Chaos is still my favorite from them, there really isn't another record that sounds like that to this day. I was lucky enough to see them twice on that tour cycle. Once headlining with Fear Factory, Clutch and Fudge Tunnel, and then opening for Pantera and Biohazard. Great memories from back then.
Peanut Butter platypus! Ok, guys, not only I absolutely adore all the bands you talk about, in any kind of "genre", but thank you also for your "tangents", I am still laughing so much (after walking home after a few pints...! 😂) while I'm writing this message! Seriously love you Guys! Please carry on...forever! 😅
This was awesome and very entertaining. This might be my favorite episode yet. Arise beneath the remains and chaos a.d. or even schizophrenia could easily be number#1.
Finnaly the top 3: 3) The Mediator Between Head And Hands Must Be The Heart: While recording The Mediator (let's abreviate it for obvious reasons... yeah, it's a sentence taken from Metropolis but wouldn't "The Mediator Between Head And Hands" suffice? ) Sep's site released a video diary where the band would share their impressions. Summing up all interventions there were two major things the band promised: this would be Sepultura's heaviest record ever made and that Eloy Casagrande's first recording behind the kit was going to be something out of this world. And man... did they stuck to their word. Trauma of War begins with a static sound a la Napalm Death's Harmony Corruption and erupts into a blistering behemoth that, from the first time I listened to it, entered directly to my top 10 Sepultura songs of all time. Racing through a non speed limit modern Death-thrash lane, this brilliant opener shows us 3 traits that The Mediator carries from start to finish: a) this stuff is indeed insanely heavy without sounding dated. One can even find some early Gojira influences here and there, b) on the other hand re-hiring Ross Robinson kinda backfired: the production is loud, sludgy and noisy and Derricks voice is treated with too much distortion and c) Eloy Casagrande... what the hell is that guy doing? What is this? There are no words to describe the onslaught of fury, complexity, mastery and diversity this dude's performance reaches. After an eerie intro The Vatican thrashes in at full speed revealing an 100% pure Death Metal bridge. This stuff is really unlike anything the band as ever made: dark and dense as a black hole. Impending Doom and Tsunami are slower but that seems to underline even more the heaviness the boys were sure to convey to this beast of a record. Manipulation of Tragedy sounds like something taken out of Arise that went through a severe steroid treatment. Once again Eloy is the star here displaying an infinite array of jaw breaking lines ranging from blast beats to batucada. The Bliss Of Ignorants is something that could easily fit in 1993's Chaos AD with gorgeous tribal drums and an infectious and heavy groove. Finally Obessessed closes the record as it started: full speed and heaviness in a claustrophobic dark ambiance with the colaboration of non other than Dave Lombardo himself. As bonus we're presented with another mix of groove and sheer weight in Stagnate State of Affairs and two covers, the first a ethno rocker from Chico Science & Nação Zumbi and Death's classic Zombie Ritual (both preformed in a stellar fashion). Make no mistake: The Mediator is simply put one of the best albums of its genre recorded in this century. Only that way it would enter my all time Sepulura podium. (9/10) ... and there's a tie at the top: 1a) Arise: After taking the world by surprise, Sepultura had a huge quandary on their hands: how to record an album as good as Beneath The Remains. The line to thread was really thin: on one hand a clone would surely sound forced and the probabilities to reach Beneath's impact while doing so would be slim. On the other hand the band couldn't depart too much from the thrash genre because after all they were still new comers among metal's elite numbers. The answer to these questions would be Arise. And it would be a super intelligent answer that spoke volumes about the band's abilities as composers. The title track serves as a furious introduction to the apocalyptic landscapes explored throughout the entire record. The structure and pace are quite similar to the opening of the previous album and so, while being on hell of a tune, nothing really new. Dead Embryonic Cells follows and this is where Sepultura starts to thread new ground. The tempo is slower and more intense, but it's Andreas Kisser's dissonant tones sparkled here and there that come as an absolute innovation (that would define the band's guitar style especially in their following album). Desperate Cry also unveils new weaponry: After a somber acoustic intro the song goes from something that reminds Innerself's verses to a double bass death metal chorus. Then it wanders through various dissimilar ambiances that in the end fit together perfectly. It somehow finds space to insert the same acoustic intro after an uptempo thrash bridge only to burst into a strobbing hertas display, closing with a crushing Death Metal slow grinding double bass. And while songs like Murder, Subtraction and Infected Voice are more or less straight up thrashers, the remainder of the tunes continue to explore new venues while mixing it with old landscapes. Altered States' excellent prologue begins with tribal percussion (another trait that would stick forever since to Sepultura's sound and would be explored to the maximum in future albums) giving way to an intense rumbling entrance covered once again with Andreas' dissonant guitar that bursts into a Ministry like riffage mixed with the familiar Sepulthrash blueprint. Under Siege (Regnum Irae) recovers Desperate Cry's recipe acoustic guitar and is equally intense (those reverse echoing spoken words give this song one hell of an ambiance) while Meaningless Movements dwells in a perfect balance between Thrash, Groove and Death Metal. All in all what Sepultura reveal an obsessive attention to detail and maturity almost unthinkable on a band composed by musicians that young. Theypumped the brakes a bit on this classic record (despite having a fair share of fast songs) but got way heavier, intense, while bringing new elements and flavors to their sound making a decisive step forward on defining their sound in a marvelous way. And these last two factors are decisive while choosing Arise as Sep's finest moment in exequo with its follower. (9.25/10) 1b) Chaos AD: By 1993 Sepultura were already without shadow of doubt one of metal's big names. Another undisputed fact is that rock and heavy music were changing. Propelled in one hand by the Seattle scene and on the other by a new breed of surging metal tendencies, the 90's were definitely a decade that brought new sub genres to the table (normally by mixing others). Aware of all these aspects as they have always been, Sepultura knew they should evolve their sound even more if they wanted to remain on top of metal's game. So no wonder Chaos AD came out to be one of the most unique metal albums ever recorded. A powerful batucada rhythm opens the hostilities and gives way to the what I consider to be the perfect riot soundtrack in the form of Refuse Resist, a simple yet brutal mid tempo grinder featuring everything an anthem demands, including a somehow hardcore vibe that would linger throughout the majority of the album. Territory kicks in and so do the tribal drumming once again. By now one can also notice a strong influence of industrial metal bands like Godflesh and Ministry, both in Kisser's dissonant tones and in the overall strongly marked pace. And by the time straight out hard core Slave New World ends, we easily come to the conclusion this is not a mere death-thrash album but something that picks traits from the said genre in equal parts with many others (some I've already alluded to) and builds an immense and heavy as hell wall of sound. Also this record is almost devoid of uptempo speedsters (with the exception of Biotech Is Godzilla), showing a preference in mowing our eardrums in a slower and yet more effective way. Amen's ambiance is simply apocalyptic while Kaiwoas is a curious venture into native Brazilian music and also a heartfelt tribute. Propaganda and Nomad outline even more Sepultura's new found identity while being as heavy as fantastic. We Who Are Not As Others works wonders as a protesting rant with a choral ensemble that assumes cinematic proportions while Manifest is dangerously close to Ministry's at its best, denouncing the Carandiru massacre. After a superbly "Sepulturized" version of The Hunt by punk veterans NMA, the album comes to a close with another dissonant megalith in the form of Clenched Fist. Chaos AD marked without shadow of doubt a parting of waters for the band. And I'm not talking about the inevitable fact of their popularity increasing even further or obvious growth outside Death/Thrash boundaries. The most important step Sepultura took was from being an excellent yet somewhat easy to label band to something that got influences from several sounces while building unmistakable identity and would influence a myriad of bands. This my friends is something you can say about a really small number of acts. And Sepulura achieved it in a masterful fashion. That's how good this record is. (9.25/10)
I've got a big... ... ... ... ... amount of gratitude for more delightful content 😊 & looking forward to the silverchair episode (diversity incarnate, as you said) Fondest regards, as always, good Sirs 🙌
1:37:39 I have just finished reading Max's autobiography and he describes the recording session for Kiowas in detail. They recorded the whole Chaos AD in Wales and at some point Max suggested recording that song in a castle (pretty much a ruin) somewhere around. He told Andy Wallace (producer of the record) about that idea and he liked it. He organised a power supply system, took a small console, mics and set everything inside the castle. The castle didn't have any roof or windows, they played the whole track live and when they stopped after that disorganised intro you can hear the seagulls because it was right next to the sea and all the sounds/noises were coming through the roof and windows. What you hear is a one take. Love Sepultura to death, you made a great video (both parts) taking your time, discussing everything in the way it should be. Chaos AD is probably my top, Morbid has to be last because it's simply too difficult to listen. Thumbs up guys!
