UMUR "Nation" is the 8th full-length studio album by Brazilian thrash/groove/alternative metal act Sepultura. The album was released through Roadrunner Records in March 2001. It´s the successor to "Against" from 1998 and is the second Sepultura album to feature lead vocalist Derrick Green, after the departure of original lead vocalist/guitarist Max Cavalera in 1996. "Nation" was the last Sepultura album released through Roadrunner Records, as the band didn´t feel the label gave them enough promotional support (a scheduled filming of a music video for "One Man Army" was for example cancelled).

Stylistically "Nation" is pretty much a continuation of the hardcore influenced groove/thrash metal style of "Against (1998)", featuring the occasional ethnic tribal rhythmic moment. Green expands on his already varied vocal arsenal, and in addition to delivering his aggressive raw snarling also sings some clean vocals. The album opens with the heavy groove laden "Sepulnation", and it´s a strong opening to the album. From then on Sepultura treat the listener to many different variations of their style and they can certainly not be accused of being one-dimensional in their songwriting approach. The songwriting is generally pretty creative, and in the end that turns out to be both a strength and a weakness. A strength because "Nation" is a varied and entertaining release throughout, and a weakness because it simply sticks in too many directions and ultimately leaves me wishing for a more stylistic consistent approach. Had that been the case, it´s my conviction that "Nation" would have been an overall stronger release.

The musicianship is strong on all posts, and "Nation" also features a powerful and well sounding production job, so upon conclusion it´s a relatively strong album release by Sepultura. It´s pretty similar in style to "Against (1998)" and I´ve always felt that the two were more or less sibling releases. Also in terms of quality and a 3.5 star (70%) rating is therefore deserved.

UMUR "Against" is the 7th full-length studio album by Brazilian thrash/groove/alternative metal act Sepultura. The album was released through Roadrunner Records in October 1998. It´s the successor to "Roots" from 1996 and features one lineup change as lead vocalist/guitarist Max Cavalera left Sepultura after the last show on the tour supporting "Roots (1996)". Cavalera had a dispute with the other members of the band (including his brother Igor Cavalera) over the manager role of his wife Gloria Cavalera, and eventually he decided to leave. He is replaced here by American vocalist Derrick Green.

When "Roots" came out in 1996, Sepultura were commercially and popularity wise at the top of their game, and Max Cavalera was a well respected and influential frontman and guitarist, and therefore it would always be an extremely difficult task to replace him. To this day (the year 2022) many Sepultura fans still can´t accept Green as the vocalist of Sepultura, and it was even worse in 1998 when "Against" came out. The album didn´t sell well compared to "Roots (1996)" and generally received a bit of a lukewarm reception. If that reaction was based on Green´s voice and performance on "Against", it would have been understandable, but to my ears Green is a more than capable replacement for Cavalera, with a strong voice and a commanding delivery. Anyone who has seen him on a stage also knows that he has an almost intimidating physical presence (yes the man is huge), which brings a lot to Sepultura´s shows.

Stylistically Sepultura have opted for a more guitar, riff heavy, and raw (sometimes hardcore influenced) groove oriented metal style compared to the alternative/groove metal style of "Roots (1996)", where it sometimes felt like the riffs were an afterthought (and only very few were memorable) and all focus was on angsty aggressive vocals and groove (and the whole tribal ethnic lyric/image thing). The material on "Against" are generally more powerful, intense, and immediate. That doesn´t mean the tracks are simple in a primitive way, but they are more instantly catchy and aggression and groove go well hand and hand with powerful riffs and rhythms, but also with other creative songwriting ideas (for example the lead run on "Floaters in Mud" or the atmopsheric "Rumors"), which bring the right dose of variation to the album. This time around the ethnic influences are used as a spice and doesn´t end up taking too much focus from the basis of Sepultura metal sound, although the tribal/ethnic elements are still a big part of the band´s music.

