Revisiting one’s past, as bands like In Flames have found, is no easy task. Even albums that have assumed a lesser position in a band’s back catalogue thanks to their production, have their followers and, for every person who finds a scratchy sound off-putting, there’ll be another fan waiting in the wings to claim it’s the best thing a band has ever done. The situation becomes even more complex if the band involved has been subject to some sort of split, as is the case here.
So, what we have here are two early Sepultura releases, re-recorded by the current Cavalera band line up (featuring bassist Igor Amadeus Cavalera and guitarist Daniel Gonzales), issued with one additional track each, and upgraded artwork. To be honest, given that the two releases have long been packaged together (Bestial Devastation is a twenty-minute EP), it does seem a little bit of a kick in the teeth that they’ve been released separately, and at the same price; but, for both long-term fans, and those who overlooked the originals because of their primitive recording, this is a great opportunity to hear some classic Sepultura material, with upgraded sound and cool artwork (courtesy of Eliran Kantor).
Bestial Devastation
Originally issued in 1985, and with the band very much in thrall to venom, Hellhammer and Celtic Frost, Bestial Devastation was a searing, four-track EP (we’ll ignore the brief, churning introduction), that saw Sepultura arrive on the scene with attitude already fully on display. The production, raw and tinny, failed to contain the blur of relentless percussion, barely coherent lyrics, and lightning speed riffs, even adding a primitive atmosphere to proceedings that this new version, as brutal as it is, doesn’t quite match.
However, while Bestial Devastation 2023 may lay lack the air of poverty-stricken desperation that hung over the original, it does have its own attitude, the Cavalera brothers reclaiming their heritage and clearly enjoying every minute of it. The second the title track detonates, with its raging death metal guitars and full-throttle percussion, you can almost feel Max’s huge grin, while Igor is there alongside his brother every step of the way, absolutely battering his kit into submission.
Sensibly, Cavalera (supported by Arthur Rizk) have not veered too far from the production of the originals. While it is clear and clean, it’s not overly processed or modern sounding, showing respect to the originals and serving, more than anything, to highlight the remarkable quality of the song writing. Meanwhile, the fact that Igor is now a titan behind the kit and Max has, er, tuned his guitars, makes all the difference, and the riffs positively leap from the speakers. As a case in point, Antichrist is a ferocious outpouring, rendered no less potent by the passage of time, and now heavily invested with the Cavaleras’ combined skills and experience. Opening in a haze of dirty feedback, the doom-laden intro to Necromancer gives way to some seriously gnarly riffs, while Warriors Of Death reminds us of Max’s love of Hellhammer and Celtic Frost. Most notably, however, despite the familiarity of the material, you find yourself forgetting that this is a re-recording, such is the energy and ferocity of the band’s delivery. The all-too-short EP ends with the newly completed Sext Feira 13, a savage piece that brings the record to a dizzying close. While the riff, remembered by heart, dates back to the fertile period in which the EP was written, the finished arrangement shows that the Cavaleras have lost none of their flair for writing brilliantly brutal death metal in the intervening years.
At twenty minutes, Bestial Devastation is very much a fat-free affair. The quality of the songs has more than stood the test of time and the playing is, as you might expect, exemplary; but as a full-price album, it’s a shame there aren’t any live bonuses included. Nevertheless, whether you’re hearing these tracks for the first time, the most remarkable thing is that the band play like it’s the first time, magically recapturing all the naivety and excitement of a band entering the studio, desperate to find their way to an audience, and it’s impossible not to find yourself succumbing to their dark magic. 8.5/10
Morbid Visions
Having impressed with the delirious, twenty-minute savagery of their Bestial Devastation re-recording, Cavalera’s take on Morbid Visions, Sepultura’s 1986 debut, is no less brutal. With nine songs, the album clocks in at a breathless thirty-seven minutes and, as with the EP, the biggest surprise is the way in which Cavalera have somehow tapped into the youthful brio of the original recordings. Perhaps it’s the sheer excitement of playing songs long buried in the mists of time but, whatever the motivating factor, Max and Igor’s passion for this early chapter in their lives is evident throughout.
The album opens pretty much where Bestial Devastation concluded, in a storm of arcing feedback, before Max unleashes the grimy riff of the title track and we’re off. As fans of the original will know, the album barely lets up and, following the aptly titled Mayhem, all cranium-crushing blast beats and barely coherent vocals, the band unearth an early Sepultura classic in the form of Troops of Doom. Even now, it’s a riff that brings goosebumps to the surface, the pulverising production rendering the track with an unholy clarity that was previously only available via the live version found on 1996’s Roots of Sepultura. The relentless War keeps things going, Max’s acid-soaked gargle giving way to a lyric that neatly predicted the apocalyptic themes that would underpin future classics Arise and Chaos A.D. Next up, the pulverising intro to Crucifixion shows that the young Sepultura were always ahead of the game, even if the track soon devolves into the sort of swirling thrash nightmare that would have the mosh pit heaving with bloodied, sweaty bodies.
One of the album’s darkest cuts, Show Me the Wrath ramps up over a doom-laden riff, while Max lets out a scream of animal intensity. As with the EP, you can’t shake the feeling that you’re listening to some up-and-coming act and, while you can’t deny the quality of the song writing, the real magic is in the interplay between these four musicians and the obvious love they have for the source material. With its heavy Iommi riffing and Tom Warrior vocals, the mid-paced Funeral Rites has a blackened doom feel to it that feels almost impossibly ahead of the time in which it was written. That same viscous groove remains in play for Empire Of the Damned’s opening moments, only for a tumultuous thrash riff to tear through its heart. A brutal finale to the original album, it keeps changing through the gears, powered (as always) by Igor’s simply stunning performance behind the kit and, even discounting the benefit of hindsight, it’s easy to see that Sepultura had something truly special, even in their teens. As with the EP, this re-recording concludes with another newly finished track entitled Burn the Dead, and it’s clear that the simple act of returning to these old riffs energised the brothers to produce something truly crushing.
While, in the wrong hands, the act of re-recording classic material can easily go astray, Cavalera’s take on Morbid Visions is pretty much flawless in execution. While these albums will never replace the originals (and, you’d imagine, neither Max nor Igor would wish them to), they not only highlight the remarkable strength of those early compositions, but they also serve to reconnect Max and Igor with their illustrious past. There’s such passion in their performance, that you get the same chills, even on familiar tracks like Troops of Doom – reminding you once and for all that the true power of music is not in machine-tooled perfection, but in the heart and soul of a band’s performance. 9/10
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