MAX CAVALERA: 'The Spirit Of The Original SEPULTURA Is Here With CAVALERA'

In a new interview with Czech Republic's Project Backstage, Max and Igor "Iggor" Cavalera were asked about the decision to revisit SEPULTURA's earliest releases and re-record them under the name CAVALERA while maintaining a similarly named separate project under which they release new music, CAVALERA CONSPIRACY. Igor responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Well, it's actually a bit simple, but also it can be a bit confusing if you're just picking up the stuff and you're reading. But the way I look at it, and it makes sense to me, is that CAVALERA CONSPIRACY, me and Max, we write completely new songs, and then with CAVALERA, we are having these re-recordings and then performing them live. So they're not like completely different projects. They're the same project, but maybe just different faces of the same project. And in a way, at the end of the day, it's all Cavalera — from the beginnings of SEPULTURA, it's always been about me and Max. So Cavalera is the soul of the whole thing. And there's a bit of mutations in there, with CAVALERA CONSPIRACY [and] CAVALERA with the re-recordings and the live show. So it can be a bit confusing, but at the end of the day, it's quite simple."

Max added: "It's all from the same root. It comes from the same spirit that we had. And the most important thing, the coolest thing is that the spirit of the original SEPULTURA is here with CAVALERA. I think that is what the fans feel it most. And I think that is the greatest thing we have, is that what they wanted to feel is what we had in the soul and the spirit of the original SEPULTURA. And we're doing that with this — mostly with CAVALERA, because we get to play the SEPULTURA material. CAVALERA CONSPIRACY, we get to do new music, which we'll do in the future as well. We plan to keep rocking for a long time. Nobody has plans for retirement. That don't exist. I don't know what that is. We are rockers — lifers, as they say."

SEPULTURA fell apart in 1996 with the exit of Max after the rest of the Brazilian four-piece split with the vocalist/guitarist's wife Gloria as their manager. Max's brother, drummer Igor stuck around with the group for another ten years before leaving SEPULTURA and re-teaming with Max in CAVALERA CONSPIRACY.

In 2023, Max and Igor revisited their earliest SEPULTURA releases, "Morbid Visions" and "Bestial Devastation", and re-recorded them with bone-breaking intensity. Earlier this year, they entered the final chapter of their early-days trilogy by releasing a re-recorded version of SEPULTURA's "Schizophrenia".

The Cavalera brothers enlisted Travis Stone (PIG DESTROYER) on lead guitars. The full lineup would consist of more Cavalera alumni, as Igor Amadeus Cavalera (GO AHEAD AND DIE, HEALING MAGIC) once more brought his talents on bass to the fold.

CAVALERA's version of "Schizophrenia" was recorded from April 15, 2023 to June 5, 2023 at Focusrite Room in Mesa Arizona. Mixing and mastering was handled by Arthur Rizk (SOULFLY, GO AHEAD AND DIE, TURNSTILE). The original "Schizophrenia" cover artwork was restored in hand-painted watercolors by Eliran Kantor.

Although SEPULTURA has maintained a diehard fanbase in all parts of the world throughout the band's nearly four-decade history, Max-era albums "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.

In December 2023, SEPULTURA announced that it would celebrate its 40th anniversary this year by embarking on a "farewell tour" which will cover the entire globe.

SEPULTURA's current lineup comprises guitarist Andreas Kisser, vocalist Derrick Green, bassist Paulo Xisto Pinto Jr. and touring drummer Greyson Nekrutman, who officially replaced SEPULTURA's longtime drummer Eloy Casagrande in February.