"Against" features a powerful sounding production, which suits the material well and provides the music with the right amount of power to have as much impact as possible. When all the positive things about the album are said, Sepultura are maybe ultimately a bit too ambitious and unfocused as the album tends to point in a lot of different directions, going from groove metal, to hardcore punk, and then to tribal/ethnic music both within and between tracks. Sometimes it works wonders ("Choke" is an example of a combination of groove metal and a tribal/ethnic music influenced middle section, which works well), and sometimes the results are a bit less remarkable. In the end "Against" is a good quality release by Sepultura and also a step up in quality from "Roots (1996)". A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

UMUR "Roots" is the 6th full-length studio album by Brazilian thrash/groove/alternative metal act Sepultura. The album was released through Roadrunner Records in February 1996. It´s the successor to "Chaos A.D." from 1993. Sepultura had long wanted to incorporate more latin rhythms and ethnic Brazilian themes and atmospheres to their music, and they dipped their toes in that pool on "Chaos A.D. (1993)". On "Roots" they went all in though, even travelling to the Amazonas to record with the Xavante tribe (a tribe chant is heard on a couple of tracks on the album).

Stylistically Sepultura completely left their thrash metal roots behind on "Roots", so in this case back to the roots doesn´t mean a return to the sound of early Sepultura, but a visit to the roots (the indigenous cultures of Brazil) of their country. So this is basically ethnic influenced groove/alternative metal with a strong emphasis and focus on groove and adventurous percussion. Sepultura used to churn out one sharp and memorable riff after another, but here the riffs seem to have taken a backseat, because most of them are just downtuned groovy drones, which don´t stand out much from each other. I´m not completely out of line if I call this an album without a single memorable riff (alright...I´ll go as far as to call the main riff on "Roots Bloody Roots" semi-catchy, but that´s about it). Sepultura have dropped playing guitar solos too, so as written above the focus is very different from the preceding releases by the band.

Max Cavalera´s voice and vocal style has also changed quite a bit. He used to have a deep aggressive shouting vocal style, but here he has opted to scream a lot and his vocals are also often put through effects. The band are as well playing as ever and especially the drumming by Igor Cavalera is both busy and creative. "Roots" is also a well produced release (produced by Ross Robinson), so it´s a quality release on most parameters. There aren´t that many tracks which stand out though, and featuring 17 tracks (the number of tracks vary a little depending on which edition of the album you have) and a total playing time of 66:55 "Roots" is also way too long, overstaying its welcome by many tracks. Standout tracks are "Roots Bloody Roots", "Ratamahatta", and the tribal chant/percussion track "Itsári". The remaining tracks are just there. They aren´t as such of a bad quality, but they just aren´t memorable and several lack direction and hooks.

"Roots" was an interesting experiment for its time and a hugely influential album on the groove/alternative metal scene, and it´s a unique album in Sepultura´s discography. In retrospect it made Sepultura even more successful and heightened their profile on the scene, which ultimately meant they attracted more fans and sold more albums. Check, check, check...the songs though...where are the songs? The memorable riffs, and vocal lines/hooks? To my ears much drown in the downtuned groove laden riffs and percussive experimentation, and I would much rather have had the band focus on writing memorable songs. A 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.

Kev Rowland When the pandemic hit Sepultura, like many other bands, found they had an album out and were unable to tour. To prevent themselves from going stir crazy they set up a weekly event where they could play music and talk to people from throughout the world, and this in turn led to them asking some friends to become involved and work with them on recording some old Sepultura tracks. So, David Ellefson, Scott Ian, Danko Jones, Devin Townsend, Matt Heafy and others recorded tracks from their own homes, and these were then mixed and mastered by Conrado Ruther. We don’t go back all the way to the beginning, which is somewhat of a shame, but even today singer Derrick Green is viewed by some as not being valid, even though he took on the role well over 20 years ago, so perhaps not too surprising. Therefore, we smartly side-step the first four albums, but we do get material from ‘Chaos A.D’ (strange to think that album is now nearly 30 years old) onwards.

