This is the 3rd album from Brazilian thrash metal band, Sepultura. From my research, it’s one of the big, popular influential albums in thrash metal and it’s considered a classic. To have that reputation and not be music from the Big 4 of thrash is a pretty massive achievement. This is also the sound that everyone including then lead singer, Max Cavalera, that Sepultura ended up settling into to form the band’s sonic identity and niche. My uncle wanted me to talk about this album because I liked Max when I was little, but I found out later it was because of Dead Embryotic Cells from the album that came right after, Arise, which will have to be a story for another time. It was his birthday recently, so I thought I’d take a look. At first I didn’t really get the appeal, but slowly I came around. This album is fast, quick, rushed even. It whizzes past you at lightning speed, for better or worse. For the most part, however, I like it. Production is simple all around, almost mechanical, choking out a bit of the life in the instruments, but it makes for a more industrial sound. Composition is heavy, and very fast, which made me think this album was almost scared of whole notes, until I listened again and heard guitars holding notes for longer than a fraction of a second. But most of this album is a lot of fast chugging, thrash beats, and aggressive metal energy that’s similar to punk music. It’s a very scatterbrained album jumping from musical idea to musical idea at light speed which really plays into the “go go go” vibe of this record. Lyrics are simple, but they can be really effective, with their social commentary. This album can really pack a punch lyrically as it can compositionally. Max Cavalera’s primal, angry vocals really carry this album along and without them, this album fails. Warts and all, this is a charming album from the start. It’s straight to the point, and it’s got a lot to say and it’s going to say it with no filter and all killer.
PRODUCTION
Production is fine, but I feel like it’s stuck in a box, at least from a mixing standpoint. It’s not like The Strokes’ Is This It, where it’s stuck in an indie, raw, yet quiet and soft aesthetic. It feels like this album’s sound quality makes it stiff. It’s the guitars where this problem lies. They’re heavy, no doubt, but they seem robotic, like they’re not given dynamic range and therefore, no room to breathe. It feels kind of cheap, but I could see how that lo-fi, scrappy aesthetic could be appealing given the vibe of this album. But then we get to the drums that sound great. The snares in particular sound nice and big. I would prefer the cymbals to be louder, but the rest of the kit sounds good! I would talk about the bass at length if I could hear it. Frustratingly, Beneath the Remains fits into the metal stereotype of bass being inaudible. I guess they fill out the sound of the guitars a tad, but I just can’t tell if that’s just guitars. Inner Self is a notable exception to this rule, especially with that little line at the beginning where the bass pops up from the surface. Even more frustrating, Max Cavalera is fighting to be heard against the rest of the band, which makes me think the guitars are supposed to be the star of the show, even while the vocalist has the melody. It’s the guitar show for basically the entire runtime, as they overpower all else. It’s a dreaded rock trope, and I am forever disappointed with a) not letting everyone be heard while they do their thing and b) when the main melody is obscured by the background band.
But I will say, effects are pretty good early, at least when it comes to the bells and whistles of this album. Vocal panning makes good use of the stereo sound especially at the beginning with the opener and title track’s chorus. Also, not to mention the opening warfare sounds of that song is a really nice touch. Slaves of Pain is also pretty great with the “life ends” echoing to lead up to the actual line which I think is a great use of reverb. The rest of the instruments, however, stay put for the most part. You have your cliché drum thing where the toms pan, but not much else. The guitars are positioned in such a way that they’re super overwhelming in both channels and it makes for a very tight, constricting experience, which might be up your alley if you’re looking for that aggressive music and aggressive production style.
COMPOSITION
Composition’s really fast. Did I mention how fast it is? I’ll tell you right now, it’s really fast. Guitars are often chugging along, as is pretty customary in thrash metal and they’re nice and heavy. The solos on here are absolutely wild though, and I love how off the wall and dissonant they are. They really add to the high octane feel of this album. It’s not like Master of Puppets or really any guitar solo I’ve heard where they fit into the key and tempo, but it’s more “go hog wild” and God, I love it! The drums here are pretty standard for metal, especially thrash metal, which is F A S T, but I hear a lot of this in modern metal as well. But I think my uncle said it best about this album and Sepultura’s music as a whole is that the drums accurately depict the mood, perhaps more than anything he’s ever heard. And I have to say I agree given how intense these drums are. They’re not necessarily doing anything ground-breaking, but it works. The bass is really disappointing for me. Outside of the really cool bass lick at the end of Stronger Than Hate, I don’t really hear bass and again, it just screams “metal bass stereotype” to me. I feel like this album could have done a lot more with bass and it’s such a missed opportunity outside of a couple small pockets.
