UMUR "Kairos" is the 12th full-length studio album by Brazilian thrash/groove metal act Sepultura. The album was released through Nuclear Blast Records in June 2011. It´s Sepultura first release on the label after their long business relationship with SPV/Steamhammer ended.

...the album is divided into four parts, each ending with a short interlude (except the outro "4648" which is a great deal longer). All tracks on the album are thematically based on the ancient Greek word "Kairos", which means something like "The right or opportune moment (the supreme moment)".

The music on the album is thrash/groove metal. It´s actually nice to hear how many thrashy riffs the band have chosen to include this time around, because IMO that´s when they are strongest. There´s good variation on the album, which in part is due to the two faster paced thrashers "Mask" and "No One Will stand", the Ministry cover "Just One Fix" and the industral metal track "Structure Violence (Azzes)". The two latter I could have done without though. They might bring variation to the album, but why on earth include a cover track that is vastly inferior to the original and a rather soulless industrial metal track? The rest of the tracks are good but seldom reaches higher than standard quality level for the band. One of the highlights is "Relentless" which features a pretty badass riff.

To be honest I expected much more from "Kairos" than what I got. There´s simply little here that makes my blood boil. I don´t know if it´s the quality of the songwriting, the flat Roy Z sound production or something else, but to me "Kairos" is just another album in now a long line of albums by the band that has left me unimpressed. Of course the level of musicianship is high as ever, the sound production is professional (if you enjoy Roy Z´s productions) and as such the songwriting is professional too, but I´m still left with a feeling that they could do so much better, and that feeling warrants that "Kairos" gets a 3 star (60%) rating from me.

adg211288 Kairos is the twelfth studio album from long running Brazilian metal band Sepultura. It was released in 2011 and is the second Sepultura album to not feature either of the Cavalera brothers within the band’s line-up. It is also a noteworthy release for a couple of reasons. The first and most obvious is that as of this album there is just as many Derrick Green fronted Sepultura albums as there are Max Cavalera fronted albums. The second only becomes apparent when listening to the album – the band is drawing on thrash metal much more than on other recent releases, making Kairos very much like a bridge between the older Sepultura releases like Beneath the Remains and Arise to the newer Green fronted albums.

Bit of personal history here, I’m one of the few in the camp that thinks the Derrick Green fronted Sepultura is the better Sepultura. That’s in terms of consistency mainly, although I do consider Green as the superior vocalist as well. I for one will not however deny that the thrash era Sepultura albums, namely Beneath the Remains and Arise, are the strongest releases I’ve heard the group do (I do confess that I am not completely familiar with the band’s back catalogue. I have never heard their first two albums or Roorback), along with A-Lex. But I also firmly stand on the belief that Max Cavalera also took the band to an all time low on his final album with the band, which was Roots, at which stage the band went pretty much in an Alternative Metal direction that was carried over into the early Green fronted Sepultura albums. More recent releases though have seen more thrash sounds coming back, which brings us in 2011 to Kairos, which is the band’s most thrash influenced album for a long time, although elements of the groove metal and hardcore sounds of previous Green fronted albums remain, but in smaller measure, and the album is notably less experimental in nature to the group’s prior album A-Lex from 2009.

Let’s get my main gripe out of the way first though. It’s those interludes, which on Kairos have been named with numbers such as 2011 and 1433. Sepultura seems to have become very fond of including such tracks on their albums – I had the same issue with Dante XXI, though not so much A-Lex as they were more actual instrumentals rather than interludes on that one. To cut a long story short the inclusion of these is a pointless exercise and always will be; they add literally nothing to the album and only hinder my enjoyment of it. The skip button was invented for this, it seems.

Now that I’ve gotten that issue out of the way I’m pleased to report that Kairos is a very good effort from Sepultura. It can hardly be given masterpiece status, but it will at least be pleasing to those fans who didn’t abandon the post-Max Sepultura (or perhaps even the post-Igor Sepultura). Of course if you did stop following Sepultura after Max departed (or perhaps even before that), then this release may not be for you, as it still sounds very typical of the Green fronted Sepultura that people seem to love to hate, though it is a very different sounding album to prior Green fronted releases. It has much more thrash stuff in it, which is quickly evident in the album’s title track which is the second on the release, but there are also some very dominant groove metal parts to it, which the band had begun to flirt with as far back as Chaos A.D. One thing I can safely say is that the release lacks any of the Alternative Metal elements that were introduced with Roots. It is, for the most part, a thrash metal album. So if that sounds appealing to you, read on.

