The Brazilian metal legends Sepultura reached Milwaukee on the latest stop of their “Celebrating Life Through Death Tour,” which acts as their final North American tour, as well as a celebration of their 40th anniversary. Also reaching Wisconsin was Cradle of Filth, currently touring North America as well. The two tours came together for one night at Milwaukee’s The Rave for an all-day affair of epic proportions.
Starting off the day early, the Cradle of Filth lineup kicked things off on The Rave’s basement stage, an intimate club-style venue. Cultus Black, adorned in their blackout costumes, save for vocalist “L” in his white bodypaint, crept onto the stage and immediately hit hard, ripping through a short set that lit up the Milwaukee crowd. The aggressive set featured tracks from their eponymous album, in addition to a heavy cover of Nirvana’s “Negative Creep.”
The energy in the upstairs venue popped off for the start of the second lineup. Tribal Gaze threw down right away, getting a pit stirred up with their hardcore two-step beats and nonstop aggression. The death metal and hardcore mix had the crowd moving for the entire set as the group worked through most of their 2025 release “Inveighing Brilliance,” the short tracks barely leaving time for fans to catch their breath. Both stages set the bar high for the intensity of that day’s show.
Ghost Bath took the stage next in the basement, bringing out “metal to kill yourselves to.” The DBSM (Depressive Suicidal Black Metal) act screamed through a set of blast beats and wailing that would certainly wake up a Sunday afternoon crowd. The multiple lineups had their distinct sounds between them, and this was definitely an outlier when it came to moshability and crowd energy. While the performance was a blast of intense sound, it wasn’t one to get rowdy for.
Old school hardcore punks Biohazard tore up the Rave stage next with their high-energy, pulse-pounding set. The Rave was the home of their first reunion show in 2023 at the newly restarted Milwaukee Metal Fest, and they didn’t forget it. From an immediate hard-hitting “Urban Discipline,” the band and the crowd set the bar high with energy and moshing action until the very end.
Suffocation took the final opening slot in the basement venue, assaulting the crowd with some of the heaviest tracks of the day’s lineup. The venue was filled up by this point, which meant even more participation for the circle pits. Unfortunately, the set was cut even shorter than the allotted time, but after a few songs they had definitely left their mark and gotten the crowd’s heart rate up for the next band upstairs.
Thrash legends Exodus always put on a killer show, no matter the lineup or vocalist, and this set was no exception. With Rob Dukes back with the group again, there was no lost intensity to their songs, and they owned the stage and the crowd like the metal veterans they are. The crowd surfers were in high gear, nonstop throughout the set, and the moshing got even wilder with classics “A Lesson in Violence” and “Strike of the Beast.” It felt like their set could easily have been extended, and nobody would have complained.
For the final show of the Rave Basement, the goths and black metal fans filled up the room as Cradle of Filth signaled the end of a long day of music. Chants of “filthy Daniel” rang out from the crowd as the band, followed by frontman Dani Filth, took the stage. The genre was once again a contrast to the previous set, and while the crowd was into the set, the energy was not at the same level as some previous acts. The fans of the group were definitely out in force, and they went wild for so many of the tracks, especially “Nymphetamine (Fix)” rounding out the main set. The group couldn’t leave the hot crowd waiting and had to return for an encore performance of “Cruelty Brought Thee Orchids” and “Her Ghost in the Fog.”
If any fan’s energy was conserved throughout the six hours of openers, Sepultura’s set was the time to use it all up, and they almost certainly did. Before the set even began, the packed crowd sang along to the entirety of Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs” over the speakers, and they just got more and more involved as the night went on. From the opening performance of “Inner Self,” the fans were moshing and crowd surfing like it was their last time. When it comes to Sepultura, it just may be, as the group was celebrating their 40th anniversary as well as their final North American tour.
No matter what opinions are on Sepultura post-Cavalera, singer Derrick Green has been with the group over half of their 40 years and has consistently brought a raw ferocity with his performance and vocals, and this final tour was no exception. Once the music started, any opinion was out of the window because the set sounded amazing, had a great visual presence, and kept the energy up the entire set. The massive set was unending aggression, and the crowd kept their circle pits going until the final notes of the night with the iconic “Roots Bloody Roots.”
