Sepultura - Machine Messiah (2017)

I can't sit here and tell you that Machine Messiah has rid itself of all the vapid, bouncing, predictable hardcore grooves that the band more or less mastered and subsequently exhausted with the albums Chaos A.D. and Roots back in the mid 90s. I also can't promise you that I've suddenly become a fan of Derrick Green's vocals; granted, the guy's been with the Brazilians now for almost 20 years, and his style has never deviated too far from the original, roughshod and grunting and barking aesthetics of his predecessor. No, despite the fact he has always been technically sound on the many releases he has fronted, his harsher vocals have always felt played out to me, lacking individual distinction against the hundreds or thousands of other groove metal or nu-metal growlers you'd have found at the corner bars during the Ozzfest era and forward. His sound has not changed much here, and it simply lacks the viciousness or raw, murderous quality that I associate with and love from early Sepultura.

But here's what I CAN tell you...

This is the most engaged I've been with a Sepultura record since 1993. That's not to say that albums like Dante XXI, Kairos and The Mediator Between Head and Hands Must Be the Heart lacked any semblance of highlights. Sure, I could string together a solid album's worth of content between 1994 and 2013. Maybe even a double disc set. But Machine Messiah manages to strike an eclectic range between the band's tribal instincts, their LCD grooves and then a slightly tighter and more technical Sepultura which offers a lot more candy for the ears. A lot of this comes directly through Andreas Kisser's writing and performance...when he leaves behind the stolid attempts to ape the success they had with such simple mosh components in the 90s post-Arise, he explores some more compelling and busy picking sequences that really tipped the balance for my desire to listen repeatedly. It makes me wish this were the norm for this band in the 21st century, that they had expressed a desire to become increasingly more progressive like a lot of their international peers had already achieved by the late 80s. I realize that would seem anathema to a core of their audience that just wants to reel around violently and crush each other, but it's a damn shame...

It even carries forward to the leads, which are very well executed, never extended beyond their welcome and almost unanimously catchy whether they just be frenetic and spontaneous, atonal, Eastern inspired and exotic, or all of the above. Having these licks riding atop even the most banal of rhythm guitar breakdowns instantly adds some levity and depth which I feel a lot of albums they've put out have largely lacked. Eloy Casagrande also turns in a spotless performance here, effortlessly putting up a level of energy that would be fit for most modern thrash or death metal records, but constantly applying that primal, ethnic, 'jungle' spread of fills and rumbling grooves that will remind many of the more (and only) interesting moments of Roots; only here, I like the riffs better, and that goes a long way. Bass-lines are perfectly mixed, just fat enough to register against the clean but punchy rhythm guitar tone and often a little busier than you've come to expect from that area. In truth the album sounds really great overall...polished but not lacking some force where required, and also leaving some room for the more elegant lead tone, cleaner guitars and so forth.

So with so much going for it, the few flaws here are quite easy to forgive. The vocals are acceptable, even when he's doing his lower range Layne Stayley-meets-Nick Cave crooning like in the titular intro or "Cyber God". Would I like it better with Max? I'm sure a lot of folks would, but that's not to discredit a reasonable effort from Green. The grooves in tunes like "Iceberg Dances" are straight from the Chaos A.D. playbook, or reminiscent of other bands from Machine Head to 90s Ministry, and even if a lot of them weren't so interesting, they do at least tap into that same, sweltering testosterone center in the brain that makes you want to riot a little. The lyrics are honestly pretty bland, the usual self-help sociopolitical stuff which is supposed to make you feel good but just doesn't possess enough grasp of imagination, metaphor or catchy phrasing to make that difference. Also it has a song called "Cyber God" and I really wish we were through with everyone having a song dubbed "Cyber" something. That feels 1998 at best.

But it's the strong variation in pacing between thrashers and slower bruisers, and the willingness to toss out a few new ideas like the colorful orchestration synthesized into "Phantom Self" that kept me paying attention through the entirety of the disc, and that give me some further hope that all sparks of inspiration and creativity have not fled the band across the decades, and maybe they're on the verge of producing something great again. That said, I'll gladly take stuff like this in the meantime.

Verdict: Win [7.75/10] (facing the blind of collective delusion)

http://sepultura.com.br/

Sepultura - Kairos (2011)

Though a 'true' reunion with Max Cavalera has been in demand for many years, Sepultura is one of the few internationally renowned metal bands to have not repealed its new front man. You've got to admire such resolve, because the pressure must have been huge this past decade, with thrash coming back in full swing and lots of fans, old and new shelling out hard currency for new albums with classic lineups, reunion tours, etc. That being said, I've yet to hear a single Derrick Greene fronted Sepultura record which I could place upon the same plateau of quality achieved early on with albums like Chaos A.D., Beneath the Remains, and Schizophrenia.