The musicianship on Kairos is consistently strong, though more basic in nature when put up next to A-Lex. There is a notable improvement on the drumming of new drummer Jean Dolabella, which I considered the weak link on A-Lex, and guitarist Andreas Kisser is delivering some really great lead guitar work as well as really tight riffing. Green provides a strong vocal as always. There are generally more solid tracks on the album as well, being of a consistent quality, those interludes aside. Even the Ministry cover of Just One Fix doesn’t sound out of place next to the original material. The groove metal infused opening Spectrum does an excellent build up into the album and the album is a powerhouse up until that first interlude, with both the title track and Relentless standing out as highlights, along with later tracks such as Born Strong, Mask, Embrace the Storm and No One Will Stand.

Towards the end of the album things start taking a funny turn though with Structure Violence (Azzes), which is an Industrial tinged track, and is easily the weakest on the album. It doesn’t sound that far off from something that would have been on Roots and that is the problem. Another one of those number tracks closes the album so in all fairness, as a good album Kairos really ended with No One Will Stand, and you can feel safe to switch your CD player off at this point.

Still despite some faults Kairos stands as another great Sepultura release, but I have to say that overall I preferred A-Lex out of the two post-Cavalera albums, which I actually consider to be one of the group’s best albums, groovy hardcore-tinged experimental thing that it is. Kairos is certainly more of the old Sepultura sound than the band has been for a long time though, and while it is no Beneath the Remains certainly, it’s probably as close as the band is ever going to get at this point in their career. If it hadn’t been for the sudden downturn in quality at the end of the album and those pointless interludes this one may have got bumped up a tier in terms of scoring, but as it is it stands as a solid and recommended release from the band, and yeah, that’s for fans of both the old and the new.

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven, scoring 8.2/10)

Diogenes As much as we yearn for the golden days of metal, the 80s are long gone, and most of the old guard in thrash have either disbanded or changed their sound considerably. Which is fine, by all means; it’s nearly impossible to keep releasing material that’s consistent in style and consistent in quality at the same time. I’m always a bit hesitant when a band claims that they’re “going back to their roots”. This means that either they are giving in to the popular opinion that older=better (I always thought this was stupid), or they got tired of progressing, which is equally as bad; and either way, there’s no guarantee that turning back the clock will even yield anything worthwhile. Look at what happened when Metallica and Anthrax tried going back to their 80s sounds, or when Korn went back to their roots three times. So, you can imagine how I felt when the hype surrounding Kairos was that Sepultura recorded a thrash metal album for the first time in forever.

After listening to Kairos, I have some good news and I have some bad news. The bad news is that Sepultura did not release an all-out thrash album. The good news is that Sepultura did not release an all-out thrash album.

…Wait, what?

Erm, let me clarify. Yep, Sepultura has once again given us an album in the vein of their past few releases: solid, groovy metal with a hardcore edge. I consider this a good thing, since I am one of the few people that are big fans of modern Sepultura. If you aren’t, then you can stop reading this review, since there are only a few songs on this album that you may like. For those who are still with me, let’s get into the music, huh?

The first half of the album is your traditional 2000s Sepultura. Spectrum (when it gets going, which might seem like a while) and the title track are straightforward songs written around half-thrash, half-groove riffs that might remind old time fans of Chaos A.D. Nothing spectacular, really. Relentless is the first really good track on the album, with plenty of headbangy parts and a great change around 2 minutes in that might seem out of place, but serves quite effectively underneath Andreas Kisser’s wailing leads.

The next three tracks, however, are utterly forgettable. 2011 is one of the four short interludes on the album, which don’t seem to do anything other than add another track on the back of the CD case. I’m sure it fits in with the album concept (whatever it is), but frankly, Sepultura developed a bad habit with these things on Dante XXI, and I’m disappointed to see them continuing it 5 years later. The Ministry cover, Just One Fix, sounded like a fun idea, but it really seems out of place here and would be better suited for the end of the album rather than the middle. Dialog is a 5 minute track that has 2 and a half minutes of good riffing and soloing, but the other half is boring and feels uninspired.

This is the point where I said to myself, “okay, here we go again,” and resigned to the fact that this album really didn’t offer anything new compared to what Sepultura has been playing for the past thirteen years. However, what changes the band did make come alive on the second half of the album. Mask and Seethe (although separated by another pointless interlude) are fast, energetic, and dare I say…thrashy. They set the tone for the second half of the album that contains far more thrash elements than the first, which almost makes me wonder if Kairos couldn’t have been cut down a little bit. Born Strong is an excellent track, with a breakdown which is, again, reminiscent of Chaos A.D. But by far the best song on Kairos is No One Will Stand. Yes, it’s THRASH! Pure thrash. With thrash riffs, and thrash drums! Wowzers! Unfortunately, the momentum is slowed down with a song that has some weird electronic effect and tribal sounds (I know it’s Sepultura, but they sound out of place here), but it’s not bad enough to put a damper on the high I got from listening to the second half of this album.

