polls bloody polls: sepultura albums poll (1985-1996)

it'll inevitably get the fewest votes but morbid visions is so fucking good and evil

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TcxeK7kMvw

my theory is these are all perfect albums in different ways

Beneath the Remains for me. just a ferocious thrash album that also has a lot of weird little cool musical moments, like the random bass solo during "Stronger Than Hate". the title track is like a line of cocaine. "Inner Self" also a classic.

buuuut....I like it all from this time period. Morbid Visions is weird, evil, out of tune, blackish thrash that I'm not always in the mood for, but it's fun nonetheless.

Schizophrenia underrated, obviously "Troops of Doom" is great, but there's also "Escape to the Void". the songwriting wasn't as developed yet, but the songs have plenty of energy and just aren't as sharp as what came later.

Arise is honestly almost as good as BTR and on some days, it wins the head to head battle. Lots of melodious goodness on it, especially the middle part of "Desperate Cry", and that high string pre-verse riff in "Dead Embryonic Cells" is hooky as fuck.

Chaos AD took me learns to love, but the songwriting on it is tight, "Refuse/Resist" is a tune that gets me amped when political shit is fucked, and "Territory" has such great atmosphere.

I even like Roots! I mean, yeah, it's nu-metal, and the guitar work is pretty bland, but they're not really going for traditional 'riffs' so much as creating a percussive, staccato feel as a band. where they try to do that, they succeed. I hate Max's vocals on it though - shrill isn't something he was good at.

voted Reign in Blood

jk, Benaeth takes it for me.

Chaos AD is the one for me

― paolo, Wednesday, March 17, 2021 1:48 PM bookmarkflaglink

judging by ur dn, u played on it

I need to revisit these to make an informed decision but my first instinct says Beneath the Remains.

definitely a band I regret not seeing in their prime, but Max had already left before I even had a chance to hear one of their albums in full.

not that Derrick era is any slouch, but it's not a patch on prime Sep.

the last Cavalera Conspiracy is better than anything Sep or Max released since leaving though.

One of the greatest bands on the planet ca. 1990

Heh, I just remembered that Wagner Antichrist of Sarcófago fame was briefly their vocalist, but there are no extant recordings of this lineup to my knowledge.

These days he teaches economic science and applied statistics.

btwwwww if anybody wants to talk about Wagner and SARCOFAGO: in praise of SARCOFAGO

woulda loved to hear what they sounded like with him, though honestly his voice would really have only meshed with their Morbid Visions era (which tbh it would have been perfect for)

I think he's only credited as a writer on their 1985 split with Overdose.

Bestial Devastation! \m/

A metal vocalist-turned-teacher thread would be fun, come to think of it. I wish I'd learned ESL with Lord Worm.

lol i was going to mention Worm.

didn't Peter Dolving of the Haunted teach as well?

I would love to hear him scream at me in class

Tomas Lindberg is a teacher, too.

the last Cavalera Conspiracy is better than anything Sep or Max released since leaving though.

All the Cavalera Conspiracy albums (and the last three or four Soulfly albums TBH) are surprisingly good. Max has had some really great guests on CavCon records, like Justin Broadrick and Prurient(!).

Soulfly was one of the last concerts I saw pre-lockdown last year, it was quite a good show!

escape!!!!
to the void!!!!

Thirty years ago I had a summer job where a younger kid played Sepultura in the van cassette deck, probably Arise. He and I were the only ones who stayed to listen to it at lunch, but I don't remember any musical details. Is it a good record to start with?

I'd say so, yeah, but I'll defer to the real Sepultura-heads.

i'd say so, it's really the more mainstream-y sounding version of Beneath the Remains. still fast-as-fuck thrash, but a little more accessible and melodic, despite still being aggressive af.

a lot of the fun 'extra' rifftastic moments from BTR are gone though. but it's a solid record.

i am in the middle of "inquisition symphony" and y'all sepultura owns

Went for Arise. probably after that Chaos AD... not a fan of Roots on my last re-listen. one record that did sound amazing was Schizophrenia - really underrated that one.

Schizophrenia is kind of their Ride the Lightning, the ingredients are all there but they haven't quite popped yet. I love it to death.

def beneath the remains for me, one of my favorite thrash records

agreed with neanderthal, arise is a step down but that it ain't bad either

i will say I went nuts the last time I saw Sepultura and they launched into "Desperate Cry".

'Inner Self' was always my favourite live track - ridiculously great fun in the pit.

the last few albums have been fantastic, a real return to form and their live shows have indeed been fantastic in recent years

ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOTS

the last few albums have been fantastic, a real return to form and their live shows have indeed been fantastic in recent years

yeah, I liked the 2020 record, and though I haven't caught them myself (cancelled show, thanks covid!), friends have raved about their recent-ish live lineup

wonder if anyone would be enough of a contrarian to vote for anything after max tho

can barely believe "inner self" is a real song

Just dropping this here, though I also put it in the main metal thread. Max has a new band, Go Ahead And Die, with his son Igor:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjCMyT4Bsm4

haven’t listened to any others but i love roots

Beneath the Remains for me but I realize I will be in the minority.

I've actually never listened to any of their 90s stuff but Beneath The Remains is one of the best thrash records I've ever heard. Maybe I should listen to Arise

excited to check all these out

Arise. first time any of their albums fully hit me

Oh if u ain't heard em, map, yr in for a real treat!

