Sepultura
Beneath The Remains

THE REVIEW

Year 1989. A metal group of young Brazilians full of anger to sell called Sepultura has just achieved great success thanks to that small great album "Schizophrenia". A major record label like Roadrunner notices them and produces "Beneath The Remains", one of the best death/thrash albums of the '80s, which consecrates the four South Americans as one of the best metal bands around.

A worthy record label and excellent mixing, executed by Scott Burns, was exactly what they needed to achieve astonishing results, which are obtained in this album and the next, "Arise", which still remain their best recorded productions and evoke considerable nostalgia, especially if you look at what Sepultura has become in recent years (what a sadness...).

"Beneath The Remains" is a very tight album, a great mix of death and thrash, and full of those tremendous onslaughts that characterized the first cycle of Sepultura.
Great technical improvement by the group: it is also thanks to this album that Max Cavalera builds around himself his reputation as a metal sacred monster, excellent both at the microphone and the guitar; and what about his brother Igor? What I liked most in the full length is undoubtedly him. Right from the "Title-track" (beautiful) that opens the album, it is immediately noticeable how much he has improved behind the drums, transforming from good to phenomenal; Kisser is also quite impressive with the other axe; the only one I feel like criticizing is bassist Paulo Jr, who is not terribly bad, but almost always proves to be a significant step below the others.

The fact remains, however, that "Beneath The Remains" is truly a great album, and gems like "Inner Self", "Stronger Than Hate" and especially "Mass Hypnosis" will remain among the pillars of the quartet and will pave the way for their triumph in '91.
I highly recommend it to all those metalheads who have never listened to it yet.