While the band are blasting out older numbers, and obviously having fun alongside their guests, there is no doubt that the biggest issue here is the sound quality which is somewhat surprising given the way this was recorded. There is just too much space around the drums, and the bass often seems to go missing altogether, while the vocals also suffer from levels issues. This does make it feel incredibly raw, but also somewhat dated as it is just not what one expects from what is ostensibly a studio recording, and while the energy is great for the most part this feels very much like an opportunity missed. Interestingly, they do not include “Roots, Bloody Roots” which is noticeable by its absence, but they do bring in Phil Campbell for a romp through “Orgasmatron” which has made me appreciate the original that much more. Interesting in many ways, this is very much for fans only.

Unitron Sepultura's love-it-or-hate-it album. Thrash purists didn't want anything deviating much from Beneath the Remains, while others loved that the band went all out in their tribal influences and obviously what better way for that to thrive than in a nu metal album. Personally I love this album, the grooves of Arise and Chaos A.D. are here but there's so many unique percussive embellishments, vocal experiments, and Brazilian instruments to enhance the hooks. Attitude is especially exemplary of it with throat singing and a variety of instruments blending with screeching nu metal guitars.

The likes of Roots Bloody Roots, Ratamahatta, Straighthate, and Born Stubborn are massive and catchy. Max would take this sound further with Soulfly, but this is still where it was done first and overall best.

Kingcrimsonprog Sepultura have a good few options if you are into live material. There is the Chaos DVD with the Under Siege video on it with the band touring Arise and playing all their Thrash era songs. There is the Under A Pale Grey Sky cd with the last ever gig of the Max Cavelera line-up on it, playing a lot of material off of Roots and Chaos AD. There is the newer Rock In Rio DVD with the Les Tambors Du Bronx percussion group augmenting them. There’s also plenty of live material on bonus tracks and compilations.

Best of all however, is Sepultura Live In Sao Paulo. It was the first video album with the Derick Green line-up, the first time you got to see and not just hear live versions of material from Roots and Chaos AD and its the only place to hear straight up unaltered versions of material off the Derick Green albums. It was released in 2005 when they were touring Roorback, back when they were still a Gold-selling band.

You get to hear an amazing blend (21 songs!) of material all the way from their earliest EPs and albums with early material like ‘Necromancer’ and ‘Troops Of Doom’ beside the mega-hits from the ’90s like ‘Territory’ and ‘Roots Bloody Roots’ mixed in with more modern gems like ‘Choke’ and what has to be one of the band’s best ever songs in ‘Sepulnation.’ (For me, its in the top 5 songs they ever recorded, any era).

Visually, the album is great. Its really well shot and edited, with no fancy distracting weird camera angels or lenses and no too-fast music video style choppy cuts. The stage set up and tasteful circle of lighting around their tribal ‘S’ logo banner looks really great, and the soundjob and mix are perfect. Sometimes the guitars or the vocals can be too quiet in a live recording, or some times the drums have way too much reverb, or sometimes you can’t hear the crowd’s energy; but here everything is perfectly balanced hear and it all sounds thick and chunky.

The band’s performances are excellent and it really shows off what great musicians they are. I never ‘got’ how good a drummer Igor is until I saw this! I didn’t much care for Derrick Green as a frontman before I saw this an it utterly changed my mind.

It looks great, it sounds great, the tracklist is great and the band play great. What more could you possibly want? Oh well, if you still do want more there is an absolute tonne of extras, with music videos, more live songs, a short making of documentary and biography, a bigger documentary about the band from 1998–2005 and other stuff as well (photogalleries etc.)

Overall; this is a damn strong release from a very important band, and there’s so much on it its great value for money. If like me you were skeptical on them without Max in the band, go on youtube and check out live versions of tracks like ‘Chaos AD’ and especially ‘Sepulnation’ off of this and just try not to be converted! If you are new to the band altogether this is a great starting point blending the best parts of all the eras together.