I'm more of a 'track' fan of Sepultura than the full albums. Chaos AD is the only one that I played all the way front to back on any regular basis. Early stuff is like the Swans to me, I get why people dig it, but it's too much for me other than a couple of a tracks at time to listen.

What do I know, I like some of those big dumb groovy Soulfly numetal tunes. Couple of them are catchy as hell.

Chaos AD is incredible, one of the most perfect metal albums ever made. Not a wasted riff or guitar squeal.

I really wanted to love Roots, and applaud its experimental soul, but it never cohered for me.

this poll was partially inspired by how amazing i found roots on revisit. album's got pockets you can get lost in

still leaning toward chaos a.d. tho

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

“mass hypnosis” rules so hard

whoa Kelly Schaefer wrote the lyrics to “stronger than hate”?!? what’s the story behind that???

whoa it’s like Florida death metal CSN doing background vocals on that one lol!

but incubus was New York. sorry, my bad, I’m done.

i didn't know that about Schaefer!

he's a cool dude, at least judging by his FB. not your usual caveman metalhead

I interviewed him once, when Atheist's reunion album came out. Nice guy.

I voted for Roots. I fucking love that album.

but incubus was New York.

Pretty sure this was the Incubus from Louisiana.

aka Oppobrium?

voted Arise, but really could have gone for any of the last four here.

Sepultura were really easily influenced. First stuff sounds like Sodom/Vulcano, then it’s a mix of Metallica/Slayer, then by the time of Chaos AD it’s the groove metal of tourmates Pantera and Biohazard, then they hopped on the nu-metal bandwagon with Ross Robinson, etc.

At some point I started noticing this (around Arise) and young me lost a lot of respect for them and that coloured my opinion of the later records. In retrospect, Chaos AD is probably the best groove metal album ever (maybe that’s faint praise, but still).

Has to be Beneath The Remains though, all-out agression works better for them than pent up anger.

Sepultura were really easily influenced. First stuff sounds like Sodom/Vulcano, then it’s a mix of Metallica/Slayer, then by the time of Chaos AD it’s the groove metal of tourmates Pantera and Biohazard, then they hopped on the nu-metal bandwagon with Ross Robinson, etc.

At some point I started noticing this (around Arise) and young me lost a lot of respect for them and that coloured my opinion of the later records. In retrospect, Chaos AD is probably the best groove metal album ever (maybe that’s faint praise, but still).

Has to be Beneath The Remains though, all-out agression works better for them than pent up anger.

Sepultura were really easily influenced. First stuff sounds like Sodom/Vulcano, then it’s a mix of Metallica/Slayer, then by the time of Chaos AD it’s the groove metal of tourmates Pantera and Biohazard, then they hopped on the nu-metal bandwagon with Ross Robinson, etc.

At some point I started noticing this (around Arise) and young me lost a lot of respect for them and that coloured my opinion of the later records. In retrospect, Chaos AD is probably the best groove metal album ever (maybe that’s faint praise, but still).

Has to be Beneath The Remains though, all-out agression works better for them than pent up anger.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Really surprised by these results. I was expecting either Arise > Chaos > Beneath > Roots or Arise > Chaos > Roots > Beneath.

As good as Arise is it just doesn't quite reach the height of BTR for me. Tremendously exciting record at the time and within a year of BTR coming out it seemed like there were dozens of new death/thrash bands in the SoCal scene (where I grew up), it really set a fire there.

aka Oppobrium?

Yup!

I'm surprised by the results too, I always thought Arise was the favourite of thrash metal fans, while the others championed Chaos A.D. and/or Roots. Maybe it's partially an age thing? I was too young for Arise but a teenager when Chaos A.D. and Roots were released and I loved them both. Everyone who complained about groove/nu metal were just old. and still are tbh.

WHO
HAS WON?
WHO
HAS DIED?

BENEATH THE REMAAAAINS

completely forgot i made this poll, wow i'm so cool

Wish I'd seen it sooner!
I didn't get a chance to write about them 'til '06, the line-up that made (and most of them toured behind) Dante XXI, which really impressed me---also squeezed a bare minimum of older albums into the word count of my Charlotte Creative Loafing show preview-feature, archived here: https://myloaf.blogspot.com/2017/02/symptoms-of-life-sepultura-still-digs.html

Really surprised by these results. I was expecting either Arise > Chaos > Beneath > Roots or Arise > Chaos > Roots > Beneath

I think it would be more surprising if BTR wasn’t in the top 2 of either configuration

yeah Arise was basically BTR with the more extreme edges sanded off, essentially

I expect most people who have BTR or Chaos AD as their #1 have Arise as their #2 album?

I could never get into Arise. Always preferred BTR by far.

Walking these dirty streets
With hate in my mind
Feeling the scorn of the world
I won't follow rules

new Soulfly album is solid.

^it is! kind of hilarious to me how they started out as the second-wave of nu-metal and are now just basically traditional metal with elements of thrash and other stuff, with little to no nu-metal left.

listening to Chaos now. "Territory" fuckin rules.

lots of economical riffs all over this thing. one thing that I think makes me like this better than other purveyors of this style is that other groove/post-thrash act didn't create atmospheres, they just kinda stuck staccato riffs together and hoped for the best.

still not better than Beneath though, by a long shot, but i enjoy it.

It's crazy that they have almost twice as many albums with Derrick Green (10) as with Max (6), and some of them are even kinda good, but nobody's favorite Sepultura album is a Derrick album.

at least 3 or 4 of them are really quite good.

i'm sure there's someone out there who thinks Against is the best, but they probably aren't into thrash.