Over the course of his career fronting Sepultura, Max Cavalera helped to create some of the best albums to ever come out of heavy metal. Over the past few years, some of those records have been celebrating, or are close to celebrating major anniversaries – Beneath the Remains and Arise have passed their 30th anniversary, respectively, and Roots is close to turning 30.
A Sepultura album that celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, and holds a very special place in Cavalera’s heart, is Chaos A.D. During a recent conversation with Radioactive MikeZ of 96.7 KCAL-FM’s Wired In The Empire, Cavalera talked about how much he cherishes his past Sepultura work, and in particular, spoke very highly of Chaos A.D.
When it comes to Chaos A.D., Cavalera believes that it is a “defining moment in metal” and is a record that “broke the mold” regarding how metal can be made. Per Cavalera (as transcribed by Blabbermouth):
“Those albums, to me, they’re kind of like kids. I like to celebrate their birthdays. I almost feel like I need to buy a cake and have a real birthday party on the day that the thing came out.
“Nah, I think we celebrate through the music, ’cause we’re doing all these cool tours of celebrating the music. Of course I’m not saying we’re gonna do a ‘Chaos A.D.‘ one, but if it happens, it’ll be really cool. This year is also 25 years of [the debut album from] Soulfly, and those are two really close-to-my-heart records, both of them.
“‘Chaos A.D.‘ opens with [my son] Zyon’s heartbeat. It’s a very special record. It’s almost like a defining moment in metal, one of those records that kind of broke the mold, how metal can be. Because before ‘Chaos A.D.‘ everything was super fast and aggressive, and I think with ‘Chaos A.D.‘ we showed there’s another way to make aggressive music, that’s a little bit slower and more groove oriented, with stuff like ‘Territory’ and ‘Slave New World’ and ‘Refuse/Resist’.
“I’m super proud of those records — super proud. Let’s see what happens. I don’t have [anything] concrete yet. Right now I’m just celebrating them like everybody else — just enjoy that they exist in my life, and very happy that I got to be part of making records like that.”
Do you agree with Max Cavalera? Do you think that Chaos A.D. is a defining moment in metal?
If you are interested in hearing the whole conversation Cavalera took part in, you can listen to it below.
When Max Cavalera Got Arrested at a Rage Against the Machine Show
How Paul Gray Impressed Max Cavalera When They First Met
