Cavalera: Schizophrenia (2024, Nuclear Blast)

Talking about Max and Igor Cavalera is talking about two of the most influential musicians on the scene with complete confidence. Their work as members and founders of the famous Brazilian band Sepultura placed them in the spotlight of the scene at a time when extreme metal was making its way as a totally new genre that promised to explore much darker and denser aspects than in their origins.

Their first two releases Bestial Devastation and Morbid Visions offered a sinister version of a decadent society thanks to the explosive combination of a first-time death with thrash overtones that with the arrival of the original Schizophrenia in 1987 became much more refined despite the low production it had. such an album.

This time we have the Cavalera brothers together with guitarist Travis Stone and bassist Igor Amadeus Sorcerer Cavalera – son of Max and nephew of Igor – behind the reinterpretation of their classic Schizophrenia, which also has a renewed cover by the incredible Israeli illustrator Eliran Kantor who already took charge of the two album covers of the Bestial Devastation and Morbid Visions reinterpretations released in 2023 and who has also given life to one of my favorite covers of 2024, that of the brutal Borknagar‘s new album Fall. The cover itself is a pleasant surprise since the original is already part of metal culture but unfortunately it has not aged very well.

As for the album itself, it should be noted that the songs remain the same as the original compositions except that on this occasion a new song is included at the end of the album, Nightmares Of Delirium, which seems to have come directly from the composition sessions of the original album in 1987. I don’t know if Nightmares Of Delirium had been in the pipeline for a while but I can say that it could easily be on the original album. As for the album itself, we can say that this new version has been very good since Schizophrenia‘s production left a lot to be desired.

I understand that the means with which it was carried out then were those they had available and the album itself already sounded authentic then but with this facelift it has gained many points since being able to enjoy songs like To The Wall or Septic Schizo with a production at its height makes us imagine what this great album could have been like at the time if it had been mixed at Morrisound Studios as was done with Beneath The Remains or with Arise, which was recorded directly there.

I don’t know if Cavalera plans to re-record Sepultura‘s later albums, although I believe I have read on several occasions that their original plans were only to take charge of the first albums whose production did not seem to fit with what its members would have wanted at the time. In any case, although people are quite reluctant to have certain albums recorded again, I am one of those who believe that what you don’t want to see or hear you can simply ignore and this is an opportunity for all of us who want to see or hear something different although ultimately it is the same. As for me, I will be happy to welcome any album that the Cavalera brothers want to record again, whether it be the devastating Beneath The Remains or the one that will always be my favorite, Arise.