Cavalera – "Schizophrenia"

This year, a slighter rectification of slighter problems

Unless you're not following along in the world of metal at all (in which case, welcome to my website!), you'll know that bros. Max and Ig(g)or Cavalera, known for founding legendary metal institution Sepultura and collectively being more Sepultura than that incarnation of Sepultura that has gone by the name "Sepultura" in the last 25 years, took it upon themselves to re-record their old band's horridly produced 1985 debut EP and 1986 debut album. I was pretty stoked about the results. And this year, they've gone and done it again with their old band's 1987 sophomore full-length, "Schizophrenia".

Not that the need is as urgent in this case, though. Because, unlike with its predecessors, it's actually possible to hear what's going on on the original "Schizophrenia" recording. For one, the young Brazilian band had allied themselves with guitarist Andreas Kisser whose playing was more focused and grounded in classical metal so they were able to streamline their songwriting. Apart from that, they'd gotten an actual producer to actually produce their album so you could actually hear what was going on.

Sure, the drums still had some weird mid-tone going on in the toms, and the kick drum still sounded a bit too much like wet cardboard, but this time, they were tighter, clearer, and much more balanced in the mix. And sure, Max's vocals still had a weird reverb going on, but they were fuller and all-round more badass, sounding less like a hoarse old dog and more like an actual monster, and lying closer to the beat instead of tripping over themselves in a vain attempt to keep up with all those pesky broken English syllables. And while the guitars were still a bit on the dry side, the riffs were more distinct rather than a constant, distorted buzzing, and Kisser's solos were much more audible and infinitely more technically impressive than his predecessor's directionless, unfocused noodling.

This re-recording is, overall, still justified. While Sepultura did go all in on the "evil" thrash metal direction of bands like Slayer (in fact, pretty much exclusively like Slayer), shedding the worst unnecessary ideas from their earlier proto-black metal inspirations, the Cavalera reimagining still infuses some more life into those badass slammin' tracks. The clear-cut, malicious Slayer-style guitar figures of opener "From the Past Comes the Storms" (sic!) remain a bit dry, but are bigger and still more clearly defined than on the original. Same thing goes for the drums, much tighter and more punchy, the kick and snare much farther in front in the mix where they belong, and the former finally sounding like distinct punches on tightened animal skin as it should.

However, something that sadly hasn't been fixed is the vocals, still halfway drowning in way too much reverb to be properly audible. They do sound even more badass than on the original, sure. But they're still too far removed from how everything else sounds and behaves.

It's unfortunate, because everything else here just fucking kills. "Schizophrenia" is one of those rare records that keeps on delivering from start to finish; every single new riff and rhythm figure as vicious as the previous one. And it's especially prevalent in this new sonic soundscape, original closer "R.I.P. (Rest in Pain)" being faster and more aggressive than any of the cuts to precede it, every sound board gauge needle dancing around in their red levels. But the re-recording eliminates a lot of that listener inertia that would normally set in for yours truly around "Septic Schizo", both making side 2 a more enjoyable listen and giving each individual track more justification.

"Schizophrenia" is one of those rare records that keeps on delivering from start to finish; every single new riff and rhythm figure as vicious as the previous one.

"Escape to the Void", for example, strangely catchy in itself, has just become a bit catchier. And the impressive instrumental "Inquisition Symphony", clearly inspired by Metallica's "The Call of Ktulu", but seemingly trying to one-up it in terms of both aggression, complexity, and length, now manages to hold my attention from start to finish. Shit, even the acoustic interlude "The Abyss" – now entitled "Abismo" – has been updated: The guitar on the original was hopelessly out of tune; Kisser's attempt at a legato feeling was hopelessly punctuated by several dead strokes; this time around, the mystically arpeggiated chords on top of demonic breathing, howling wind, and crackling fire simply fucking work.

So, to reiterate, it's all the more unfortunate that the vocals here are as OTT reverbed as is the case. Especially because it really shouldn't be that hard; it's just a matter of turning down that damn reverb knob and turning up that damn volume knob so the vocals are the last thing to disappear when turning down the master volume. Shit, this is music production 101; I could fucking do this in less than 1 minute, and I'm not even a sound tech.

Anyway, hella reverbed vocals or not, the re-recording is still worth several spins. If, like me, you appreciated the original, you'll appreciate the effort here. And, just like on last year's re-recordings, this one features a new track, "Nightmares of Delirium", which I'm supposing is also based on an unrecorded song from back then. And just like on last year's re-recordings, this new one also features some more groovy sections than the genre would normally allow for, but without compromising on its raw, metal attitude.

In fact, one thing that's been going through my head while revisiting the original recording is how relatively prevalent the element of groove is, even in early Sepultura, several songs featuring half-time sections that could easily see a crowd jumping da fuck up, as it were. It's interesting how some of the original purveyors of extreme metal, then, have also contributed to its watering-down; how this seems to have been written in the cards all along, and how the whole indigenous Brazilian rhythm tradition may have played a part in this. But I digress.

Rating: 4.5 out of 6

Genre: Thrash metal
Release date: 21/6/2024
Label: Nuclear Blast
Producer: Max + Iggor Cavalera