Max Cavalera Says Pantera Is Not The Same Without The Brothers

Max Cavalera, ex-member of Sepultura and current frontman for Soulfly, gave his opinion on the reunion of Pantera.

As had been previously noted, Philip Anselmo and Rex Brown, the surviving members of Pantera, brought the band back together with Zakk Wylde from Ozzy Osbourne and Black Label Society on guitar and Charlie Benante from Anthrax on drums.

Cavalera expressed his opinion on the return of Pantera in an interview with Thomas S. Orwat, Jr. of Rock Interview Series.

“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,” Max said.

“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,” Cavalera added. “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 was interviewed by the “Appetite For Distortion” where he talked about the return of Pantera.

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 PAANTERA],” 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.”