Sepultura
A-Lex

“A-Lex…..”

“A who?”

“A-Lex…..”

“Yes, “A-Lex.” You heard right. That's the title of the new album (another concept) by the new Sepultura… “

And this was roughly the conversation I had with my friend when he heard the album's title. 

Let's be clear…. Who the hell are these guys? Are they Sepultura? Sure, and I'm Joe Satriani. 

The Cavalera brothers are no longer with us and the band has decided not to break up despite lacking the core element that had given them the life force to persevere all these years, enduring highs and (mostly) lows. Especially in recent times, with Seps becoming less and less inspired while trying to convince the unlucky one of the moment that their new album would be something different, innovative, yet still a great Sepultura album. And they had tried it, almost truly believing, with that abomination called “Dante XXI,” a crappy concept on the divine comedy. An album in which only poor Igor and the unfortunate Derrick Green remained. Yes, unfortunate. Because for him, the arduous task of replacing the late Max. And, as often happens, it's always the new singer who gets blamed and criticized. Especially if you're an important band, especially if you have a tradition behind you, especially, indeed, if your name is Sepultura. 

But let's not dwell too much on these things and quickly analyze the album.

An album that once again takes inspiration from Burgess's work “A Clockwork Orange”. “A-Lex” in Latin means “without law” (nice paraphrase in the title, don't you think?) and the protagonist of the film brought to screens by Kubrick is called Alex. So 2 + 2 = A MESS!

Yes, because, despite attempting these grammatical-psychological games, the results are still lacking and Sepultura churns out yet another album which, goodness, might be well played, might even be well sung by an inspired Derrick Green but, overall, suffers from the “nothing” complex, the famous “black hole.” A big fat nothing. 

And indeed, if I can almost smile and hope well for those few tracks reminiscent of old-school thrash-death, like "Moloko Mesto," wisely concluded with a great solo, I have to reconsider certain obscenities titled “We’ve lost You” or “What I Do.”

Unfortunately, the isolated episodes are the ones where our guys show they're damn good, while what emerges is the fatigue, the “I don't know what the hell to play anymore” of a band that was the icon of a period that marked an important groove for what concerns the history of Death and music in general.

In conclusion, we are faced with an album where it's unclear how long the charade is supposed to last. It's not genius, nor is it the garbage that many are saying, but I can't exactly say that the truth lies in between either.

Perhaps it really would be time for Sepultura to disband, thus leaving a worthy memory of their past. The new members of the band could create a new project, coming out on top, playing whatever pleases them most, especially since Jean Dollabella as a drummer is not bad and almost doesn't make us miss his predecessor (just listen to the double bass drum outbursts and everything that sends average metalheads into ecstasy to understand how talented this guy is). 

Yeah. Perhaps this would really be the best solution. Best for everyone. So you will stop taking us for fools, continuing to brand yourselves “Sepultura” since, by now, the only burial I notice is yours, your self-collapse.

Hang up the instruments. What will remain of you will be a sad but good memory.

“A-men…..”