Sepultura vocalist/guitarist Max Cavalera told Holland edition Aardschok/Metal Hammer in April 1991: "'Altered State' is one of my personal favorites on Arise. The song starts with this typical South American intro and it's the first time we use something like that in a song. The song itself also shows a lot of South American influences. Just let it surprise you! Andreas did some really original work on 'Altered State.' My singing is different too, maybe you kinda have to get used to it. We wrote the lyrics because of the movie Altered States, which is a movie about the results of experimentation on the human brain." >>