Sure, they've tried, and individual tracks from albums like Nation and Against have had their moments, but it just doesn't seem to be working out for me. I just can't get into the guy's vocals. Technically, he's got a broader range of styles, yet I've felt as if the band were always missing something without Max's gruff if misguided presence. Kairos, the band's 12th album, is an appeal to the past, the band returning almost wholly to the simplistic thrash riffing that placed them on the map in the footfalls of Slayer, Possessed and other primal giants of the form. It's not so much a mirror into the band's 80s catalog as it is a second attempt at a Chaos A.D., and the decision to include various external influences (primarily industrial) into the social political, tribal and 'feel good' lyrics only reinforces its retread grounds.

Alas, the Brazilian superstars have once again come up short, and Kairos is yet another quizzical full-length that begs the question: how does Sepultura sustain itself off about 15 years of middling and underwhelming composition? Are the classics still such huge hits on tour? Is the fan base in total denial? Did they invest in a successful stock portfolio in the mid 90s? To think, there is practically an entire generation now of fans who have grown up with Green. I guess the band must be doing something right, even if the quality of their output seems so borderline wrong...

Kairos does attempt to be that Sepultura record everyone's been waiting for since 1993 (or in the case of many Chaos A.D. haters, 1991). A few of the early birds ("Spectrum", "Kairos") have relatively hypnotic, basal mute thrash rhythms which build expectations rather high, and then defecate all over them, as they go basically nowhere. Green cycles between his emotionally charged, Phil Anselmo snarls, somber narrative tones, and the straight up caustic style which is his best, and the band just phones in a handful of primitive beats and rhythms which never build up enough fire to resurrect the momentum of yesteryear. There are some creative leads tossed about the track list, and a handful of curious riffs that rekindle the band's 1989-93 personality (like the ringing guitar line in "Born Strong"), but there never seems to be more than one, or possible two little rhythms worth a damn anywhere.

Like Chaos A.D., there are the expectant moments of versatility and experimentation, manifest here through some minor ambient segues ("2011", "5722"), and industrial pieces: the first a cover of Ministry's "Just One Fix", plays rather close to the original version, with some South of Heaven-style leads thrown in at the end. The second, a Sepultura original called "Structure Violence" which blends the tribal, groove and industrial elements into what is at least the most interesting overall song on the entire album. But the remainder of the album is nothing more than the law of averages being spun repeatedly. "Mask" might have a decent riff tucked into its bridge, but in getting there one must survive its tedious grooves. "Dialog" opens with a latent melody to its muted, driving chords, but fails to flower into anything worthwhile. Then you have pieces like "Seethe", the same pedestrian hardcore/groove metal the band have been releasing to no avail for the decade before this.

By this point it must seem like I've a serious hate on for this album, but that's not at all the case. Kairos is not bad. In fact, it's mildly more appealing than the band's hot selling, tribal nu-metal effort Roots, and there are a half dozen riffs I could single out which would have been quite ace in a more potent environment (Max Cavalera vocals optional). The production does the album a measure of justice, being crisp and poignant, and Jean Dolabella attempts to keep the simplicity of the song structures adaptive and interesting with his drumming. But the music and lyrics are in general pretty undeveloped (like "Mask", which almost reads like a cheesy, preemptive backlash against the internet generation who have hounded the band for a decade), and at the most its a pale shadow of something like Chaos A.D., which was for its time felt so original due to the tremendous grooving force, and cultural and local political influence. Kairos is just kind of 'all right', and once again, that's just not enough.

Verdict: Indifference [5.75/10] (bridge the gap between the gaps)

http://sepultura.uol.com.br/v7/

Sepultura - Chaos A.D. (1993)

Few albums have polarized the masses quite like Chaos A.D., but I really have to admit, after careful consideration: this is my favorite release from the Brazilians. Why, you ask, would a thrash purist like myself prefer this over their faster, busier albums like Beneath the Remains? Well, for one, I found Arise quite a bore. There were a few good tracks hidden in it, but the tone of the album did absolutely nothing for me, and I thought it was a few steps backward from Beneath the Remains. More importantly, Chaos A.D. is a culmination of form. It was inevitable, really. Take the band's social and political lyrical stance, the tribal folk influence of their environment, and the down tuning hardcore breakdowns; combine these to create one of the most fist pumping pit epics ever.

I'll go one further: Chaos A.D. is probably the most mosh-worthy album in the history of metal. Almost every track here is laden with brutal yet simple pit grooves that are nearly irresistible, even to one such as myself, who has loathed the mosh pit culture since a very young age. Sepultura writes these things extremely well here. Max's angry barking and one of the best productions I've ever heard for a metal album round out the pummeling, furious statement that is Chaos A.D. Make no mistakes about it, this is one pissed off album.