8) Schizophrenia: Make no mistake: this album alone made a new thrash titan emerge from one of the least expected places in the world. And that alone speaks volumes. It's no cohincidence this was the record that got the band the contract with Roadrunner: leaving the black thrash influences behind (similar to what other international leaders of the genre did like Kreator and Sodom) and taking a couple of tips from the emerging death metal scene while mixing it with lots of thrash metal, Sepultura made a remarkable evolution in this record. Due to the recruiting of a more refined musician in Andreas Kisser and natural technical/ songwriting evolution the boys were able to pull one hell of an album. Songs like From The Past Comes The Storm, To The Wall, Sceptic Schizo or even the adorned instrumental The Abyss show a way more complex and musical endeavor without losing an inch of power. On the other hand Rest In Pain and Escape To The Void are themes that represent an impending risk to your cervical while headbanging. Gone were the cheesy satanic antics and lyrics as well as the amateur garage cringe feeling. And, besides the poor production, Schizophrenia showed the world they were to be taken seriously. And man... they were only getting started... (7.75/10) 7) Quadra: Previously to the album's release the band stated that its songs would be grouped in 4 groups of 3 songs that look alike among themselves with a common set of characteristics (Quadra is Portuguese for a composition made of 4 parts or, in another approach also relevant, a playground with a set of rules of its own). Nonetheless I notice little differences until we reach to the last stretch of the album. Isolation is a straight in your face thrash metal discharge and man this sounds great. Then we're assaulted by Means To An End, mixing Chaos AD/ Roots flavor with prog death like intricatedetails injected by Eloy's pounding with a great solo by Andreas. Last Time follows featuring more traditional Sepultura's death/ thrash mixed with that new bias to complex technical structures. Corporal Punishment greets us with orchestral and tribal elements combined exploding into what I would like Roots should sound like if it was really refined. Ali is my favorite track here: a brutal mid tempo crusher that rests a bit on Paulo's bass droning before it unleashes another gigantic groove section followed by a throbbing chorus. Eloy's double pedal and Green's roaring (amazing on this one) will reverb in your head several hours after you listen to this passage, I assure you. Another one of my favorites is Guardians of Earth. It begins with a choral ensemble building tension to explode in a monstrously dramatic tune where Sepultura mix their tribal sound with the aforementioned elements, peppered with some guitar harmonies not very far from Swedish melodic black/death metal scene creating a huge cinematic effect. The result is really impressive and is remarkable how good this song sounds while being composed by such unlike parts. The Pentagram is the first of two instrumentals and starts with well known soundscapes from the Chaos AD era: Andreas' dissonance floats on top of a punching rhythmic section until things go absolutely berserk in a frenzy of prog metal. Now the remainder of Quadra is really different and I kinda struggle with it (not by the sake of being different of course). Take the example of Raging Void: it starts really straight forward (still good though) but the brief chorus on this one is simply disrupting and just throws me back to alternative rock. Speaking of strange stuff, Autem starts as a groove/ nu-metal tune meh tune, takes a U turn into a ultra heavy and complex bridge that really doesn't fits to my ears only to return to the first section in the short period of 4 minutes. The title track is an interesting acoustic guitar that clocks under 1 minute and serves as the intro to Agony Of Defeat, a song that could be easily released by Mike Patton's Faith No More such is the depth it plunges in alternative metal's waters. It's a cool cut but it simply sounds like the band is performing a cover version of a song totally devoid of Sepultura's footprint and that's something that once again seems weird. As a closer, Quadra offers us Fear, Pain, Chaos, Suffering and if you think things could not sound stranger by now we're presented to what Chaos AD would sound like if it was performed with a female voice, added something that seems like a Lacuna Coil pre-chorus. Confusing isn't it? Not as much as listening to it. So there you go: quite a mixed bag. The songs I like I reaaaaaally love and the other ones (with the exception of the closer) I still find them quite decent despite sounding odd. Still at the end it's a truly excelent and (once again) brave recording. (8.25/10) 6) Kairos: During its recording the band stated this record (regarding sound and lyrics) was to be a retrospective of what the band went through during its entire career. And they weren't lying: it does so with a special focus on Arise and Chaos AD. Spectrum is a mid paced Slayer riffing stomper that works more like a welcome note to the trip we're about to take than a proper opener (featuring a gorgeous solo by mr. Kisser) followed by the title track that seems like the result of a crossing between Nomad and Territory. Relentless is simply amazing: thrash groove a la Chaos AD with some death metal undertones including another blistering solo and one hell of a vocal performance by Mr. Green (by the way... Kairos has my favorite vocal delivery since Chaos AD by far). Songs like Mask and Seethe are excellent fast straight up death thrashers and No Man will stand also relates a bit to it with a more hardcore feel to it. And we're also presented to dense megalithic crushers in the amazing Born Strong and Embrace The Storm, while Structure Violence is a great essay on industrial metal. Ministry's Just One Fix is also nice (though similar to the original) but it sort of cuts the strong pace Kairos and Relentless impose (I would put it last in the playlist) and Dialog is somehow boring being the only skipable track here. By this time no matter if the record sales reflected it or not it was crystal clear to me that Sepultura were back. (8.5/10) 5) Dante XXI: By 2006 I was really outside