The other aspects of the album give us more of the same. The production is fine, with that sludgy 2000s Sepultura guitar tone dripping out of the mix like nectar. Derrick Green gives another strong performance on vocals, his hardcore barking and muffled growling defining yet another good-but-not-great modern Sepultura album. Jean Dolabella proves that he’s a competent drummer, solid but not much more than that. He does seem to give the band a certain youthful energy, however, which is good; have you seen Paulo Jr. these days?

So no, Kairos is not a return to Sepultura’s Roots (GET IT?!??!?!?!?!?!). But seriously, it isn’t. When I think of Sepultura playing thrash metal, I think of their three-album stretch which featured a dizzying assault of riffs that I don’t think will ever be topped. Yes, there are riffs here, but there aren’t enough. Andreas had the right idea, he just needed to keep going and, uh…maybe get rid of those interludes? Oh well. Needless to say, Kairos isn’t a bad release at all. It stacks up just fine with the rest of the Derrick Green era of Sepultura, and maybe a bit better. Make sure you listen to it with the mindset that it is not 1989 anymore, and you might just be pleasantly surprised.

Coffin Joe Sepultura's new album has hit the streets, and after the mediocre A-Lex, they have a lot riding on this!

Before reviewing the album itself, I'm going to touch the subject of Sepultura post-Cavelera brothers. First Max left the band and created his nu-jungle-metal band Soulfly, which had some interesting ideas at first, but quickly started to tread waters. Max was a giant driving force in Sepultura, and he helped outline their unique sound. But in my opinion, he wasn't a very good songwriter (lyric-wise), one can only listen to lines like "fuck shit up" so many time, before it gets embarrassing. Die-hard Sepul fans is probably gonna crucify me, but Derrick Green is a better and more diverse vocalist than Max ever was. I think the conceptual Nation & Dante XXI was good records, that helped them come out of the tribal-metal past. It was a greater loss, when Igor left the band. I have always been a great admirer of his drumming, Igors Brazilian percussive-inspired drumming brought something new and fresh to the music. He left a giant empty space, and Jean Dolabella wasn't able to fill the void on A-Lex.

Most of the tracks on Kairos is written by Andreas Kisser, and it features some solid material. Sepultura flew legendary producer Roy Z to Brazil to capture the band in a mostly live setting. For most people, this is not the Sepultura which they fell in love with, but the band proves they are still in the game, and will be kicking ass and talking names along the way! The first two tracks Spectrum & Kairos kicks the album of with some really intense riffing and drumming. Yes, it's no Igor behind the kit, but Dolabella does a much better job than on A-Lex. Derrick Green brings his A-game, and delivers his best vocals since Nation. Third track relentless is a nod to old school trash metal, something that is always welcome in my world. The albums first miss is the Ministry cover "Just one fix". What is up with industrial metal?! First we have Morbid Angel digging their own grave, and now Sepultura also feels the urge to put some industrial inspired metal on the album. Although Sepultura succes better than Morbid Angel, it is one of the weaker tracks on the album. Born Strong, Embrace the Storm & No One Will Stand brings the old in-your-face agressiveness, that helped make Sepultura a household name. Musically there's a lot of references to the old sepultura sound, and it's hard not to nod in appreciation.

When Structure of violence started, I was getting the bad industrial metal vibe again, and a nerve in my eyebrow started pinching. It's the second miss on the album, fully loaded with keyboards, sound cut ups and tribal parts. ...waves fist in the air......damn you! Industrial Metal!! You made Morbid Angel insane and you have tainted an otherwise good album! Argh!!!!!! ....More fist waving...!!

All in all Kairos is a solid album. It looks back at the legacy that Sepultura has, but still manages to define a new sound for a new era. There's a special edition out which features a cover of Prodigy's Firestarter, well..uhm...as much as I enjoy the kick-ass attitude of the original Firestarter song, I simply just don't get it. It made me smile, but overall it doesn't work, and I frankly I find their choice of cover songs a bit odd.

Die-hard Max fanboys is probably going to scold me over this review & will hate every second of Kairos - so be it! Sepultura have never been about compromise, and the band have always been brave enough to go into uncharted territory, and is never afraid to bring something new onto the table.