I've never listen to Sepultura that much but last year, I listen to Sepultura's second album-Schizophrenia. Now this album's sound lead more towards the Thrash Metal genre than their previous album, Morbid Visions, which is basically a Death Metal record. And since I a huge fan of Thrash Metal, i thought that their second album Schizophrenia is not bad at all, in fact I enjoyed it.
But just when I thought that I was going to "explore" more on Sepultura, I got myself a Slayer album, Christ Illusions. Then I got myself listening to Slayer music non-stop, 24/7,every-fucking-minute (Still fucking doing that actually). And I think that no Thrash Metal can beat them, ever.
But, few weeks ago I watched Sam Dunn's documentary on Metal music- Global Metal. In the documentary, Sam Dunn travelled to Brazil to explore on the country's metal scene and they documented about Sepultura's music. And there's one particular album that caught my interest-Roots.
Roots is Sepultura's sixth studio album and it was released in March 12, 1996 by Roadrunner Records. But whats really interesting about this album is that its Thrash Metal with Native Brazilian musical rythms.
Sepultura fans were fucking shocked upon first hearing Roots. Huge riffs and hulking rhythms had replaced the speedy thrash that established Sepultura's reputation, as well as the impeccable songwriting that made Chaos A.D. a masterpiece three years earlier. "Roots Bloody Roots" sported a two-note riff; "Dictatorshit" was straight-up hardcore punk, complete with noisy, hissy intro. The emphasis was now on the sound, rather than the song.
Producer Ross Robinson recorded the band on old analog equipment to get a raw, dirty sound; pick scrapes, feedback, and background noise were not only left unedited, but also seemingly encouraged.
Experimentation and collaboration abounded. In the studio, Robinson would verbally and physically provoke the band to intensify performances. Tribal percussion drove "Ratamahatta" and "Breed Apart" to manic heights, while "Lookaway" featured throat-shredding vocals from Mike Patton (Faith No More) and Jonathan Davis (Korn), as well as scratches from DJ Lethal (House of Pain, Limp Bizkit). Robinson even put microphones around a canyon, recording the band jamming on tribal drums, rocks, sticks—whatever was lying around. The result was a 13-minute headphone monster that captured crickets chirping and gunshot echoes in you-are-there fidelity. Mixer Andy Wallace tied the whole mess together with one of the most visceral mixes ever committed to tape. The mammoth low end, sharp snares, and in-the-red levels of the mix combined with an incredibly hot mastering job to yield one loud album. Few albums have sounded this vicious.
Fortunately, Roots is a strong enough album to resist attempts to cash in on its legacy. After Roots, internal conflict drove Max Cavalera to leave Sepultura and form Soulfly, continuing the "tribal metal" of Roots; Sepultura carried on with new singer Derrick Green. But neither band has regained the success of Max Cavalera-era Sepultura. While both bands play "Roots Bloody Roots" now in their live sets, listeners can get with the real thing by picking up the original Roots.
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