of Sepultura's train for almost a decade so when I was convinced by a friend to give a listen to the Divine Comedy based Dante XXI back when it came out I must confess I did it reluctantly. So maybe that's why Dante XXI was such a punch in the chin that I never saw coming. After an eerie and intense as hell intro, Dark Wood Of Error starts gathering up steam till it erupts in a nose dive straight into Hades and to old sepultura speedster mode making go "WTF????!!!" in excitement. Without allowing me to catch my breath Convicted in Life makes way with no regards for human life. By now I could see where the band was going to in this album and was simply loving it: it sounded like old Sepultura but with multiple traits and experiments from later groove/ nu metal sound: a perfect mix between old and new Sepultura, picking the best of each era. As we enter the City Of Dis the ethnic motives come into scene for the first time in a fashion as efficient as the double bass attack that follows. False is another fast track where groove, thrash and hardcore mingle in a really cool manner with slight nu metal itches. Ostia is a mid tempo evolving composition a la Chaos AD, featuring the use of orchestrations :Buried Words is another highlight (that chorus is mind blowing). Last Songs are a bit less good but still really enjoyable. To sum it up: apart from a couple of songs (especially the last ones) this record is full of enjoyable, intense and new stuff with some glimpses of genius here and there. Was it their best album? No. But it definitely brought me to the Sepultura family again and that alone says a lot! (8.5/10) 4) Beneath The Remains: This was the first album I heard from these guys and what can I say that hasn't already been said? Almost nothing. So I'll just underline what makes this record the classic it came out be and and add a note of my own. If Sepultura achieved what they did in Schizophrenia with little conditions, Beneath The Remains' greatness should come as no surprise. But truth be told not much people outside the underground knew the band and it left thousands with their chins at their feet. Pure Thrash with Death Metal undertones carrying a perfect equilibrium between fury, heaviness and composing wit, this record was destined to become a classic. Old fan favorites like the title track, Innerself or Mass Hypnosis earned their place justifiably so among the elite of the genre while infectious bangers like Slaves of Pain and Stronger Than Hate are also mind blowing. I only have 2 minor complaints regarding BTR. First there's a slight overuse of Slayer influences. Hey! Don´t get me wrong... it's not plagiarism by any sort but seems like SEP made their own reinterpretation (in an unique way) of some of their traits and sticked with it from the get go till the last second. And the final stretch of the album, although being really good is not as stellar as the remainder of the tracks. But those are just details that would never downgrade in a significant scale such a classic. (8.75/10)
Mediator is great and i like a lot of the Max stuff, but my heart truly belongs to Roots. There has never been another album like this one, truly one of the best heavy albums ever imo. It is an album I so easily get lost in and find endlessly fascinating.
I'm glad your competence for the task motivates you to carry on with the show, but not only do you speak thoughtfully about the music you're into, you guys are actually funny and that's something other channels can't show up. Especially this episode though, the tangents were on fire whilst maintaining an interesting discussion over these incredible records. It was tough to rank the bottom albums but I think I'm done: The ones I'm not happy with: 15. Nation 14. A-Lex 13. Roorback The ones I'm okay with: 12. Kairos 11. Against 10. Morbid Visions The ones I adore and like to revisit: 9. The Mediator 8. Dante XXI 7. Machine Messiah 6. Quadra 5. Roots 4. Schizophrenia 3. Arise 2. Beneath the Remains 1. Chaos A.D. (Is there even a cooler album cover than this?) Peanut butter platypus, I had a great time.
I thought long and hard about my list 1.Beneath The Remains 2.Arise 3. Bestial/ Morbid Visions 4. Scizophrenia 5. Chaos AD 6.Roots 7. Quadra , that's all I heard, And my 3rd favourite cranked and ranked behind Slayer and Cannibal Corpse.
Totally agree with you on bonus tracks ruining albums… there generally is a reason why they were not on it in the first place so why ruin it adding in weaker songs and disrupting the flow… Don’t particularly like delux versions of albums either…steaming services should just put the original albums up! No problem with bands releasing rarities and b-side compilations… some of these are great albums in their own right…
The list below is the Sepultura albums I listen the most since 1991 when I discovered the band and metal. My number one band since. 1- Arise 2-Beneath 3- Chaos A.D. 4- Schizophrenia 5- Against 6- Morbid Visions/Bestial 7-Roots I have all the other albums in vinyl/cd, etc, but only listened to those during release season. Will listen again to Machine Messiah now though!😅
My favorite album is definitely "Beneath the Remains", then "Arise" and "Chaos A.D" as third!! I don't care anymore about Derrick, I have to admit that "Quadra" is a very good album but for me it's a totally different band!! When I saw them a few times, I missed the Cavalera brothers, but when I saw Max and Igor in 2017, I didn't miss Andreas and Paulo. Just my humble opinion.
For me, 3. BTR. 2. Arise 1. Chaos A.D. (Arise was my first Sep experience). Drum intro for Territory is my favourite drum intro to a song ever, and perhaps my overall favourite metal intro period. Did you do a ranked for Fear Factory? You must! Also In Flames, Dark Tranquillity, Amorphis rankings if you're fans.
I think where your fav seps album fits into the mix is when you first got into them and the first one you heard. I first heard of them through metal forces magazine around the time of Schizophrenia. The first album I bought was BTR and is defo my fav album by them. Went to see them when they first okayed in the U.K. supporting Sodom at the old Marquee club in London. They blew Sodom off stage that night. I think the last album Quadra is my fav out of the Derrick Green records.
