Former SEPULTURA and current SOULFLY frontman Max Cavalera shared his thoughts on PANTERA‘s reunion.
As previously reported, PANTERA surviving members, Philip Anselmo and Rex Brown, reformed the band with Zakk Wylde on guitar (from OZZY OSBOURNE and BLACK LABEL SOCIETY) and Charlie Benante on drums (from ANTHRAX).
Max Cavalera, who has been performing with his brother, a former SEPULTURA drummer Igor Cavalera, for several years, expressed his opinion on the return of PANTERA in an interview with Thomas S. Orwat, Jr. of Rock Interview Series.
Max said: “There’s two sides for that, right?! It’s so tough, because [on] one hand I understand that the fans wanna see it, and you still have somewhat a big part of that band, but you are missing two key elements on the brothers that are irreplaceable, in my eyes. So it’s tough. It’s really tough.”
“The only thing that maybe… It’s a little bit strange that they call it PANTERA. It should be called some kind of tribute to PANTERA — I think,” he continued. “It would have been a little bit more of a tribute to those songs and to that era. Because I don’t really think it’s PANTERA without the brothers.”
Last month, Max sat down for an interview with the “Appetite For Distortion” podcast to discuss the PANTERA comeback. He said at the time: “I think it’s cool that they’re doing that. I do something very similar with my brother, where we go out and we play a lot of SEPULTURA albums that the fans really love it and they never got the chance to see it, for one reason or another. And they get to see it with the real drums and the real vocals and the real guitar. So it’s the closest you get to the real thing. And PANTERA is the same thing.
“Yeah, I’m friends with all of those guys [in PANTERA],” he continued. “And I’ve been friends with Phil for many years. I actually thanked him for letting me borrow his guitar player. Mike DeLeon is jamming with us [in SOULFLY]. He plays with [PHILIP H. ANSELMO & THE] ILLEGALS, with Phil Anselmo, for many, many years. So I thanked Phil for letting me borrow his guitar player.”
According to Billboard, the lineup has been given a green light by the estates of the band’s founders, drummer Vincent “Vinnie Paul” Abbott and guitarist “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott, as well as Brown, who last year said Wylde wouldn’t tour with PANTERA if a reunion were to happen. It’s unclear what changed his mind.