"Refuse/Resist" begins the album with a powerful groove and some nice drumwork, before the infamous line Chaos A.D.! Tanks On The Streets! Confronting Police! Bleeding The Plebs! delivered just as angrily as any hardcore band. The tribal "Territory" thrives of its simplistic grooves and crazy breakdowns. "Slave New World" is a thrasher that might have also appeared on either of the previous two albums. "Amen" has the perfect, simple verse riff, dispersed by some slower drum fills and doomier guitar breaks. "Kaiowas" is a folk, acoustic piece, yet it feels as if it fits here completely. "Propaganda" starts with haunting, ringing guitars before pulverizing your face yet again with a simple riff which seems like it's just a variation of others on the album. But this is the forte of Chaos A.D., it's basically feeding you the same style of riffs over and over and having you love them every time, the power of cohesion and continuity reigns. "Biotech is Godzilla" is a decent, faster track but not one of my favorites on the album. "Nomad" begins with another ringing mid-ranged guitar, almost siren-like, before the drum fill leads into another neck breaking groove. "We Who Are Not As Others" is a progressive track with some acoustic fills, bluesy wails and gang shouts. Very effective. "Manifest" is a brutal tribute to the violence of prison population purges. The band covers "The Hunt" from New Model Army, and does an excellent job with the tune, sounding very much their own. "Clenched Fist" ends the album with another sick, grooving verse.

As I mentioned earlier, this album has an insanely good mix, recorded in England. Everything is loud and clear, the guitars sound punishing and the vocals pissed. The tribal fill inflections of the percussion are evident, and the bass runs thick. Crank this fuck and just try not banging your head to it. The lyrics are decent and meaningful, especially for the band. I have heard countless horse shit scenester complaints about how this album is 'sellout' and one of the influences that created the dreaded 'nu metal' genre, along with Machine Head and the emerging rapcore scene. But here is the catch: who cares? If all nu metal had been as good as this album, noone would have hated it to begin with. Unfortunately that was not to be, and even Sepultura started rolling downhill after this (I may not agree with the blowhards that this record was the Anti-antichrist, but I certainly agree about Roots).

Before this arrived, I had lauded Beneath the Remains as my favorite album from the band. While that remains the best of their speed/thrash style, Chaos A.D. is the album that truly defines this band for me. It's where they stopped being Slayer, D.R.I. and Metallica's heavily accented counterpart from Brazil and became an entity all to themselves, yet still has plenty of those types of thrash riffs. It is distinctive and nigh flawless. It still sounds great today. Give it a chance, or give it another.

Verdict: Epic Win [9.5/10] (rule to kill the urge)

http://sepultura.uol.com.br/v6/

Sepultura - Arise (1991)

After the highly-regarded thrashfeast of Beneath the Remains, the jungle boys cleaned up their act a bit and pulled back on the reins to produce Arise, a more professional album featuring a restrained, yet familiar take on their style. Gone is the wild, urgent thrash edge, replaced by the self-confident pace of a Sepultura slowly branching out in a new direction. Arise may be a transition album, but that doesn't make it any less worth listening to.

One of the most noticeable changes on Arise is the warm, dry sound of the album. It's definitely a "better" mix - the instruments are more balanced with each other, bringing about a smooth cohesion and consistency to the album - but it's a sharp about-face from the raw, immediate punch of Beneath the Remains. Although this doesn't help the overall heft of Arise, I don't find the change to be lacking at all. Starting with the fantastic cover art depicting Yog Sothoth in a wasteland of drab, muted colours, Arise creates the impression of a vast, barren world that is perfectly matched by the warmth of the music. Ominous introductions add an excellent sense of space, while the music itself hints at an encapsulating vastness. The guitars are still sharp, yet moreso like the sting of sand blown in a strong desert wind than the previous razor edge. Some might call the riffs on Arise tame - they're certainly not going to win any awards for speed or complexity, that's for sure - but that doesn't stop them from being as catchy as the plague. Max and Andreas had (had, mind you) a fantastic knack for writing memorable songs from fairly simple riffs, and it's a testament to them that they could do so at the fairly sedate (for thrash) tempo of Arise. Max's voice has also matured here, eschewing the sneering spite seen previously for a confident strength that imbues much more character into the humanistic lyrics drawn from the struggles in Sao Paulo and the world. Capping off with a killer cover of Motorhead's "Orgasmotron," the fourth Sepultura LP ends on a rocking note that fits perfectly with the rest of the album.

I have no objection to the common opinion that the songwriting on Arise is less impressive than Beneath the Remains and less unique than Chaos AD. However, that has never hampered my enjoyment of it, and therein lies why this album gets such high esteem from me. Even now, a bit past ten years later, Arise is every bit as entertaining as when I first came across it. In my mind, there are no out-of-place riffs, weak points, or duds to be found anywhere on the album. Sepultura aren't pushing themselves to their limits here, but they're doing what they do, and doing it damn well.

Verdict: Epic Win [5/5]

http://sepultura.uol.com.br/v6/