Here’s a somewhat perplexing double bill, with the brothers Cavalera having decided to go back to their, er, roots and re-record the first two Sepultura releases, the Bestial Devastation EP from 1985 and the Morbid Visions album from 1985, each with a “new” track made from unused material from that time. The most perplexing thing about it, perhaps, is that it actually works; the only thing they’ve really updated (apart from the artwork) is the sound, which was of course a lot rougher on the 80s originals, particularly on Morbid Visions… I mean, that sound has its charms for the sort of 80s teenage Satan metal it is, but the new versions do benefit from the improved sound. Otherwise, both records are exactly what you might expect, i.e. 80s teenage Satan metal being revisited in later life by two of the people responsible for it and associates, and fuck me if they don’t just smash both of them out with great vigour.
I just wonder why. Apart from remodelling the Cavalera Conspiracy logo to resemble the old Sepultura one, I don’t think it’s meant as a dig at their old bandmates, and it doesn’t seem to be a Taylor Swift-type situation where’s she’s trying to reclaim her music from Scooter Braun, or a Guns ‘n’ Roses siuation where Axl Rose talked about re-recording Appetite for Destruction to screw the other band members out of royalties. Maybe Max and Iggor did indeed just want to see if they could make the old stuff sound better. Whatever, I like it.
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