Return, Beneath Arise Tour came through Los Angeles CA on Saturday June 18th 2022. The show was at the one and Belasco Theater. Healing Magic is currently supporting “Max and Iggor Cavalera” along with Cephalic Carnage. The doors didn’t open till sometime after 7pm and when I got to the venue around 5pm there were already people lined up waiting to get into the show. The Belasco was SOLD OUT – resale tickets were going for upwards of $160. This is probably the most anticipated metal tour of the year.
If you weren’t already aware, Healing Magic is headed by Igor Cavalera, the son of Max Cavalera, and Johnny Valles on drums. Once you hear Igor scream you can definitely put two and two together and hear Max’s screaming. I will point out that he does set himself apart with a raspier mid scream that is full of power and angry as hell. It reminded me of mixing Lemmy and Max. This band is a unique one and definitely well rounded as they don’t limit themselves to one genre. Their sound is driven from deep in the Arizona desert and anyone who lives there or who has visited in the summertime knows it’s a living breathing hell. Their music reflects that pain and suffering. Hearing them live was an experience in itself as the band is polished and clearly well rehearsed because their transitions from doom to thrash to even sludge is flawless. I even heard reminisces of straight up brutal heavy down tempo chugging that reminded me of the band Will Haven. Igor Cavalera and Johnny Valles got right down to business and opened up with “Smoke Horns” off their new album “Vol 1:Fire”. This is a grab your friend by the neck and drag him into the pit kind of song. It starts off with a fast thrashy riff and Johnny going off on his drum set. They were not messing around and came to melt faces off. The next song was “The Lions Throne,” which had a bit of a slower Tempo but still maintained that heavy chugging. It reminded me of the riffs Kirk Windstein of Crowbar would write. It was as if Healing Magic took that heavy chugging of Crowbar and made it their own. The “Lions Throne” was one of my favorite songs of the night. This song also teeters on the experimental side with the guitar harmonies and melodic riffs added in. They continued their set with “Leaving Ashes” and ended their set with “Beast Summoner,” where Igor turned into a complete mad man and was throwing himself all over the stage, all while Johnny was screaming and bashing away on his drum set. All the raw emotion came gushing out of them and they left nothing in the tank.
Watching Igor and Johnny on stage was a true metal experience and if you weren’t banging your head you definitely have a problem.
