Sepultura
Chaos A.D.

I would like to write my first review on this site by analyzing and discussing with you what is most likely my favorite album (there's a big rivalry with "Reign in Blood" though): "Chaos A.D." by Sepultura, an exceptional Brazilian combo that revolutionized the metal world with its direct, compact, angry, and terribly convincing style. Max Cavalera in particular is an idol for me, and attacking him might be the last thing you do!!!

1993: Sepultura is riding the wave of the heavy metal scene, they are fresh from exhausting tours supporting the masterpiece "Arise" with which they had made a particularly effective and (it is not too bold to say) legendary mark in the history of thrash metal. At the same time, however, they conclude that part of their career that had them as a "traditionalist" group (though this is only partly true, for example, there were many collaborations and friendships in hardcore territories) and champions of a thrash that was still canonical, even if it had become legendary by now.

"Chaos A.D." therefore represents a key moment in the band's history, and only Max, Igor, Andreas, and Paulo Jr. could have produced such an intense, solid, and simply spectacular album. They did this by overturning the sound, creating a unique mix of thrash metal intertwined with the fury of death and hardcore and the first tribal rhythms (experiments then taken to the extreme in the subsequent and convincing "Roots" in 1996) and all permeated by a damn groove that makes the tracks' impact lethal.

How can one remain impassive in front of the ethnic and percussive intro of "Refuse/Resist"? A track placed purposely at the start to inflict damage right from the beginning. How can one not sing the chorus of "Territory" at the top of their lungs? It's impossible to remain passive in front of such violence, such anger, and such frontal assaults that, indeed, do not make prisoners. And the journey into the oppressed, exploited, and terribly miserable third world continues, with the devastating thrash-core of "Slave New World" (complete with a masterful video centered on the alienation of the human mind) then moves to the heart-wrenching "Amen" with its anti-religious lyrics still brutally relevant today as it was 15 years ago.

But there is not only the manifest, direct anger that hits like a kick in the teeth, there is also room for reflection and the more spiritual side of Sepultura's socio-musical criticism, and I am talking about the instrumental rich with percussion and acoustic guitars "Kaiowas," an interlude that leads us toward that other onslaught that is "Propaganda" with an Igor Cavalera beating like a madman and a refrain, shouted by the great Max that cannot fail to captivate. Around the corner is a huge beast waiting for us, and it is the almost two minutes of "Biotech Is Godzilla" (written together with the legendary Jello Biafra, a friend of the group and historical leader of the Dead Kennedys) where Sepultura expresses all their love and respect for fast and angry protest hardcore, a chorus that clings to you and penetrates the brain never to leave.

"Nomad" continues in the vein of the album with its thick and powerful riffs and syncopated rhythm, it's almost Sabbath-like  in the dark "We Who Are Not As Others," insistent and obsessive. The hardcore of "Manifest" condemns in the most effective way possible the massacre of prisoners carried out by the forces of "alleged" order at the Carandiru penitentiary, São Paulo, Brazil.

Before the massive closure entrusted to "Clenched Fist," a cover of the New Model Army ("The Hunt"), an English post-punk band.

In conclusion "Chaos A.D." is an epochal album, personally, I consider it the most representative in Sepultura’s career because it serves as an excellent watershed between the more properly thrash metal career and the experimental and tribal sounds of the following album, incorporating the best (why? is there perhaps a worst? definitely not) of the Sepu-sound. A milestone of the '90s, "Chaos A.D." has set a standard and can only deserve a full score.

Rating: 10/10