Structure is a bit of a mixed bag for me. Song structure is often pretty all over the place with all these ideas coming at you at rapid speed, some of which don’t mesh all that well together simply because they just switch without warning. Now, switching movements all of a sudden can be done to great effect every once in a while, like a changing time signature here and there, but when it’s nearly every song, it can get old quick. Speaking of which, I find these songs sound a little too similar to each other. It sounds like the same fast thrash metal song done over and over again and that really made me check out. It just felt like a patchwork of all these ideas hastily put together which really needs to be refined. It’s definitely a stylistically unified record, but it’s a very clunky style. Now, Inner Self is the outlier of this album’s structure because it doesn’t do this for the most part. Sure, it’s pretty basic with its verse-chorus-verse-chorus-solo thing, but there are actually transitions here, and they work to make that nice roadmap of the song. Album structure is almost non-existent, in a “collection of songs” sort of way. They sound very similar to each other, so I’d have no idea how to structure this album in a way that makes it more interesting. But as much as I just crapped on this album for fine details, these songs are still good on an individual level and I think that’s what they were going for in more ways than one.
LYRICS
There’s a reason that when I was little, I wanted to grow up and become like Max Cavalera of Sepultura. This dude is an animal on the mic! Metallica may have gotten me into music, but this guy certainly helped, especially with the noisier aspects of the music I like right now. He has this animalistic, almost cartoonishly angry growling delivery that really caught my attention. It’s not a particularly deep growl, but it’s the kind of growl you make when you’re really pissed about something and that really sells the vibe of this record. His wording and phrasing may be clunky in spots, but at the end of the day, it’s really not a big issue when you can tell he’s into what he’s screaming about. It kind of reminds me of Swans’ debut album, Filth, if Filth was a speedy thrash metal album as opposed to a sludgy no wave hellscape.
This also rings true with the actual lyrics. The lyrics on this album are fine, but I guess I wanted a little more cohesive storytelling from it. Even with the teeny tiny allusion to Inner Self on Stronger Than Hate, it is definitely a “collection of songs” that is vaguely related to a certain subject as opposed to a grand story. This album’s themes are about as brutal as its music. It’s about war, poverty, and extremism, all sung by someone personally affected by it all. But unlike Filth, there’s a little bit of hope that comes out of it. There’s hope that you can rise above the darkness of the world and become a good strong person. Slaves of Pain is a great example of this “rise above” mentality. I feel like this is a very punk mentality, which works given how fast paced and in-your-face this album is, which is definitely the lyrical appeal of this album. This album comes from a dark place and you can feel the emotion permeating from every corner. It’s a primal expression of rage, and it’s rising above the dire state it finds itself in.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, I like this album. It’s a pretty solid thrash metal record that’s kind of clunky, but still pretty fun to listen to. Production seems boxed in and makes this album’s punch slightly weaker, particularly with the guitars sounding a little choked. Not to mention the bass is pretty much inaudible save for small moments in the first half of the album, which is pretty similar for anything that isn’t guitars. It’s got the rock trope of vocals being too quiet and the metal trope of bass being too quiet. It’s basically the guitar show, which avid guitarists (like my uncle) would like, but I think the rest of the band should get some of the spotlight too. However, I will say that vocal production is a really nice touch to keep things interesting and it gives more of a presence to Max Cavalera’s voice with the reverb, layering and panning. The composition’s very thrash metal, but there is almost nothing wrong with that. The guitars, as prominent as they are, have good reason to be. They sound nice and powerful with energetic chugging and noisy, crazy solos. Drums fit the mood perfectly every time and they’re nice and aggressive. Bass? What’s that? It doesn’t exist. Have you ever talked to someone, and they just talk a mile a minute and they switch topics without any rhyme or reason besides whatever’s going on in their head? That’s basically this album’s song structure. It’s got all these movements that sound pretty good together, but it’s very roughly put together. Album structure isn’t really much to write home about, but it doesn’t really have to, I guess. On Beneath The Remains, the production may make you think it’s very much a guitar led album, but Max Cavalera, my childhood hero, is the guy keeping this album together for me. Max is a growling, angry, primal beast of a man on this album and I am eating it up! It’s the perfect centrepiece for an album that wants to be so brutal. Speaking of brutal, the lyrics talk about the pitfalls of society in a way that the best punk albums do. The lyrics are raw and straightforward and you will know exactly what this song is about immediately, but that simplicity is a perfect tool to rouse listeners. It’s a dark message, but there’s also hope that things will get better if you are a good person, and you try your best to improve the lives of those around you. Overall, there are gaping flaws on this record, but it is still pretty solid and there’s a lot to bang your head to.
I’m giving this one a Decent 7/10.
FAVOURITE TRACKS: Beneath The Remains, Inner Self, Sarcastic Existence, Slaves of Pain, Lobotomy, Primitive Future
LEAST FAVOURITE TRACK: Stronger Than Hate
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