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Sepultura - Roots
1996 Roadrunner Records
Track
Listing:
1. Roots Bloody Roots
2. Attitude
3. Cut Throat
4. Ratamahatta
5. Breed Apart
6. Straighthate
7. Spit
8. Lookaway
9. Dusted
10. Born Stubborn
11. Jasco
12. Itsari
13. Ambush
14. Endangered Species
15. Dictatorshit
Line-Up:
Vocals:
Max Cavalera
Guitars: Max Cavalera,
Andreas Kisser
Bass: Paulo Jr.
Drums: Igor Cavalera
Website: sepultura.com.br
Horatio's Rating: D
Shev's Rating: D-
Average Album Rating: D
Also be sure to read:
Sepultura
- Chaos A.D. by Horatio
Sepultura
- Dead Embryonic Cells by
Uncle Meat
Sepultura
- Morbid Visions & Bestial Devastation by
Uncle Meat
Death
Metal's Greatest Hits by Horatio
Nativity
In Black: A Tribute To Black Sabbath by
Shev
Soulfly - Dark Ages (Max Cavalera) by Horatio |
Shev's Review:
If you're marketing a metal album and the best parts are the tribal sections, then you know you've got
problems. Such is the case with Sepultura's "highly acclaimed"
Roots...although I suppose this shouldn't have come as such a
surprise after listening to one of the most boring, over-rated albums of all time,
Chaos A.D. Here we get to witness Sepultura abandoning the
spirit of such classics like Beneath The Remains and Arise,
sacrifing musical integrity and brilliant song writing for tired, down-tuned riffs splashed with a
few interesting specs of their native tribal sound. Remove the tribal and you get an overly
simplistic shred of what Sepultura used to be. Entirely lacking
in energy and creativity, Roots is a complete radio-friendly dud.
While a change in sound and mix of other styles is something which should be given
kudos, this is a mish-mash of minimalistic artsy nonsense for the sake of "progression".
At least they named their album appropriately enough, as this does suck many, many roots.
Shev's Rating: D-
Horatio's Review:
Given the non event that was 2003's 'Roorback' it's impossible to
conceive that Sepultura were once considered Slayer's
equals, as albums like 'Beneath The Remains', 'Arise' and 'Chaos
A.D.' became instant thrash classics, making each new release as
eagerly anticipated as anything from the heavyweights of U.S.
thrash. Then came 'Roots'. 'Chaos A.D.' had seen
a lessening of the relentless thrash of yesteryear, but still contained
it's share of speed and there was little to suggest that Sepultura
were going to tone things down. In 1994 Max Cavalera formed a side
project called 'Nailbomb' with some dude from a band called Fudgetunnel
and proceeded to record one of the most boring albums ever, a vaguely
industrial affair with no melody and only a smattering of speed.
This must have had a lasting effect on Max as when it came time finally
follow up 'Chaos' the results were almost indistinguishable from Nailbomb.
I recall sitting in front of the stereo with my accomplice in metal and
waiting for the expected thrash onslaught. And waiting. And
waiting some more. It appeared Max had been influenced by the Metallica/Megadeth/Anthrax
creed of abandoning thrash.
The writing on the wall should have been
clear from the start when such individuals as Jonathon Davis, Mike Patton
and D.J. Lethal were invited to collaborate on the album. Just six
years earlier it would have been the likes of John Tardy and Shane
Embury. Sepultura had been embraced by the metal mainstream
featuring in every issue of Metal Hammer and Kerrang! and it
must have had an effect on their consciousness. The glaring problem
with 'Roots' is the downtuned nature of the riffs and tone in
general. It's almost like an early version of the nu-metal boom of the
late 90's. Gone were the fretboard burnouts from Kisser and the crude
thrash drumming from Igor that made 'Arise' so great. Here they
might as well be session men. The obsession with cultural issues in
the bands native Brazil had reached their zenith and the tribal sound is
smeared throughout the album. The songs are largely faceless, the
lyrics simple and for all purposes Sepultura were done. This
was confirmed when Max left in late 1996 leaving the remaining three to
continue which they have done to an ever fading profile, 1999's 'Against'
the best of their three albums with replacement Derrick Greene. Maybe
if Max hadn't forced this nonsense upon his bandmates Sepultura might
still be in their original state. Instead 'Roots' remains a
figurehead of failure.
Song summaries include...