Interesting listening to this in 2024 as last year I saw the cavelera boys play Morbid Visions in it’s entirety after a re recording which as you know now sounds phenomenal, but the 86 original does sound as rough as piss head stuck in a shit house. Fantastic ranking lads
Great show as usual guys. I spent a week thinking about this... relistened almost every album, and man this is hard! I did exactly what Steve Was talking about in 2020 after a friend introduced me to quadra: was blown away and bought my way backwards through their discography as i stopped caring for them after roots, beeing the hardcore guy i Was... but i also didnt care for everything cavalera and i still dont give a fuck. That beeing said lets try to rank em 15. Morbid visions Dig it for what it is... but its the one i dont really go back to very often. They could at least have tuned their Instruments😉 14. Roots Yeah, hate me... but it was kind of a let down back then and i still dont really go back to it. Beeing into soia sfa sheer terror this kinda bored me 13. & 12. Against & Nation Both a lot of roots with less thrash and an interesting hardcore approach due to derek, what makes em more enjoyable for me. Nation sure is an improvement to against i think 11. Roorback Yes, it is a "more of the same" album, but if im in the mood for groove this is the sepultura album to go to... i feel like its the machine head album, machine head never made. Dig it 10. Kairos Good Album, maybe it would end up higher, but the coversongs dont do it for me... not bad, but they dont really do anything for the album or me... 09. Dante XXI Not much to say. Not the best production, yes, but here i feel like they got their shit together again. The reinvention of sepultura 08. A-lex Same as Dante... only better! Awesome album And now it gets really tough..... 07. Chaos a.d. Kill me! Played the hell out of it, still really like it... but i listen more to All Albums to come, sorry 06. Schizophrenia I just love this Album... the first sepultura vinyl i heard. And it hurts to put it here. Raw brutal, and you can see the impact Andreas kisser had on this band. He is sepulturas backbone and always was 05. Quadra Killer Album that brought me back to sepultura... a little thrash masterpiece 04. The Mediator.. yes you know... Same as for quadra, less prog more Aggression. Awesome 03. Machine Messiah My favorite out of this eloy casagrande era. That guy is a beast, the hardest hitting guy in thrash. Almost a perfect album for me (03 04:05 are almost a tie and can change any day) 02 beneath the remains I dont know love it as much as the no 1 which is Arise for sure. Just for the cleaned up Sound i guess Two outstanding masterpieces in thrash no doubt about it
I also love Roots, maybe not as much as when it first came out, but I do think it deserves more love and less hate. The notion that it was somehow riding the nu metal bandwagon is ridiculous. In 1996, nu metal was still fairly new and Sepultura were still young guys, none of them hit 30 yet, so they were pretty much the same age as those guys in the "new" nu metal bands. It didn't feel like a "hey fellow kids" thing to me at all - it was not Kiss doing grunge. It felt like a logical progression from Chaos A.D. - an album that probably influenced those "kids" playing nu metal in the first place. It felt like they were on the cutting edge, right in there with the new bands as part of the zeitgeist. I bought it when it first came out and hadn't even heard Korn or anything like that yet. I was floored, I fucking loved it. Listening back to it now, I think I would like it more if it wasn't so fucking long.
I finally listened to some Derick Greenultura. I started at the beginning with Against and Nation. I think he's a great vocalist - better than Max, but so far I don't like the material nearly as much...barely at all. Going from the sheer energy and chaos of Roots, where it feels like they were just putting everything they had into it, the next albums sound very uninspired. I am glad to hear in your reviews that apparently they got way better. Once I finish listening to this episode, I'm going to listen to whatever y'all picked as your favorite from Derick. That's another great thing about this show.
7) Nation 6) Against 5) Schizophrenia 4) Beneath the Remains 3) Roots 2) Chaos A.D. 1) Arise Sepultura is a band that always took what was current in the metal world and doing it their own version of it.
I am the exact opposite of you guys. I like only 3 Sepultura albums... Schitzo, BTR, Arise. Everything else I have a huge problem with. I gave up on Sepultura after Nation. I haven't even heard anything past that album. I can't stand Derrick green voice AND they are a 2-guitar band. The Derrick version is a chopped up, cut rate version that shortchanges the fans. It would ALMOST be like James Hetfield leaving Metallica, with Kirk Hammett as the ONLY guitar player. Max was nearly that important in SEPULTURA. Morbid- Kids not knowing what they are doing. Hilarious. Has a certain charm. Instruments not even tuned. I don't listen to it. Schitzo- Enter Andreas. Massive leap in songwriting. Going from a bunch of nonsense to a great Death/thrash record with a hint of prog. Still retains a bit of the evil. Sepultura are best when they are playing the dirty side of thrash. This is the 1st of those records. BTR- Evil-ness is gone, but the epic-ness is amped up. Sepultura with killer guitar solos. Still death/ thrash, but not as dark. Arise- guitar solos are not as epic. Songwriting is more focused. New sounds coming in. This is most death metal album of the last 3. Chaos AD- Sepul-tera. This is Sepultura's Black album. Not a huge fan of MOST of these songs. Sounds very dated to the Groove Metal years 92-95. The songs are MUCH better live than on the album, because they are sped up live. They can easily ramp up these songs after being used to Schitzo to Arise material over the last 6 years. Roots- Even more dated to the Nu-metal era. 1994 to 2002. Take everything I didn't like about Chaos AD, do more of it and have Korn co-write the album. Max has even admitted that they were going for the production of Korn's debut. It didn't stop there, Max adopted the cringy nu- metal wardrobe as well. I will admit the Sepultura pulls off Groove and Nu-metal well. I just don't like it AND it has aged poorly. That's why both Soulfly AND Sepultura have BOTH gotten away from that sound. Against- 2 note riffs, without ANY of the charm of Roots. More hardcore and punky; but still sucky. Having NO SECOND GUITARIST is a crime. Derrick Green sounds like a generic hardcore vocalist. In short.. I am Against it. Nation- new bad logo. new bad album. Against part 2 with a crappy logo. The beginning of Sepultura treading water and not knowing what they are or want to do. Terrible. The Sepulnation was losing to Soulfly. And Soulfly didn't get any good until Dark Ages. Haven't heard Roorback to Quadra. But I hear some positive things about the last 2 records. Sepultura will NEVER tour on ONLY the Derrick green era; because Sepultura MADE their name from 1987-1996. THAT is the landmark material. It's also been proven that Andreas NEEDS the name to have ANY interest from ANY label. If Max just kicked out Andreas and Paulo; Sepultura would continue commercially without missing a beat. The Cavalera brothers ARE the MOST important parts of Sepultura. Andreas wouldn't even still be in the music business without the name that Max/ Igor created. So much so, that Max and Igor can tour endlessly on BTR and Arise material only. They are doing that RIGHT NOW! Max and Igor don't even need the name! People turn up to see them because the facts speak for themselves. Fact is- Max and Igor ARE Sepultura, not Andreas. I am NOT loyal to death/thrash. I just don't like much music that is "dated" to a certain time. Chaos AD and ROOTS are. Even though they are executed -well and they pull it off; I don't care much for groove and especially nu-metal.
Chaos is still my favorite from them, there really isn't another record that sounds like that to this day. I was lucky enough to see them twice on that tour cycle. Once headlining with Fear Factory, Clutch and Fudge Tunnel, and then opening for Pantera and Biohazard. Great memories from back then.
I don't always listen to Sepultura, but when I do, I pretty much listen to Chaos A.D.
Peanut Butter platypus! Ok, guys, not only I absolutely adore all the bands you talk about, in any kind of "genre", but thank you also for your "tangents", I am still laughing so much (after walking home after a few pints...! 😂) while I'm writing this message! Seriously love you Guys! Please carry on...forever! 😅
This was awesome and very entertaining. This might be my favorite episode yet. Arise beneath the remains and chaos a.d. or even schizophrenia could easily be number#1.
