Authored by MAX CAVALERA and Joel McIver, My Bloody Roots is the brutally honest story of life in two of the world's best-known heavy metal bands, SEPULTURA and SOULFLY. An excerpt from the book is available below:

"Losing my dad had a lot to do with me drinking so much. It was to fill a void. When I drank I felt different: I liked the high that you got from the booze. Music sounded better when you were drunk, and food tasted better. It’s true: when you hear a record when you’re wasted, that shit sounds so fucking badass. You listen to SLAYER real loud when you’re drunk: it sounds great, man. And when you listen to your own music drunk, it sounds great too: you’re like ‘I can’t believe that’s us’. I used to listen to Arise at full volume in the back of the bus and think ‘Listen to that vocal. This is fucking great!’

Booze was always there, both when I was a kid and as an adult. I especially loved vodka. Later, when I got married I switched from vodka to wine, which felt like a good choice of beverage. It helped me chill out at night, but first I drank a bottle and then I switched to two bottles. That became my rider, so after every Sepultura show I’d be wasted on two bottles of that shit. Despite this, a lot of the people who toured with me never actually got to see me getting really fucked up – apart from a couple of rare occasions.

I was definitely pretty wild back then. I got in a car wreck once. I had a white Fiat, which I saved money to buy for a couple of years. I went out one night in this car and I watched A Clockwork Orange on TV in a bar in Belo, while getting loaded on booze. I was thinking ‘This is the best fucking movie ever. I want to be one of those fucking guys!’ because I loved the violence.

I hung a huge poster in my room from that film alongside my Slayer, MORBID ANGEL and DEATH posters. The violence of it made a huge impact on me. It’s a metal movie, essentially. I was surprised when Sepultura later recorded an album based on A Clockwork Orange, because the other guys didn’t like it at the time. I would watch it, but they showed no interest in it. Very strange.

So I watched this movie and at three o’clock in the morning, it was time to go home. It was raining, and my conscience was telling me, ‘Get somebody to drive you home’. But the evil side of my conscience told me, ‘Fuck that! Drive home, motherfucker’. I went with the bad one – the wrong one – and right away I was driving along, zigzagging along the road. I was really, really drunk, man: wasted. A turn came, and the car just did a fucking 360 on the road and hit a wall. I looked out of the car and there was a huge church, right there, staring at me. It was three in the morning, I was standing there by myself, and the whole front of my car was completely destroyed.

I was looking at the church and I was mad at it. I was thinking to myself, ‘Why did I have to hit a church? Why the fuck are you in my way, church?’ I was blaming the church for my wreck. It was hilarious, now I come to think of it. I got out of the car and I was flipping off the church, shouting ‘Fuck you, motherfucker!’ I wasn’t injured apart from a bloody nose, but the car was trashed. No cops came, which was lucky. I managed to restart the car and drive it home, in a terrible condition."

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Much, much more than just another tale of rock 'n' roll debauchery, it's a story of heartbreak and loss - and, ultimately, triumph. In it, Cavalera offers an unflinching account of life growing up in hardship in Brazil; a country not previously known for heavy metal and the multi-million-selling success, against all odds, of the band he founded with his brother, Iggor: Sepultura. Then, for the first time, he reveals the full story behind his split with the band after which he did not speak to his brother for years and the formation of his band Soulfly. He also goes into unflinching detail on the devastating impact of the deaths of his father, stepson, and grandson; his struggles with drugs and alcohol; and his eventual reunion with Iggor in CAVALERA CONSPIRACY. Max Cavalera has a unique and extraordinary story to tell, and My Bloody Roots is an autobiography like no other.