- Roots Bloody
Roots - In 1996 thrash was all but dead and this confirmed
it. For the year leading up to this it was a daily routine to
listen to Sepultura's previous three albums and foolhardily I
expected this to be on par with the back catalogue. This track
always promises to take off but never does, remaining grindingly slow
throughout. The slowness makes it hard to react to the music and
it doesn't sound like Sepultura. I can still see the
stunned faces in the bedroom. Oh well, there's still another
fourteen tracks right? C-
- Attitude
- Describing these tracks is almost pointless as they all utilize the
same riffs without any trace of originality. Unlike previous
albums there are no unexpected moments of manic riffing, and the
guitar tone is unsatisfying. More energetic than the title track
at least. C
- Cut Throat
- 'Go!' screams Max at the two minute mark. Could this be
it? Some thrash? No, just a continuation of the boredom of
the first two tracks. What's the point of muttering that and
getting hopes up? D
- Ratamahatta
- The band goes rap metal, inviting in fellow Brazilian Carlinhos
Brown to co-write and contribute vocals to this track, sung in
Brazilian. Think back to 1991 and imagine that five years later Sepultura
would have been doing this. C
- Breed Apart
- Where Sepultura used to feature complex lyrics, here they
were reduced to basic four line verses, 'creepy crawl on concrete and
dust, asphalt jungle, piles of crust'. The emphasis is more on
the bludgeoning, simplistic tribal riffs of which a another multitude
are on offer here. D
- Straighthate
- This one opens as a near copy of Anthrax's 'Invisible'.
Predictably it's downhill all the way from there. 'Grow up in
the ghettos made me real to deal with my fears, muthafucker you don't
understand' wails Max with forced rage and angst. It appeared he
had also been influenced by Rob Flynn. You see Max is the only
person who had grown up in poverty and decay and what the hell would privileged
people like us know about it? Musically nothing more than a
blur, senseless dirge like riffing pushed too far. D
- Spit
- A slight masquerade with speed, but by this point it was clear the
album was already a bust and disenchanted faces all over the world
could be viewed as the realization set in that another thrash band was
obsolete. Mere slop that could have been a two minute jam.
F
- Lookaway
- Jonathon Davis makes his appearance in a typically Korn
influenced track with DJ Lethal spinning his vinyl in the
background. The very pinnacle of the bands downfall. Why
did they invite Davis to appear? Were they hopping on the Korn
bandwagon that was rolling at the time? Did Max crave the
mainstream attention? No melody, no variety among the riffs, no
passages that catch you off guard. Just noise. F
- Dusted
- This is becoming a marathon. The album's best moment occurs
prior to this track when someone can be heard saying 'boha!'
There's a solo near the end that briefly recalls the glory days, but
that filthy downtuned riff is always present to ruin matters. D
- Born Stubborn
- An ode to the legions of Sepultura fans who take no guff and
do it their way. F
- Jasco
- Acoustic lead in to the now obligatory native jungle jam. This
could have been off Led Zeppelin 3, 'Bron Y- Aur Stomp'
maybe. C
- Itsari
- These forced excursions into the Amazon always seemed token to
me. As if the band was saying 'we have cred, we keep it real, we
are at one with the natives, we feel their pain.' With the band
dressed in native garb, faces painted it was obviously a fetish of
Max's more than anyone else, even though Sepultura have
maintained this theme with Greene years later. More acoustic
material with the addition of native musical tools. C
- Ambush
- Notable only for the albums first excursion into thrash, which lasts
a whopping thirty seconds at the conclusion and is as satisfying as Megadeth's
thrash burnout on 'The Killing Road'. D
- Endangered
Species - More jungle overkill, more martyred lyrics from
Max, more redundant riffs. Totally forgettable. F
- Dictatorshit
- A one minute thrasher that is more punk than metal. I don't
recall thinking 'the albums saved now!' D
Horatio's Rating: D
Discography (last updated 11.5.05):
Bestial Devastation/Século XX split with Overdose -
1985
Morbid Visions - 1986
Schizophrenia - 1987
Beneath The Remains -1989
Arise - 1991
Arise EP - 1991
Dead Embryonic Cells EP -
1991
Desperate Cry EP - 1991
Morbid Visions
& Bestial Devastation - 1991
Under Siege (Regnum Irae) EP - 1991
Third World Posse EP - 1992
Chaos AD - 1993
Refuse/Resist EP - 1993
Territory EP - 1993
Slave New World EP - 1994
Attitude EP - 1996
Natural Born Blasters EP - 1996
Ratamahatta EP - 1996
Roots - 1996
Roots Bloody Roots EP - 1996
The Roots Of Sepultura - 1996
B-Sides - 1997
Blood Rooted - 1997
Procreation Of The Wicked EP - 1997
Against - 1998
Choke EP - 1998
Against EP - 1999
Tribus EP - 1999
Nation - 2001
Revolusongs EP - 2002
Under A Pale Gray Sky - 2002
Roorback - 2003
Live In São Paulo - 2005
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