Sepultura released Morbid Visions in Brazil on November 10, 1986, through Cogumelo Records. Their debut full-length followed the Bestial Devastation EP and included “Troops of Doom,” a song the musicians would revisit as their playing and recording experience grew. Guitarist Jairo Guedz played alongside vocalist and guitarist Max Cavalera and drummer Iggor Cavalera during this early chapter.
The opportunity came through a record shop. In a 1991 interview with Deathcheese, republished by Disposable Underground, Max recalled that Cogumelo’s owners approached Sepultura after seeing them perform. The shop was expanding into a label, and the band accepted its offer to record an EP.
Moving up to a full album didn’t mean having much time to make it. The sessions took a week, using 16-track recording equipment. Max described the result enthusiastically in a 1987 interview with Slayer fanzine, later excerpted by Todestrieb Records: he considered the songs heavier and faster than the EP and felt the recording was an improvement. His ambition extended beyond getting another record into Brazilian shops. He wanted the album released internationally and believed the band’s songs could stand alongside those coming from outside Brazil.
With experience, he became more candid about what had gone wrong. In that 1991 interview, Max explained that he had recorded guitar parts on successive days without checking his tuning against the previous session. “The whole Morbid Visions album is out of tune,” he said. He still defended the songs, separating his frustration with the production from his belief that the material worked live.
“Troops of Doom” had roots in an earlier guitar lesson Max had set himself. Speaking to Guitar World in 2025, he recalled being determined to learn Black Sabbath’s “Heaven and Hell” as a beginner, even though it was a difficult starting point. Learning that riff helped inspire the Sepultura song. That connection gives a specific reference point for one of the debut’s central tracks: a young guitarist working through a favorite record and carrying what he learned into his own music.
Sepultura returned to “Troops of Doom” for a later edition of Schizophrenia. Max explained in 1991 that a request for a bonus track coincided with the band enjoying the song’s revised live arrangement. They went back into the studio to record it, giving the composition another life as their approach developed.
Guedz’s departure and the arrival of Andreas Kisser had already changed the band’s guitar partnership for Schizophrenia, released in 1987. Morbid Visions captures the band before that transition, with the original versions of “War,” “Crucifixion” and “Troops of Doom” preceding the more experienced musicians’ revisions.
The Cavalera brothers eventually revisited the entire album. Released through Nuclear Blast on July 14, 2023, their new recording under the Cavalera name retained its eight songs and added “Burn the Dead.” Max told Guitar World that the goal was to hear what those early compositions could become with better playing and production. The brothers also rerecorded Bestial Devastation, returning to both releases that had begun their recording history.
