Sepultura

Chaos A.D.

Groovy. 4.5

Review Score:

(10/10)
This was my first Sepultura album, and probably the first 'extreme metal' album I ever bought, if memory serves me right. So I guess it has a bit of sentimental attachment, but this is definitely a great metal album, and a highly influential one. (even if most of what it influenced turned out to be crap) Personally, I prefer the previous three Sepultura albums, but, of course, thrash is my favorite metal subgenre, and Sepultura was probably the second best band that the subgenre had to offer. So, your slower, more straight forward groove metal album is unlikely to top those classics, but 'Chaos A.D.' is about as good as that sorta album is gonna get.

People like to say that Sepultura 'sold out' with this album. Of all the times I've heard that a band 'sold out' this is probably the most ridiculous accusation of all. This album was and is devastatingly heavy, and as heavy as anything they released up to this point. Simply put, nothing this heavy could ever be considered a sell-out album. That, and there was nothing like this that was at all popular at the time. This was frickin 1993, not 1999. Still, if you're looking for a thrashing, you're gonna be disappointed. However, they can groove like nobody's business, and Igor lays out some really innovative and interesting rhythms, considering the era when it was made. Andreas goes pretty weird on us with the lead guitar, with lots of shrieking and wailing, but he actually makes it work for once, and the style really fits the whole mood of the album. Max's vocals, which were already quite insane on 'Arise' up the ante here, further justifying his position as perhaps my favorite roarer/howler/shrieker/growler.

Everything on here is at least fairly interesting, and it's got more than it's share of classics. 'Refuse/Resist' really blew me away the first time I heard it years ago on a metal radio show, and it never fails to impress. It's got just about the most devastating chorus ever recorded. Remarkably 'Territory' manages to top it, though the studio version isn't quite as crushing as some live versions I've heard. There's not all that much to 'Kaiowas' but I think it really works. Sadly, it stops right about when it really gets going, but it's still a very enjoyable track. 'Nomad' and 'We Who Are Not as Others' are both slow moving, atmospheric pieces which I wasn't all that fond of initially, but have really grown on me over the years. Surprisingly, the cover song, 'The Hunt' is probably my favorite track on the album. It's got such a great, heavy groove, and Max gives perhaps his best vocal performance on the album. (The highlight is when he says, 'We can spend our whole lives waiting for some thunderbird to come/ We can spend our whole lives waiting for some justice to be done. Simply devastating.)

Yeah. Fans of old-school Sepultura may or may not like this, but it definitely deserves a shot.

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