Finnaly the top 3:
3) The Mediator Between Head And Hands Must Be The Heart: While recording The Mediator (let's abreviate it for obvious reasons... yeah, it's a sentence taken from Metropolis but wouldn't "The Mediator Between Head And Hands" suffice? ) Sep's site released a video diary where the band would share their impressions. Summing up all interventions there were two major things the band promised: this would be Sepultura's heaviest record ever made and that Eloy Casagrande's first recording behind the kit was going to be something out of this world. And man... did they stuck to their word. Trauma of War begins with a static sound a la Napalm Death's Harmony Corruption and erupts into a blistering behemoth that, from the first time I listened to it, entered directly to my top 10 Sepultura songs of all time. Racing through a non speed limit modern Death-thrash lane, this brilliant opener shows us 3 traits that The Mediator carries from start to finish: a) this stuff is indeed insanely heavy without sounding dated. One can even find some early Gojira influences here and there, b) on the other hand re-hiring Ross Robinson kinda backfired: the production is loud, sludgy and noisy and Derricks voice is treated with too much distortion and c) Eloy Casagrande... what the hell is that guy doing? What is this? There are no words to describe the onslaught of fury, complexity, mastery and diversity this dude's performance reaches. After an eerie intro The Vatican thrashes in at full speed revealing an 100% pure Death Metal bridge. This stuff is really unlike anything the band as ever made: dark and dense as a black hole. Impending Doom and Tsunami are slower but that seems to underline even more the heaviness the boys were sure to convey to this beast of a record. Manipulation of Tragedy sounds like something taken out of Arise that went through a severe steroid treatment. Once again Eloy is the star here displaying an infinite array of jaw breaking lines ranging from blast beats to batucada. The Bliss Of Ignorants is something that could easily fit in 1993's Chaos AD with gorgeous tribal drums and an infectious and heavy groove. Finally Obessessed closes the record as it started: full speed and heaviness in a claustrophobic dark ambiance with the colaboration of non other than Dave Lombardo himself. As bonus we're presented with another mix of groove and sheer weight in Stagnate State of Affairs and two covers, the first a ethno rocker from Chico Science & Nação Zumbi and Death's classic Zombie Ritual (both preformed in a stellar fashion). Make no mistake: The Mediator is simply put one of the best albums of its genre recorded in this century. Only that way it would enter my all time Sepulura podium. (9/10)
... and there's a tie at the top:
1a) Arise: After taking the world by surprise, Sepultura had a huge quandary on their hands: how to record an album as good as Beneath The Remains. The line to thread was really thin: on one hand a clone would surely sound forced and the probabilities to reach Beneath's impact while doing so would be slim. On the other hand the band couldn't depart too much from the thrash genre because after all they were still new comers among metal's elite numbers. The answer to these questions would be Arise. And it would be a super intelligent answer that spoke volumes about the band's abilities as composers. The title track serves as a furious introduction to the apocalyptic landscapes explored throughout the entire record. The structure and pace are quite similar to the opening of the previous album and so, while being on hell of a tune, nothing really new. Dead Embryonic Cells follows and this is where Sepultura starts to thread new ground. The tempo is slower and more intense, but it's Andreas Kisser's dissonant tones sparkled here and there that come as an absolute innovation (that would define the band's guitar style especially in their following album). Desperate Cry also unveils new weaponry: After a somber acoustic intro the song goes from something that reminds Innerself's verses to a double bass death metal chorus. Then it wanders through various dissimilar ambiances that in the end fit together perfectly. It somehow finds space to insert the same acoustic intro after an uptempo thrash bridge only to burst into a strobbing hertas display, closing with a crushing Death Metal slow grinding double bass. And while songs like Murder, Subtraction and Infected Voice are more or less straight up thrashers, the remainder of the tunes continue to explore new venues while mixing it with old landscapes. Altered States' excellent prologue begins with tribal percussion (another trait that would stick forever since to Sepultura's sound and would be explored to the maximum in future albums) giving way to an intense rumbling entrance covered once again with Andreas' dissonant guitar that bursts into a Ministry like riffage mixed with the familiar Sepulthrash blueprint. Under Siege (Regnum Irae) recovers Desperate Cry's recipe acoustic guitar and is equally intense (those reverse echoing spoken words give this song one hell of an ambiance) while Meaningless Movements dwells in a perfect balance between Thrash, Groove and Death Metal. All in all what Sepultura reveal an obsessive attention to detail and maturity almost unthinkable on a band composed by musicians that young. Theypumped the brakes a bit on this classic record (despite having a fair share of fast songs) but got way heavier, intense, while bringing new elements and flavors to their sound making a decisive step forward on defining their sound in a marvelous way. And these last two factors are decisive while choosing Arise as Sep's finest moment in exequo with its follower. (9.25/10)
1b) Chaos AD: By 1993 Sepultura were already without shadow of doubt one of metal's big names. Another undisputed fact is that rock and heavy music were changing. Propelled in one hand by the Seattle scene and on the other by a new breed of surging metal tendencies, the 90's were definitely a decade that brought new sub genres to the table (normally by mixing others). Aware of all these aspects as they have always been, Sepultura knew they should evolve their sound even more if they wanted to remain on top of metal's game. So no wonder Chaos AD came out to be one of the most unique metal albums ever recorded. A powerful batucada rhythm opens the hostilities and gives way to the what I consider to be the perfect riot soundtrack in the form of Refuse Resist, a simple yet brutal mid tempo grinder featuring everything an anthem demands, including a somehow hardcore vibe that would linger throughout the majority of the album. Territory kicks in and so do the tribal drumming once again. By now one can also notice a strong influence of industrial metal bands like Godflesh and Ministry, both in Kisser's dissonant tones and in the overall strongly marked pace. And by the time straight out hard core Slave New World ends, we easily come to the conclusion this is not a mere death-thrash album but something that picks traits from the said genre in equal parts with many others (some I've already alluded to) and builds an immense and heavy as hell wall of sound. Also this record is almost devoid of uptempo speedsters (with the exception of Biotech Is Godzilla), showing a preference in mowing our eardrums in a slower and yet more effective way. Amen's ambiance is simply apocalyptic while Kaiwoas is a curious venture into native Brazilian music and also a heartfelt tribute. Propaganda and Nomad outline even more Sepultura's new found identity while being as heavy as fantastic. We Who Are Not As Others works wonders as a protesting rant with a choral ensemble that assumes cinematic proportions while Manifest is dangerously close to Ministry's at its best, denouncing the Carandiru massacre. After a superbly "Sepulturized" version of The Hunt by punk veterans NMA, the album comes to a close with another dissonant megalith in the form of Clenched Fist. Chaos AD marked without shadow of doubt a parting of waters for the band. And I'm not talking about the inevitable fact of their popularity increasing even further or obvious growth outside Death/Thrash boundaries. The most important step Sepultura took was from being an excellent yet somewhat easy to label band to something that got influences from several sounces while building unmistakable identity and would influence a myriad of bands. This my friends is something you can say about a really small number of acts. And Sepulura achieved it in a masterful fashion. That's how good this record is. (9.25/10)
Once again. Great show guys. Thanks for the entertainment. Cheers from down under
I've got a big...
