MAX CAVALERA On Performing SEPULTURA's Entire 'Chaos A.D.' Album: 'There's A Whole New Generation Of Fans Who Never Got A Chance To See' Classic Lineup Playing It

In a new interview with Poland's Mystic Festival, former SEPULTURA guitarist/vocalist Max Cavalera was asked what it has been like to perform the band's landmark fifth album, 1993's "Chaos A.D.", with his brother, ex-SEPULTURA drummer Igor "Iggor" Cavalera, in its entirety on recent tours of Europe and North America. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): " I think it's the best feeling because we love the material. We pay tribute to the era. There's a whole new generation of fans, they never got the chance to see the original [lineup] playing that. And the band is so killer because you have me and Igor being the older guys, and you have Travis [Stone on lead guitar] and my son, Igor [Amadeus Cavalera on bass], the young guns. They bring the youth, they bring the energy. When I look at my sides, they're going fucking nuts, because they love this record."

Reflecting on the songwriting process for "Chaos A.D.", Max said: "It's quite different from the predecessor, [1991's] 'Arise'. And I remember a lot of people would question, 'Are they gonna do 'Arise Part II', or are they gonna try to do something different?' And we opted for the second [option]. I love 'Arise', but it's difficult to top that. Between the three of them — [1987's] 'Schizophrenia', [1989's] 'Beneath The Remains' and 'Arise' — it's a trilogy of nearly perfect death-thrash records. [It's] hard to top that. So we went on a different road; [we wanted to] slow everything down, strip down, and try to make more — I don't know — solid kind of songs. It's a strange record to me also, because there's a lot of semi-instrumentals-type song, like 'We Who Are Not As Others', 'Kaiowas'. We have a cover in the middle, a NEW MODEL ARMY cover, which is great. 'The Hunt' is a bit like — we love NEW MODEL ARMY, and we thought, 'Fuck it. Let's put it on the record.' It's the kind of thing that we did. No rules."

SEPULTURA was founded in 1983 by the brothers Max and Igor with Wagner Lamounier and Jairo Guedes Braga (known professionally as Jairo Guedz). Paulo Xisto Pinto Jr. joined just a few short months later and in 1987, with the departure of Jairo and addition of guitarist Andreas Kisser, the solid lineup of SEPULTURA was final. The band quickly became an influential force in heavy metal music thanks to its dynamic studio recordings and intense live performances.

The band was in the midst of a creative and commercial peak in 1993 when it released "Chaos A.D." with Max on vocals and guitar, Andreas on guitar, Paulo on bass, and Igor on drums. The record sonically sees the band transcend from their thrashing death metal aesthetic into a more eclectic output, showcasing groove-oriented paces, incorporating moody riffs, industrial soundscapes and even introducing hardcore punk elements throughout the record. With protest songs like "Refuse/ Resist" and the Jello Biafra-penned "Biotech Is Godzilla" spouting conspiracy theories, the politically charged lyrics aided in "Chaos A.D." becoming a breakthrough album for the band worldwide.

Although SEPULTURA has maintained a diehard fanbase in all parts of the world throughout the band's four-decade history, "Roots" and "Chaos A.D." were by far SEPULTURA's most commercially successful, having both been certified gold in the U.S. for sales in excess of five hundred thousand copies.

Regarding "Chaos A.D."'s visual representation, Max previously described its conception thusly: "'Chaos A.D.' was commissioned through Michael Whelan [whom] we already used on two albums before — 'Beneath The Remains' and 'Arise' — but 'Beneath The Remains' and 'Arise' were already existing paintings, and 'Chaos A.D.' was a brand new painting that was commissioned by us to Michael Whelan to create based on the name of the album. We gave it to him, and he came up with the body bag with the money upside down and all the electronic stuff going through the body bag and I think it was really cool."

Image credit: Justin666Hatredslave