Roadtrips

We love a good old-fashioned heavy-metal blood feud as much as the next guy, and this week there's a genuine Brazilian thrash scramble playing out on stages from Lowell to Lewiston. We're talking, of course, about the inherent rivalry between thrash legends Sepultura and founding singer/guitarist/songwriter Max Cavalera, who in 1997 left (the remaining line-up still includes his brother Igor) to form Soulfly. When Max departed, Sepultura had just made the jump to an intensely heavy, rhythmically mature brand of world-beat metal on Roots (Roadrunner), and ever since, both Sepultura and Soulfly have been competing for the mandate to that artistic leap. Our spies have heard Sepultura's forthcoming Nation and informed us that it doesn't come close to Soulfly's recent Primitive. Judge for yourself: Sepultura headline a bill with Flybanger, Hatebreed, and Puya at the Webster Theatre (860-525-5553) in Hartford tonight (March 15) and at the Worcester Palladium (800-477-6849) on Friday. Meanwhile, Soulfly are on the undercard of the Pantera bill with death-metal legends Morbid Angel at the Tsongas Arena (617-931-2000) in Lowell tonight and at the Central Maine Civic Center (207-783-2000) in Lewiston on Friday.

More stellar death metal: if you opt for Friday's Sepultura show at the Palladium, your ticket will also get you into a show in the club's upstairs room headlined by the inventive and crushing ensemble Cryptopsy, whose new And Then You'll Beg (Century Media) continues the genre-busting riff gymnastics they initiated on 1997's Whisper Supremacy. (The group's vocalist, Mike DiSalvo, is a former Boston guy who spent a few years fronting Infestation.) And on Saturday, the El N Gee (860-437-3800) in New London, Connecticut, hosts "March to Mangle," a warm-up for next month's New England Metal and Hardcore Fest in Worcester. The Mangle bill features All That Remains, Torn Asunder, Diecast, Skinless, All Out War, Dying Fetus, Gorguts, Goatwhore, Ground Zero, Immolation, Incantation, Unearth, and more. Then Immolation, Incantation, and Goatwhore show up Monday at Bill's Bar (617-421-9678) in Boston with Killswitch Engage and the Year of Our Lord.

Elsewhere, Matchbox Twenty and Everclear play a sold-out Worcester Centrum date tonight (March 15). The Portsmouth (New Hampshire) Music Hall (603-436-2400) hosts Laurie Anderson on Sunday. Eve 6 and VAST hit Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel (401-272-5876) in Providence on Tuesday and Avalon (617-423-NEXT) in Boston next Friday. And the luck of the Irish brings Shane MacGowan and the Popes to Lupo's for a post-Paddy's-day sloshing next Thursday.
-- Carly Carioli