...
...
...
... amount of gratitude for more delightful content 😊
& looking forward to the silverchair episode (diversity incarnate, as you said)
Fondest regards, as always, good Sirs
🙌
1:37:39 I have just finished reading Max's autobiography and he describes the recording session for Kiowas in detail. They recorded the whole Chaos AD in Wales and at some point Max suggested recording that song in a castle (pretty much a ruin) somewhere around. He told Andy Wallace (producer of the record) about that idea and he liked it. He organised a power supply system, took a small console, mics and set everything inside the castle. The castle didn't have any roof or windows, they played the whole track live and when they stopped after that disorganised intro you can hear the seagulls because it was right next to the sea and all the sounds/noises were coming through the roof and windows. What you hear is a one take.
Love Sepultura to death, you made a great video (both parts) taking your time, discussing everything in the way it should be.
Chaos AD is probably my top, Morbid has to be last because it's simply too difficult to listen.
Thumbs up guys!
8) Schizophrenia: Make no mistake: this album alone made a new thrash titan emerge from one of the least expected places in the world. And that alone speaks volumes. It's no cohincidence this was the record that got the band the contract with Roadrunner: leaving the black thrash influences behind (similar to what other international leaders of the genre did like Kreator and Sodom) and taking a couple of tips from the emerging death metal scene while mixing it with lots of thrash metal, Sepultura made a remarkable evolution in this record. Due to the recruiting of a more refined musician in Andreas Kisser and natural technical/ songwriting evolution the boys were able to pull one hell of an album. Songs like From The Past Comes The Storm, To The Wall, Sceptic Schizo or even the adorned instrumental The Abyss show a way more complex and musical endeavor without losing an inch of power. On the other hand Rest In Pain and Escape To The Void are themes that represent an impending risk to your cervical while headbanging. Gone were the cheesy satanic antics and lyrics as well as the amateur garage cringe feeling. And, besides the poor production, Schizophrenia showed the world they were to be taken seriously. And man... they were only getting started... (7.75/10)
7) Quadra: Previously to the album's release the band stated that its songs would be grouped in 4 groups of 3 songs that look alike among themselves with a common set of characteristics (Quadra is Portuguese for a composition made of 4 parts or, in another approach also relevant, a playground with a set of rules of its own). Nonetheless I notice little differences until we reach to the last stretch of the album. Isolation is a straight in your face thrash metal discharge and man this sounds great. Then we're assaulted by Means To An End, mixing Chaos AD/ Roots flavor with prog death like intricatedetails injected by Eloy's pounding with a great solo by Andreas. Last Time follows featuring more traditional Sepultura's death/ thrash mixed with that new bias to complex technical structures. Corporal Punishment greets us with orchestral and tribal elements combined exploding into what I would like Roots should sound like if it was really refined. Ali is my favorite track here: a brutal mid tempo crusher that rests a bit on Paulo's bass droning before it unleashes another gigantic groove section followed by a throbbing chorus. Eloy's double pedal and Green's roaring (amazing on this one) will reverb in your head several hours after you listen to this passage, I assure you. Another one of my favorites is Guardians of Earth. It begins with a choral ensemble building tension to explode in a monstrously dramatic tune where Sepultura mix their tribal sound with the aforementioned elements, peppered with some guitar harmonies not very far from Swedish melodic black/death metal scene creating a huge cinematic effect. The result is really impressive and is remarkable how good this song sounds while being composed by such unlike parts. The Pentagram is the first of two instrumentals and starts with well known soundscapes from the Chaos AD era: Andreas' dissonance floats on top of a punching rhythmic section until things go absolutely berserk in a frenzy of prog metal. Now the remainder of Quadra is really different and I kinda struggle with it (not by the sake of being different of course). Take the example of Raging Void: it starts really straight forward (still good though) but the brief chorus on this one is simply disrupting and just throws me back to alternative rock. Speaking of strange stuff, Autem starts as a groove/ nu-metal tune meh tune, takes a U turn into a ultra heavy and complex bridge that really doesn't fits to my ears only to return to the first section in the short period of 4 minutes. The title track is an interesting acoustic guitar that clocks under 1 minute and serves as the intro to Agony Of Defeat, a song that could be easily released by Mike Patton's Faith No More such is the depth it plunges in alternative metal's waters. It's a cool cut but it simply sounds like the band is performing a cover version of a song totally devoid of Sepultura's footprint and that's something that once again seems weird. As a closer, Quadra offers us Fear, Pain, Chaos, Suffering and if you think things could not sound stranger by now we're presented to what Chaos AD would sound like if it was performed with a female voice, added something that seems like a Lacuna Coil pre-chorus. Confusing isn't it? Not as much as listening to it. So there you go: quite a mixed bag. The songs I like I reaaaaaally love and the other ones (with the exception of the closer) I still find them quite decent despite sounding odd. Still at the end it's a truly excelent and (once again) brave recording. (8.25/10)
6) Kairos: During its recording the band stated this record (regarding sound and lyrics) was to be a retrospective of what the band went through during its entire career. And they weren't lying: it does so with a special focus on Arise and Chaos AD. Spectrum is a mid paced Slayer riffing stomper that works more like a welcome note to the trip we're about to take than a proper opener (featuring a gorgeous solo by mr. Kisser) followed by the title track that seems like the result of a crossing between Nomad and Territory. Relentless is simply amazing: thrash groove a la Chaos AD with some death metal undertones including another blistering solo and one hell of a vocal performance by Mr. Green (by the way... Kairos has my favorite vocal delivery since Chaos AD by far). Songs like Mask and Seethe are excellent fast straight up death thrashers and No Man will stand also relates a bit to it with a more hardcore feel to it. And we're also presented to dense megalithic crushers in the amazing Born Strong and Embrace The Storm, while Structure Violence is a great essay on industrial metal. Ministry's Just One Fix is also nice (though similar to the original) but it sort of cuts the strong pace Kairos and Relentless impose (I would put it last in the playlist) and Dialog is somehow boring being the only skipable track here. By this time no matter if the record sales reflected it or not it was crystal clear to me that Sepultura were back. (8.5/10)
