Go Ahead And Die: Music, Family & Coping Mechanisms

GO AHEAD AND DIE have just brought out their second album Unhealthy Mechanisms and it is a fearsome collection of groove heavy thrash metal anthems that are influenced throughout by punk and hardcore. The band who consist of Igor Amadeus Cavalera (who handles vocals/guitar and bass on the new record), his father Max Cavalera (guitar/vocals) and new drummer Johnny Valles don’t let up over the length of their new record and the results are nothing less than devastating.

We kick things off with Igor telling us how good it feels for GO AHED AND DIE to be back with Unhealthy Mechanisms and how the band have developed since their debut album. “The first album was a lot of fun, and with this one we, pushed some boundaries and explored some new areas. To be honest, I like this one even more. I think we really refined the sound and bringing in a new drummer was a good call. We have new song structures, new lyrical ideas and we really have ventured into some new stuff on this one.” 

When asked if he felt any pressure following up such a well received debut album, Igor told us about how the band felt and how they overcame any worries about it. “A little bit. The debut album got good reviews, it was very well received. and trying to get lightning to strike twice can be kind of difficult sometimes. But I think we built upon the ideas we already had, and it came off really well. Once we heard the songs, a lot of that nervousness went away and we were really stoked on it. Some people call it the sophomore slump, that can be hard for a lot of bands to get over their debut, but I think we did it really well, and I think this one’s even better personally.” 

Igor expanded on the sound of the album by detailing about the lyrical content of the album and how it retained the rawness of their debut. “I think lyrically, it was much darker. The first album had more of a political standpoint to it, but this album dives more into the decline in mental health and things like that. That darkness changed the sound of the record a little bit, an I think even with the production, we cleaned it up just a little bit without making too polished. We still wanted to be raw and sound like an intense, live recording type thing. It has this really cool sound and the production on the album is something that I’m really proud of.” 

Expanding on the lyrical themes of the album, when asked about the importance of talking about mental health issues, Igor replies passionately. “Oh, absolutely, because personally, it’s something that almost everybody can relate to, no matter where you are in the world, or where you are in life, you can still struggle with these things. Depression doesn’t discriminate. Anxiety doesn’t discriminate. I think it’s very relatable and I do think in this day and age with things like social media, being able to see what’s going on in the world, realising how bad it is out there for certain people, and then even going through your own personal experiences. It was an outlet for me, personally, to talk about how I feel, and for my dad, what he contributed to it, it’s something that everybody struggles with. I think it’s cool for bands to go into those categories.”

As it turns out, the title of the record is a reference to what we just discussed as Igor explains. “Unhealthy Mechanisms as a whole is just the unhealthy ways that we cope with. It’s those messed up ways that we deal with our feelings, and the messed up ways that we tackle anger and depression, so to me, that was the perfect name for the album. It encompassed everything we were talking about, all at once.” 

Talk then turned to Igor again working with his father Max on the music of GO AHEAD AND DIE and the importance of showing each other new music as well as he enthused. “Oh, it’s great. We both have a huge catalogue of things that we know, but I know things that he doesn’t know, he knows things that I don’t. It’s sort of like homework almost, We show each other stuff that we’re getting into, and when it came to actual writing, it was very nice, because he actually gave me a lot of the control. He didn’t overpower me, which was nice, because he has his reputation, he has his credentials, he has the power to come in and call the shots and make the executive decisions, but he actually let me do all of that! That was a very nice feeling because it was almost a feeling of trust, and a bonding type of thing where he was really digging the ideas I was having.” 

We end this great chat with Igor enthusing about getting back to the UK and how much that means to him and the band. “I love the UK. I love the scene out there. The shows are always great, and it’s gonna be cool to go with CAVALERA and the Morbid Visions material, but I definitely hope that GO AHEAD AND DIE does as well next year. I think people would really appreciate this music live, this stuff is very inspired by UK crust punk as well, so I think it would all just make sense for us to get over there.”

Unhealthy Mechanisms is out now via Nuclear Blast Records.

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