Myth Number 1: Sepultura would be
better with the return of Max Cavalera
By Chris Davison
The Myth:
To some, the be-dread locked, be-gaffa-taped form of
walking crust-beast Max Cavalera will forever be the
living embodiment of Sepultura. I am certainly not going
to deny that he was the voice of a band that released
some brilliant, absolutely classic albums: Beneath The
Remains, Arise and Schizophrenia are all some of my
favourite albums. These same fans who declare that Max
Cavalera was the one true and sole voice of an effective
Sepultura are the same fans that no longer buy or listen
to their most recent output.
The Truth:
Max Cavalera couldn’t write a good tune if he was held
up at gunpoint. Seriously, does anyone on the earth
actually like Soulfly tunes? Or do they all turn up at
their gigs hoping to get a listen to his ever-rotating
band of third raters play out of tune, out of time old
Sepultura tracks? Thought so. Here’s another fact for
you – the final pair of studio albums under his helm
were both shit. Roots? Listen to a once proud band
trying to sound like every other Korn / Coal Chamber nu-metal
outfit, and worryingly succeeding. Chaos AD? Chaos AD is
a crock of utter pants wrapped up in a dog-dirt naan
bread. The “songs” on there may well be anthemic, but
they do not hold up under repeated listens. Compare the
positively anaemic song quality of “Territory” to, let’s
say, “Murder” or “Altered State” from Arise. There is no
comparison. The sad truth is that Max Cavalera hasn’t
put his name to a decent track since 1991 – that’s
almost twenty years trading on the success of his name.
“Yeah, but new Sepultura are shit”, will be the most
common riposte. Firstly, “new Sepultura” have been
releasing albums consistently since 1998. Secondly,
while their first couple of albums were of shaky
quality, much of this was the result of the band trying
to undo the mess that they had gotten into with the
risible “Roots”. Every album they have produced since
has contained at least four songs that knock anything
from the simplistic Chaos A.D. spark -the -fuck out.
They also released the frankly brilliant “Dante XXI”
(the best, most complex Sepultura album since Arise and
one of the best albums of the last decade or so) and the
intriguing A-Lex, which is slowly growing on me. Live?
Live, Derrick Green is the consummate professional, and
Sepultura are a much more satisfying prospect to watch
now that the crowd isn’t being exhorted to “fuck shit
up” every ten bloody minutes.
For those of you who are still nay-saying, I issue this
challenge. Play “Cavalera Conspiracy” and then play
“A-Lex” era Sepultura. The real myth? That Sepultura
need any Cavalera.
