In a recent conversation with Australia's Heavy, former Sepultura guitarist and vocalist Max Cavalera opened up about the decision he and his brother, ex-Sepultura drummer Igor "Iggor" Cavalera, made to revisit the band's early recordings. They chose to re-record some of their earliest works — Morbid Visions and Bestial Devastation— and pair them with a refreshed version of Schizophrenia, the first album recorded with guitarist Andreas Kisser.
Max explained the reasoning behind this bold move: "[It was] kind of like a chance to do it again, but do it better, kind of not really fix the mistakes, ‘cause I think the mistakes were kind of cool, but make the stuff sound better. We had a chance to have better guitar, better drum sound, a better studio, surrounded by knowledgeable metal people that know how to record this stuff.
"None of those things were available when we made those records in Brazil. We were on our own. The engineers didn't know what to do, and it was like no man's land making these records in Brazil. So we had a chance to redo them and redo them the way we envisioned them to sound. So the re-recordings is the way we, as musicians, think they should sound like, the re-recordings — that's the proper way that we envisioned those songs. Even as kids, we were hoping to get the sound that we got on the re-recordings; this is what we were shooting for in the first place. So it's really cool that we get the chance to do that."
Max went on to discuss how many bands don't get the opportunity to do something like this—or when they try, they don't succeed in recapturing the original energy. He explained, "A lot of bands don't have the chance, don't try it or they try and they fail. They don't keep the energy and the anger of the original. We kept all that in check. We made sure it stays pissed. It's full of piss and vinegar all the way through. So I think that's why a lot of people love the re-recordings, man. The fans fricking love the re-recordings, and it's really well received around the world."
Reflecting on whether those albums would have been received differently had they been recorded with better equipment in the 1980s, Max had this to say: "We never had a manual how to do this stuff. We did it on the fly. They call it, you're gonna wing it, you're just gonna do it by trial and error. And that's the beauty of these records — they were full of stuff that really comes out of nowhere. Like, what I was thinking when I made this riff; this riff is crazy. What the hell was I thinking? But it's beautiful, man. It's cool. It shows that even at the age of 14, 15, I had that metal in my veins. I had that wild metal flowing through my blood, and I just went for it. And now I have a chance to revisit, as an older person, and still get the same enjoyment from these albums that I got it when I was a kid. It's an incredible feeling."
Max continued to express his gratitude for being able to relive these formative experiences: "You get to do this. I feel very fortunate, me and my brother, we are able to celebrate our past through these albums and get to play them live for people. It's an incredible feeling."
The new versions of Morbid Visions, Bestial Devastation, and Schizophrenia were recorded with some familiar faces, including Pig Destroyer's Travis Stone on lead guitar. The lineup was further bolstered by Igor Amadeus Cavalera, who contributed bass duties as part of the Go Ahead and Die and Healing Magic projects.
The recording of the revamped Schizophrenia took place between April and June of 2023 at Focusrite Room in Mesa, Arizona, with the album being mixed and mastered by Arthur Rizk (known for his work with Soulfly, Go Ahead and Die, and Turnstile). Additionally, the iconic original album cover artwork was restored in hand-painted watercolors by Eliran Kantor.
