SEPULTURA: Arise (THRASH): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

Gone is the surprise of "Beneath The Remains". The four Brazilians are now in the limelight and everyone is waiting for them at the turn. "Arise" is enjoying a massive worldwide release in the specialist press. For the first time, Sepultura had access to the best conditions for recording a record. Even if some critics will be there concerning Andy Wallace's mixing, the result is ultra professional, the sound is powerful, deep, clear and concise.

The layout of the album is quite similar to that of "Beneath The Remains", but generally speaking, the rhythm has calmed down a bit. The band is getting more melodic and we can feel Andreas Kisser's willingness to demonstrate his solo skills even more. The intros are also very neat and play an essential role in the general atmosphere of the album. However, tracks like "Arise" or "Infected Voice" are pure fast and uncompromising Thrash tracks. The structure of "Infected Voice" is in fact a pasted copy of the wild "Primitive Future" from the previous album.

In parallel to these two classic tracks, something new is on the horizon. The intro of "Altered State", based on tribal percussions could be considered as a foretaste of the direction Sepultura will take from "Roots", then Max Cavalera with Soulfly. The rest of the track, mainly mid tempo, starts on a leaden rhythmic which was atypical until then, on which Andreas deposits a sound signal with strident and repetitive notes which we'll find more frequently on the future Chaos A.D. The heaviness of Igor's double pedal comes to marry with a few arpeggios, which, even if they remain anecdotal, give, after a quasi rock'n'roll soli, a hue never seen before in the horizon of the Brazilians.

This slightly disturbing atmosphere is found on the next track "Under Siege (Regnum Irae)", with a Max who even goes so far as to put atmospheric reverb' effects on some vocal parts. These two tracks are certainly not the most memorable of Sepultura's era, but they are undoubtedly the most daring of the album. With them, we can feel the band's desire to do something else than basic Thrash.

The hit of the record is without contest the very well known "Desperate Cry", with its nice rise in power, its numerous rhythm changes, its acceleration and the melodies of Andreas Kisser decidedly very inspired. Impossible to talk about Arise without also quoting Igor Cavalera who is not satisfied to be irreproachable behind his barrels but then develops a style of his own.

Two flaws all the same, concerning first of all "Murder", bland and with sometimes childish riffs, then especially "Meaningless Movements", heavy as possible, but not in the good sense of the word this time.

Arise is Sepultura's last album from the Thrash/Death period, and it is certainly the most representative of the band before it gets lost in tribal rhythmics already present on Chaos A.D. with more core sounds. A must. - Official website

SEPULTURA

ARISE

ROADRUNNER RECORDS

THRASH