Max Cavalera Is Back To His Roots With His Estranged Brother

"It seems like a waste of time, actually. It doesn't bring anything new to your career," Sepultura guitarist Andreas Kisser said of heritage tours such as Return To Roots. Other members of Sepultura, including former guitarist Max Cavalera, have been around the world performing the bands landmark 1996 LP Roots in its entirety.

Cavalera eventually left the Brazilian metallers during Roots' touring cycle amid much acrimony, but now he is simply enthused to be performing with his formerly estranged sibling (bandmate Iggor). "I really enjoy playing with Iggor, I don't care what they say. I have a great relationship with Iggor right now, I love playing with him and we're celebrating something that we created together, so there's no bad feelings at all about that. A lot of the ideas on Roots were my ideas, and I shouldn't feel bad to go and play [them] live, because those are my ideas anyway. The stuff sounds killer, it sounds just like the record or even better. Some of the songs we play a little different from the record so they fit more like right now."

Conceived partially in the jungles of Brazil ("mixing metal with your culture," as Cavalera says), Roots introduced tribal rhythms and native instrumentation to Sepultura's approach. It also provided a template for Cavalera's next band, the guest-heavy Soulfly, whose eclectic, world music-influenced approach meant the elder Cavalera was afforded the "Bob Marley of metal" tag.

"They're great songs; they stick in people's minds and they're catchy and very powerful songs," he reflects of Roots. "I think that's why this record has survived. It was a controversial album. Not everybody liked it at first, and I think it took a while for some people to get the idea of what we were trying to do. But that was one of our biggest records we ever did, in terms of sales and what the album inspired. It inspired a whole generation of bands like Slipknot, System Of A Down, even black metal from Sweden and Norway somehow was influenced by Roots. Going back to their own roots, Scandinavian Viking roots."

Max and Iggor's Cavalera Conspiracy project will issue new record Psychosis in November. "This one's going to be more thrash," the former reveals. "The record is just a beast." Cavalera embraces the dichotomy of staying creative via new music, while simultaneously celebrating the past through Return To Roots. Given the tour's international success, does he perceive nostalgia in metal to be more potent than ever? "I think so. Some good records are worth it to play.

"There's other bands doing that with other records and we just thought it'd be cool to do it with Roots. We might do other records later, I don't know, it's too early to tell now. We've got a lot of things on our plate, busy with Cavalera and Soulfly next year. But the nostalgic feeling is great. Sometimes I think in your career, in order to go forward you have to step [back] and check out what you did and check out your past. Never forget your roots, never forget your past."