ALBUM REVIEW: Bestial Devastation & Morbid Visions – Cavalera
Over the last couple of years, Max and Iggor Cavalera have spent their time touring the world in support of SEPULTURA‘s most fertile years, first playing 1996’s Roots in full, then 1989’s Beneath The Remains and 1991’s Arise back to back in one night. The shows have been a grand success and it’s therefore no surprise that the brothers have gone even deeper back into their history, all the way back nearly four decades to the very first releases by their most successful outfit. Bestial Devastation and Morbid Visions were the debut EP and full-length by SEPULTURA, released in 1985 and 86 respectively. Although important in many ways, the poor production and the band’s basic knowledge of the English language hampered the records, which goes a way to explaining why they’ve often paled in comparison to the rest of the discography…until now. Max and Iggor have given the records a new coat of paint, both in terms of the recording and artwork, and are re-releasing the albums under the name CAVALERA on Friday July 14th via Nuclear Blast.
Re-recording music is a risky business in any genre, but especially in metal where fans can get very attached to a release and cry foul at any attempt at what they would perceive as ‘cleansing’, but CAVALERA aren’t fools, and they’ve ensured the aggression and unbridled chaos that SEPULTURA had at the time is very much still the focal point. Let’s start with Bestial Devastation, back when Max and Iggor were going by the – in retrospect, laughable – names of Possessor and Skullcrusher. Despite the fresher mix, you can still hear all of the influences, most notably the sounds of black metal within the title track, the breakneck thrash in Antichrist and the hardcore punk of BLACK FLAG and S.O.D in Necromancer; there’s also an unreleased song on the end, Sexta Feira 13 (Friday 13th). Curiously, the lyrics – which weren’t well translated at the time – have been left alone despite the brothers’ excellent English nowadays, although to mess with them might have been a step too far.
When Morbid Visions came round a year later, the language barrier still remained and Max would later admit that the band neglected to tune their guitars during the recording, making for a poorly produced record. This has naturally been rectified, and the result is dynamite. Songs like Troops Of Doom and Crucifixion roar out of the speakers, full to the brim with the piss-and-vinegar vitriol that made SEPULTURA so beloved in the first place, but now with the added clout of a more crisp sound that allows for great impact. Here is where the famous groove of the band really begins to take shape, like the middle of the title track, yet there’s still enough of the extreme metal touches of Bestial Devastation to not be a full-blown departure.
The CAVALERA brothers are heavy metal royalty, and the re-releases of two seminal pieces of their history has reiterated that fact. Where once the records might have stumbled, now they run freely, taking no prisoners and leaving no trace of survivors. Re-recordings seldom work out this well, but when they do, it’s a joy to behold.
Rating: 8/10
Morbid Visions and Bestial Devastation are both set for release on July 14th via Nuclear Blast Records.
Like CAVALERA on Facebook.