I admit it: I wasn’t a Sepultura fan, but things have changed 18 years ago with their fifth studio album, “Chaos A.D.”. Released on 2nd September 1993, with this album Sepultura transcend from their previous death/thrash metal style into raw hardcore punk, a mixture of metal with industrial music and spiced with traditional Brazilian-styled percussion which eventually become one of the founding pillars of the groove metal subgenre along Pantera’s “Vulgar Display of Power”. “Chaos A.D.” established new direction, a new approach, a new standard for brutality, and not at least a new subgenre of metal. It seems in 1993 everything came together for Sepultura.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMvWQwOdYe8&w=540&h=435]
The band considered a number of producers, including avant-garde jazz composer John Zorn and Al Jourgensen of industrial metal pioneers Ministry. Finally they settled with Andy Wallace who mixed also their previous album, “Arise”, and worked with bands such as New Model Army, The Cult, Slayer, The Rollins Band, White Zombie , Nirvana, Sonic Youth, Rage Against the Machine, etc.
Featuring a cover of New Model Army’s “The Hunt” – chosen by Igor Cavalera and a collaboration with Jello Biafra on “Biotech Is Godzilla”, Sepultura left behind their roots of death metal and incorporated industrial and hardcore punk elements in their stripped-down, intense and sometimes dense thrash metal, but also adding a distinct Brazilian perfume to this musical Molotov. The unbelievably powerful rhythmic base provided by Igor Cavalera gave “Chaos A.D.” its strength and knockout punch, but also color by including Brazilian percussion. Sepultura began to draw upon the influences of their native Brazil, also audible in the acoustic instrumental “Kaiowas”. Concentrating not exclusively on speed, but instead on playing extremely tight and focused, borrowing from hardcore arguably more effectively than any other metal band at the moment and concentrating on creating contorted texture and used efficiently dissonance to create musical themes.
Full of consistent political and social messages, backed-up with cutting edge riffs and powerful themes, “Chaos A.D.” still is one of the freshest and strongest metal albums ever released.
Track list:
01. “Refuse/Resist”
02. “Territory”
03. “Slave New World”
04. “Amen”
05. “Kaiowas”
06. “Propaganda”
07. “Biotech Is Godzilla”
08. “Nomad”
09. “We Who Are Not as Others”
10. “Manifest”
11. “The Hunt”
12. “Clenched Fist”
Sepultura – Official Site
Sepularmy – Official Fan Site
Sepultura @ Facebook
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkQ2Dbt0HfQ&w=540&h=435]
