SEPULTURA — Against (review)

Album · 1998 · Groove Metal

3.5/5 · 2022-12-23
UMUR

"Against" is the 7th full-length studio album by Brazilian thrash/groove/alternative metal act Sepultura. The album was released through Roadrunner Records in October 1998. It´s the successor to "Roots" from 1996 and features one lineup change as lead vocalist/guitarist Max Cavalera left Sepultura after the last show on the tour supporting "Roots (1996)". Cavalera had a dispute with the other members of the band (including his brother Igor Cavalera) over the manager role of his wife Gloria Cavalera, and eventually he decided to leave. He is replaced here by American vocalist Derrick Green.

When "Roots" came out in 1996, Sepultura were commercially and popularity wise at the top of their game, and Max Cavalera was a well respected and influential frontman and guitarist, and therefore it would always be an extremely difficult task to replace him. To this day (the year 2022) many Sepultura fans still can´t accept Green as the vocalist of Sepultura, and it was even worse in 1998 when "Against" came out. The album didn´t sell well compared to "Roots (1996)" and generally received a bit of a lukewarm reception. If that reaction was based on Green´s voice and performance on "Against", it would have been understandable, but to my ears Green is a more than capable replacement for Cavalera, with a strong voice and a commanding delivery. Anyone who has seen him on a stage also knows that he has an almost intimidating physical presence (yes the man is huge), which brings a lot to Sepultura´s shows.

Stylistically Sepultura have opted for a more guitar, riff heavy, and raw (sometimes hardcore influenced) groove oriented metal style compared to the alternative/groove metal style of "Roots (1996)", where it sometimes felt like the riffs were an afterthought (and only very few were memorable) and all focus was on angsty aggressive vocals and groove (and the whole tribal ethnic lyric/image thing). The material on "Against" are generally more powerful, intense, and immediate. That doesn´t mean the tracks are simple in a primitive way, but they are more instantly catchy and aggression and groove go well hand and hand with powerful riffs and rhythms, but also with other creative songwriting ideas (for example the lead run on "Floaters in Mud" or the atmopsheric "Rumors"), which bring the right dose of variation to the album. This time around the ethnic influences are used as a spice and doesn´t end up taking too much focus from the basis of Sepultura metal sound, although the tribal/ethnic elements are still a big part of the band´s music.

"Against" features a powerful sounding production, which suits the material well and provides the music with the right amount of power to have as much impact as possible. When all the positive things about the album are said, Sepultura are maybe ultimately a bit too ambitious and unfocused as the album tends to point in a lot of different directions, going from groove metal, to hardcore punk, and then to tribal/ethnic music both within and between tracks. Sometimes it works wonders ("Choke" is an example of a combination of groove metal and a tribal/ethnic music influenced middle section, which works well), and sometimes the results are a bit less remarkable. In the end "Against" is a good quality release by Sepultura and also a step up in quality from "Roots (1996)". A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.