5) Dante XXI: By 2006 I was really outside of Sepultura's train for almost a decade so when I was convinced by a friend to give a listen to the Divine Comedy based Dante XXI back when it came out I must confess I did it reluctantly. So maybe that's why Dante XXI was such a punch in the chin that I never saw coming. After an eerie and intense as hell intro, Dark Wood Of Error starts gathering up steam till it erupts in a nose dive straight into Hades and to old sepultura speedster mode making go "WTF????!!!" in excitement. Without allowing me to catch my breath Convicted in Life makes way with no regards for human life. By now I could see where the band was going to in this album and was simply loving it: it sounded like old Sepultura but with multiple traits and experiments from later groove/ nu metal sound: a perfect mix between old and new Sepultura, picking the best of each era. As we enter the City Of Dis the ethnic motives come into scene for the first time in a fashion as efficient as the double bass attack that follows. False is another fast track where groove, thrash and hardcore mingle in a really cool manner with slight nu metal itches. Ostia is a mid tempo evolving composition a la Chaos AD, featuring the use of orchestrations :Buried Words is another highlight (that chorus is mind blowing). Last Songs are a bit less good but still really enjoyable. To sum it up: apart from a couple of songs (especially the last ones) this record is full of enjoyable, intense and new stuff with some glimpses of genius here and there. Was it their best album? No. But it definitely brought me to the Sepultura family again and that alone says a lot! (8.5/10)
4) Beneath The Remains: This was the first album I heard from these guys and what can I say that hasn't already been said? Almost nothing. So I'll just underline what makes this record the classic it came out be and and add a note of my own. If Sepultura achieved what they did in Schizophrenia with little conditions, Beneath The Remains' greatness should come as no surprise. But truth be told not much people outside the underground knew the band and it left thousands with their chins at their feet. Pure Thrash with Death Metal undertones carrying a perfect equilibrium between fury, heaviness and composing wit, this record was destined to become a classic. Old fan favorites like the title track, Innerself or Mass Hypnosis earned their place justifiably so among the elite of the genre while infectious bangers like Slaves of Pain and Stronger Than Hate are also mind blowing. I only have 2 minor complaints regarding BTR. First there's a slight overuse of Slayer influences. Hey! Don´t get me wrong... it's not plagiarism by any sort but seems like SEP made their own reinterpretation (in an unique way) of some of their traits and sticked with it from the get go till the last second. And the final stretch of the album, although being really good is not as stellar as the remainder of the tracks. But those are just details that would never downgrade in a significant scale such a classic. (8.75/10)
Mediator is great and i like a lot of the Max stuff, but my heart truly belongs to Roots. There has never been another album like this one, truly one of the best heavy albums ever imo. It is an album I so easily get lost in and find endlessly fascinating.
I'm glad your competence for the task motivates you to carry on with the show, but not only do you speak thoughtfully about the music you're into, you guys are actually funny and that's something other channels can't show up. Especially this episode though, the tangents were on fire whilst maintaining an interesting discussion over these incredible records.
It was tough to rank the bottom albums but I think I'm done:
The ones I'm not happy with:
15. Nation
14. A-Lex
13. Roorback
The ones I'm okay with:
12. Kairos
11. Against
10. Morbid Visions
The ones I adore and like to revisit:
9. The Mediator
8. Dante XXI
7. Machine Messiah
6. Quadra
5. Roots
4. Schizophrenia
3. Arise
2. Beneath the Remains
1. Chaos A.D. (Is there even a cooler album cover than this?)
Peanut butter platypus, I had a great time.
I thought long and hard about my list
1.Beneath The Remains
2.Arise
3. Bestial/ Morbid Visions
4. Scizophrenia
5. Chaos AD
6.Roots
7. Quadra , that's all I heard,
And my 3rd favourite cranked and ranked behind Slayer and Cannibal Corpse.
Totally agree with you on bonus tracks ruining albums… there generally is a reason why they were not on it in the first place so why ruin it adding in weaker songs and disrupting the flow… Don’t particularly like delux versions of albums either…steaming services should just put the original albums up! No problem with bands releasing rarities and b-side compilations… some of these are great albums in their own right…
The list below is the Sepultura albums I listen the most since 1991 when I discovered the band and metal. My number one band since.
1- Arise
2-Beneath
3- Chaos A.D.
4- Schizophrenia
5- Against
6- Morbid Visions/Bestial
7-Roots
I have all the other albums in vinyl/cd, etc, but only listened to those during release season. Will listen again to Machine Messiah now though!😅
Good show guys!
My favorite album is definitely "Beneath the Remains", then "Arise" and "Chaos A.D" as third!! I don't care anymore about Derrick, I have to admit that "Quadra" is a very good album but for me it's a totally different band!! When I saw them a few times, I missed the Cavalera brothers, but when I saw Max and Igor in 2017, I didn't miss Andreas and Paulo. Just my humble opinion.
The Cavalera brothers are Sepultura, plain and simple, there just making money off the name, it's sad really.
For me, 3. BTR. 2. Arise 1. Chaos A.D. (Arise was my first Sep experience). Drum intro for Territory is my favourite drum intro to a song ever, and perhaps my overall favourite metal intro period.
Did you do a ranked for Fear Factory? You must! Also In Flames, Dark Tranquillity, Amorphis rankings if you're fans.
That Troops Of Doom re-recording was done during the Arise sessions.
I think where your fav seps album fits into the mix is when you first got into them and the first one you heard.
I first heard of them through metal forces magazine around the time of Schizophrenia.
The first album I bought was BTR and is defo my fav album by them.
Went to see them when they first okayed in the U.K. supporting Sodom at the old Marquee club in London.
They blew Sodom off stage that night.
I think the last album Quadra is my fav out of the Derrick Green records.
Interesting listening to this in 2024 as last year I saw the cavelera boys play Morbid Visions in it’s entirety after a re recording which as you know now sounds phenomenal, but the 86 original does sound as rough as piss head stuck in a shit house. Fantastic ranking lads
Great show as usual guys. I spent a week thinking about this... relistened almost every album, and man this is hard!
I did exactly what Steve Was talking about in 2020 after a friend introduced me to quadra: was blown away and bought my way backwards through their discography as i stopped caring for them after roots, beeing the hardcore guy i Was... but i also didnt care for everything cavalera and i still dont give a fuck.
That beeing said lets try to rank em
15. Morbid visions
Dig it for what it is... but its the one i dont really go back to very often. They could at least have tuned their Instruments😉
14. Roots
Yeah, hate me... but it was kind of a let down back then and i still dont really go back to it. Beeing into soia sfa sheer terror this kinda bored me
13. & 12. Against & Nation
Both a lot of roots with less thrash and an interesting hardcore approach due to derek, what makes em more enjoyable for me. Nation sure is an improvement to against i think
11. Roorback
Yes, it is a "more of the same" album, but if im in the mood for groove this is the sepultura album to go to... i feel like its the machine head album, machine head never made. Dig it
10. Kairos
Good Album, maybe it would end up higher, but the coversongs dont do it for me... not bad, but they dont really do anything for the album or me...
