Metal Post! Sepultura

SEPULTURA! The kings of Brazilian metal. One of the greatest thrash/death metal bands of all time. They took the world of 80s hardcore and thrash and infused it with the perfect amount of death to create a super-high-energy mixture chronically on the verge of exploding.

Brazil is a crazy place. It has incredible racial diversity and some serious racial tensions. In that way, it's like the U.S. But it has a powerful entrenched sense of primitive nativism that Sepultura used for its own style. It's not like the quaint nod that people in the U.S. give to the Sioux, the Apache, or the Cherokee. It's a full-blooded feeling that pervades much of Brazilian life. But it's also an industrial society. It's a democracy. It's something of a police state. It's riven with poverty and religious tensions. Sepultura was the sound of all of that conflict.

Usually I'd go through some litany of their albums. I'll save you and me the time. The first must-have album is Beneath the Remains (1989). The title track is awesome. The first three albums (Bestial, Morbid Visions, and Schizophrenia) all have their moments, especially Morbid Visions (1986). But the production is pretty awful and the song-writing not developed very well yet. They were onto something with those albums but not quite the killers they'd become.

Their best album, by far, is Arise (1991). It's the height of their artful phase, no doubt influenced by some of Metallica's, Megadeth's, and Voivod's forays into elaboration during the previous few years. Every track is at least good and some of them have become metal paragons a rung below Metallica's "Battery," "Damage, Inc.," or "Blackened" on the ladder of thrash. Most of the songs are interestingly structured encomiums to devestation, dejection, and disdain for authority. Few albums get more than two really good tracks. For my money, the first six tracks ("Arise," "Dead Embryonic Cells," "Desparate Cry," "Murder," "Subtraction," and "Altered States") are an almost perfect album in themselves.

And, if you have the nice edition, it comes with one of the greatest covers ever: Motörhead's "Orgasmatron." To hear Sepultura, one of the most politically aware, anti-racist, and socially critical bands of the last 20 years, come out and use the Lemmy's lyrical barrage against the tyrrany of religion, the hypocrisy of politics, and the megalomania of the war industy...well...it just makes my heart twitter and my fists clench in enraged ecstasy. For my money, it's hard to get better than Max Cavallera shouting, "For I am Mars! The God of war! And I'll...cut you...DOWN!"

After this, it starts to go downhill for me. Chaos A.D. (1993) has some strong tunes on it - notably "Refuse/Resist," "Territory," and "Biotech is Godzilla" (Who can't help but love Max Cavallera barking "Biotech! Is Godzhidda!"?) - but the album as a whole gets bogged down in a kind of sameness. Like Metallica did with their Black album, Sepultura moved to a simpler style that built back on their hardcore roots a la Discharge or something. It's not my cup of tea. After that...well...I'll just avoid talking about Roots and so on.

If there ever was a tour that I didn't see that I should have sold my right arm to see it was when Helmet, Sepultura, and Ministry toured together. Damnit! My friend Tom saw it and said it was like getting hit with 10,000 sledgehammers of audible death. That's the coolest thing ever.

Now for some video!

"Arise" the video (I love that beginning. If you remember my post on Decapitated from a couple of weeks ago, you'll be reminded of how much they owe Sepultura.)


"Dead Embryonic Cells" (I love the native imagery in this video. The song's groove at the beginning with Andreas Kisser's ugly harmonies over top blow me away. The slow breakdown that builds incredible rhythmic tension after the solo is archetypal and genius thrash writing! Check the guitar harmony and how Paulo, Jr. and Igor Cavallera keep the groove going in bass and drums. Fabulous rhythmic work.)


"Orgasmatron" Live in Barcelona!


"Refuse/Resist" Live from French TV in 1994 (Check the hardcore breakdown and solo)


Yeah yeah. It's Wednesday. But as I said last week, my schedule has changed so much that the metal post would likely change. It will probably move to Wednesday.

Next week, a change of pace with some Norwegian black metal: Emperor.