Artist: Cavalera Conspiracy
Album: Bestial Devastation / Morbid Visions
Year: 2023
Genre: Thrash Metal / Death Metal
From the moment I heard the opening song on the reissued Bestial Devastation EP, I knew I was also going to enjoy what was to come on the reissued Morbid Visions LP. Little did I know how much I was going to love both of these releases and that they would both end up in my top albums of 2023. The Cavalera brothers did something magnificent that few are successful in pulling off.
Let’s go backwards a touch. Max and Igor Cavalera ranged from age 14-17 during the time the first two Sepultura records were recorded and released. If you’ve never heard either album, you can imagine what death metal by a couple of young teenagers from Brazil, not exactly the hot bed of extreme metal at that time, sounds like. Their effort should be commended, but the results were substandard at best. Many hold Morbid Visions as a “classic” thrash / death metal record, but I believe it has more to do with nostalgia and what Sepultura became than the actual recording. No one can tell me those original recordings sound good. Even when I was young, just discovering new bands in the same genre, these sounded like garbage. That shouldn’t be insulting. They were just kids and were miles ahead people their age.
I can only imagine the Cavaleras felt the same way and that’s why they decided to re-record both records. As a personal rule, I am against the re-recording of previous material. If a band wants to update a song here-and-there I don’t have a problem. But a whole album? One…it feels like a money grab. Two, and more importantly…it rarely turns out good. Yes Exodus, Twisted Sister and Suicidal Tendencies, you all screwed up. In fact, I think only Testament did this well on The First Strike Still Deadly, but that wasn’t a full album, just cherry-picked catalogue tracks. Well, I proudly stand corrected when it comes to Cavalera. Not only did they do their past justice, but they also greatly improved upon their humble beginnings with zeal and conviction. These recordings are fucking brilliant!
Improvement in production was most likely their main focus and they nailed it! This isn’t your typical “trying to sound dirty, but it’s super clean” extreme metal recording trap so many bands fall into now. Just because you slap an HM2 pedal on everything doesn’t mean it’s filthy or heavy. It’s an art to connect tones that all work with one another to sound like a band playing together instead of different instruments piled upon each other. This new recording is like a raw wound; stinging and vicious. This is the most feral the brothers have sounded in an extremely long time and not two 50+ year old men traveling down memory lane. You just know the blood was pumping hard and the sweat was hitting the ground during the recording. They kept the speed of the original recordings and even some of the original esthetics from back in 85/86. The vocals sound cavernous just like they did originally and it works so well with the new production. Which brings me to the biggest surprise, the songs themselves. As mentioned, I hate the way the originals sound, so I can truthfully say I didn’t put too much time into listening to them. One thing for sure, it really was the sound of those records that irritated me. Now hearing the songs, played exactly the same way they were almost 30 years ago, makes me realize the band was exceptional even at such a young age. I appreciate that the labels that signed them for having the foresight that my ears didn’t. The fucking riffs! They’re all so brutal. Paired with Igor’s primal drumming generates a mood and tension other bands only dream of creating. Granted, all the players are exceedingly more talented than their teenage selves, but I caught so many things that hinted at what was to come on their next few albums that I never recognized previously. These now sound like Sepultura records. Major props to everyone involved in this project. I will still stand against the concept of re-recording, but this is more than a welcomed surprise and shows the reverence the band has for their early work.
Listen to "Bestial Devastation" here.
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