IGOR CAVALERA Says He And Brother MAX Were Not Thinking About 'Roots' While Recording New CAVALERA CONSPIRACY Album

Psychosin of That Metal Station's "The Psychosin Project" conducted an interview with former SEPULTURA and current CAVALERA CONSPIRACY drummer Igor Cavalera. You can listen to the entire chat below. A few excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On the death metal-inspired direction of CAVALERA CONSPIRACY's new album, "Psychosis":

Igor: "It's how it came out. Every CAVALERA [album] we do, it really reflects the state of mind that me and Max [Cavalera, vocals/guitar] are in. This album is no different. It's like the intention, it's whatever we feel at the time, so sometimes it can be this, in a few months, it can change, so it's what we're feeling right now musically."

On what he hopes "Psychosis" will achieve for CAVALERA CONSPIRACY:

Igor: "It's hard to say. Every record we put out, of course you have an expectation of people enjoying it as much as we do. That's the main thing. We really enjoyed making the record and how it sounds. Whatever happens afterward, it's a consequence. We try not to, on anything we've done in our whole career, since the '80s, we never tried to pump ourselves too much to make you think that it's going to be better or worse than the other albums. Again, we really like what we did and hope people will get the same vibe."

On whether he and Max had a "laser-beam" focus while writing "Psychosis":

Igor: "No, that's not the case. With us, it's usually me and Max exchanging a lot of demos and riffs and drumbeats, then we don't do much of jamming. We go into the studio and try to capture out of all those ideas, we try to put together songs out of it."

On his advice for new bands getting their start in the music industry:

Igor: "I think it's a good time in the sense that back in the days, a lot of the bands, they had a dream of signing with a label and a label doing all of these things for bands, where nowadays, I think a lot of that stuff has been cut off where you can expose your music through different channels. Back in the day, the only channel you had was a record, a vinyl. So nowadays, with YouTube and other stuff, you can start promoting yourself in a certain way. That's quite positive. The only advice is to be true to yourself, then things eventually will happen."

On whether the "Return To Roots" tour, which saw Max and Igor celebrating the 20th anniversary of SEPULTURA's classic album "Roots" by performing the LP in its entirety, inspired CAVALERA CONSPIRACY's latest output:

Igor: "I think it was quite the opposite. There's nothing on this record that reminds me of 'Roots'. So, I think the fact we revisited 'Roots', somehow, it's almost like when you do a side project, then you don't need to do certain things in a different project. Let's say, you feel like doing a ballad. Sometimes it doesn't really fit. Then, you could have a side project that fits something like that. It works. So, I think it was positive in the sense that we did 'Roots' where it was something we've done and then it was time to do 'Psychosis', our mind was not really into 'Roots', it was somewhere else."

On playing all of "Roots" 20 years after its original release:

Igor: "It's fun. It is a really cool exercise for any musician, then of course, as a fan, I go to see certain bands that I didn't have a chance to see when they're out. Even BLACK FLAG, who is a band I grew up listening to in Brazil. I had the second chance to see them just last year. If they didn't do what we did with 'Return To Roots', I wouldn't have had the chance to see it. As a fan, I think it's a really cool thing."

On his greatest achievement:

Igor: "The best achievement for me and [definition] of success, is what we do. It is being able to survive and provide for our families with our music. I have a lot of friends who are amazing musicians and sometimes they do have to have a different job to support [their families]. They cannot live only with music. I know how hard that is. For me, that's success, already. Then, all the stuff that doesn't go as well, I think you just learn from it. They're all necessary to build your career. It's the same as a human being and life. If you don't learn from your mistakes, then you're really in trouble."

"Psychosis" was released on November 17 via Napalm Records. The disc, which was produced by the Cavaleras' longtime friend Arthur Rizk, was recorded primarily at a studio in Phoenix, Arizona.