09. Dante XXI
Not much to say. Not the best production, yes, but here i feel like they got their shit together again. The reinvention of sepultura
08. A-lex
Same as Dante... only better!
Awesome album
And now it gets really tough.....
07. Chaos a.d.
Kill me! Played the hell out of it, still really like it... but i listen more to All Albums to come, sorry
06. Schizophrenia
I just love this Album... the first sepultura vinyl i heard. And it hurts to put it here. Raw brutal, and you can see the impact Andreas kisser had on this band. He is sepulturas backbone and always was
05. Quadra
Killer Album that brought me back to sepultura... a little thrash masterpiece
04. The Mediator.. yes you know...
Same as for quadra, less prog more Aggression. Awesome
03. Machine Messiah
My favorite out of this eloy casagrande era. That guy is a beast, the hardest hitting guy in thrash. Almost a perfect album for me
(03 04:05 are almost a tie and can change any day)
02 beneath the remains
I dont know love it as much as the no 1 which is Arise for sure. Just for the cleaned up Sound i guess
Two outstanding masterpieces in thrash no doubt about it
For anybody who likes very old Sepultura u should check out the new The Troops of Doom Album Antichrist Reborn it's pretty damn sweet! I must say.
I also love Roots, maybe not as much as when it first came out, but I do think it deserves more love and less hate. The notion that it was somehow riding the nu metal bandwagon is ridiculous. In 1996, nu metal was still fairly new and Sepultura were still young guys, none of them hit 30 yet, so they were pretty much the same age as those guys in the "new" nu metal bands. It didn't feel like a "hey fellow kids" thing to me at all - it was not Kiss doing grunge. It felt like a logical progression from Chaos A.D. - an album that probably influenced those "kids" playing nu metal in the first place. It felt like they were on the cutting edge, right in there with the new bands as part of the zeitgeist. I bought it when it first came out and hadn't even heard Korn or anything like that yet. I was floored, I fucking loved it. Listening back to it now, I think I would like it more if it wasn't so fucking long.
Ben sounds like a black comedian doing a stereotypical white guy voice.
ST kicks ass for working out!
1:15:18 the Soulfly album max put out after Sepultura would have been their follow up to Roots. Easy as that
I finally listened to some Derick Greenultura. I started at the beginning with Against and Nation. I think he's a great vocalist - better than Max, but so far I don't like the material nearly as much...barely at all. Going from the sheer energy and chaos of Roots, where it feels like they were just putting everything they had into it, the next albums sound very uninspired. I am glad to hear in your reviews that apparently they got way better. Once I finish listening to this episode, I'm going to listen to whatever y'all picked as your favorite from Derick. That's another great thing about this show.
Old school max is amazing dude; nobody tops arise, chaos ad vocals, other then Phil from Pantera in the 90’s. Get some brotha
At this moment it’s Arise but that could change anytime
Eddie, no one in the southwest sounds like you dude.
The Hunt is New Model Army, the best band on the planet
Hey why god help me Old Head? 😆 I'd rather listen to Morbid Visions than St Anger any day of the week! mate!
Congrats! You have earned 10 cool hip metal dude points! 😜
To be honest tho, I can get bored of Chaos and especially Roots , where as beneath the remains and Arise I never have or will.
7) Nation
6) Against
5) Schizophrenia
4) Beneath the Remains
3) Roots
2) Chaos A.D.
1) Arise
Sepultura is a band that always took what was current in the metal world and doing it their own version of it.
I am the exact opposite of you guys. I like only 3 Sepultura albums... Schitzo, BTR, Arise. Everything else I have a huge problem with. I gave up on Sepultura after Nation. I haven't even heard anything past that album. I can't stand Derrick green voice AND they are a 2-guitar band. The Derrick version is a chopped up, cut rate version that shortchanges the fans. It would ALMOST be like James Hetfield leaving Metallica, with Kirk Hammett as the ONLY guitar player. Max was nearly that important in SEPULTURA.
Morbid- Kids not knowing what they are doing. Hilarious. Has a certain charm. Instruments not even tuned. I don't listen to it.
Schitzo- Enter Andreas. Massive leap in songwriting. Going from a bunch of nonsense to a great Death/thrash record with a hint of prog. Still retains a bit of the evil. Sepultura are best when they are playing the dirty side of thrash. This is the 1st of those records.
BTR- Evil-ness is gone, but the epic-ness is amped up. Sepultura with killer guitar solos. Still death/ thrash, but not as dark.
Arise- guitar solos are not as epic. Songwriting is more focused. New sounds coming in. This is most death metal album of the last 3.
Chaos AD- Sepul-tera. This is Sepultura's Black album. Not a huge fan of MOST of these songs. Sounds very dated to the Groove Metal years 92-95. The songs are MUCH better live than on the album, because they are sped up live. They can easily ramp up these songs after being used to Schitzo to Arise material over the last 6 years.
Roots- Even more dated to the Nu-metal era. 1994 to 2002. Take everything I didn't like about Chaos AD, do more of it and have Korn co-write the album. Max has even admitted that they were going for the production of Korn's debut. It didn't stop there, Max adopted the cringy nu- metal wardrobe as well. I will admit the Sepultura pulls off Groove and Nu-metal well. I just don't like it AND it has aged poorly. That's why both Soulfly AND Sepultura have BOTH gotten away from that sound.
Against- 2 note riffs, without ANY of the charm of Roots. More hardcore and punky; but still sucky. Having NO SECOND GUITARIST is a crime. Derrick Green sounds like a generic hardcore vocalist. In short.. I am Against it.
Nation- new bad logo. new bad album. Against part 2 with a crappy logo. The beginning of Sepultura treading water and not knowing what they are or want to do. Terrible. The Sepulnation was losing to Soulfly. And Soulfly didn't get any good until Dark Ages.
Haven't heard Roorback to Quadra. But I hear some positive things about the last 2 records.
Sepultura will NEVER tour on ONLY the Derrick green era; because Sepultura MADE their name from 1987-1996. THAT is the landmark material. It's also been proven that Andreas NEEDS the name to have ANY interest from ANY label. If Max just kicked out Andreas and Paulo; Sepultura would continue commercially without missing a beat. The Cavalera brothers ARE the MOST important parts of Sepultura. Andreas wouldn't even still be in the music business without the name that Max/ Igor created. So much so, that Max and Igor can tour endlessly on BTR and Arise material only. They are doing that RIGHT NOW! Max and Igor don't even need the name! People turn up to see them because the facts speak for themselves. Fact is- Max and Igor ARE Sepultura, not Andreas.
I am NOT loyal to death/thrash. I just don't like much music that is "dated" to a certain time. Chaos AD and ROOTS are. Even though they are executed -well and they pull it off; I don't care much for groove and especially nu-metal.
Hola...!!!