When the circle pit swirls open, it can engulf the bulk of the room, putting everyone in play – or in jeopardy, depending on how you look at it. If that sounds good to you, now you know where go.

Soulfy brought two bands with them on this leg of the tour. First up, Skinflint, a three-piece metal band from Botswana. I had heard of them but had never seen the band in action, so I was ready go. Their new album is their seventh, Hate Spell, released just days before the show. Their music is infectious metal with incredible rhythm and masterful guitar. They played a couple cuts from the new record, and dipped into their deep catalogue for a few well-seasoned favorites, too. Great set.

Bodybox middled. Bodybox is a Florida deathcore band, and they are a very different act compared to either of the other bands. I didn’t know anything about them before the show, so I went in unencumbered by expectations. A relatively new group, they have released a demo and an EP so far. Their sound was tight while it lasted, but they unfortunately experienced technical difficulties for a large part of their time on stage, leading vocalist Harry Brown to riff off the top of his head and to drink a number of beers handed up from the crowd while the troubles were addressed.

Soulfly has been on my bucket list for a while now. I saw Max Cavalera last year and that show was a highlight of my concertgoing for 2022, no question about it. Soulfly released a new studio album last year, Totem, and that was one of the better albums last year, too (there is a link to our review of that record at the end of this article). My interest in the band has therefore been heading toward a peak in recent months. Max with his four-string ESP was joined on stage by Zyon Cavalera on drums, Mike Leon on bass, with Mike DeLeon playing guitar.

The show opened on “Back To Primitive,” and the packed room starting jumping immediately. The pit opened on that first song, which doesn’t usually happen – even with the headliner, there is often a song or two of grace before the pushing starts. Not this time. Everybody was ready to party with Soulfly.

They went back to the beginning next with “No Hope = No Fear,” and there was never any hint of slowing down. They did play a couple of songs from Totem, but mostly this night was a greatest hits affair, with a couple of covers thrown in the mix as well. I thought the Max and Iggor Cavalera tour was great last year, and it was, but this Soulfly performance cranked up even a notch higher. It was a great show, and now I am scanning the calendar to see if there is any way I can see them again before this tour is over. Highly recommended.