Sepultura
The Mediator Between Head And Hands Must Be The Heart

Sepultura is among the metal bands that have had the courage to experiment on various fronts, even touching on samba, tribal music, and the much-criticized nu metal. However, in this album, the tribal influences previously explored are largely abandoned and relegated to a few tracks. The song that kicks off the album is "Trauma Of War," a super fast and intense hardcore track that opens the album in a way that Sep seemed to have forgotten. The second track, "The Vatican," is a violent attack on the church. It contains interesting riffs and an excellent performance on the drums by Eloy Casagrande, the newcomer to Sepultura, but the song really struggles to take off, especially due to an introduction that's way too long. The third track of the platter is "Impending Doom," which doesn't go beyond being a good track.

Next, we are faced with "Manipulation Of Tragedy," which embodies everything wrong that Sep has done in recent years. The fifth piece is "Tsunami," truly inspired and featuring one of the best riffs Andreas Kisser has produced in the last ten years. Notable, too, is Derrick Green's performance, who, despite not being a great vocalist, finds himself very comfortable in this song. The next track, "The Bliss Of Ignorants," although not disgraceful, is easily forgettable and won't leave any impact on the listener's soul. Following is "Grief," which starts off calmly but then explodes, leaving Green's screams 'Leave me with my grief' in your head. In my opinion, a remarkably successful song. The eighth track of the album is "The Age Of The Atheist," which contends for the worst track of the batch alongside "Manipulation Of Tragedy." The ninth track is "Obsessed," recorded together with a certain Dave Lombardo. In any case, it's a great track played ferociously that barely (but still) steals the title of the best song in the album from "Tsunami." The last song on the album is "Da Lama Ao Caos," a cover of Chico Science (Brazilian funk metal group). I loved it, especially because we find Andreas Kisser on vocals. However, it is a cover, and I will not consider it in my final judgment. After this song, there's a ghost track featuring a duet between Eloy and Dave. Truly wonderful. Summing up: those who expected a return of the "old" Sepultura will be disappointed, but this is their best album in the last ten years.