SEPULTURA — Roots (review)

Album · 1996 · Alternative Metal

3.5/5 · 2011-07-26
Diogenes

So, it’s 1996 and metal is just about as dead as a dodo. Sure, there were your various underground bands keeping the faith, and Pantera was there, but for the most part the genre had been an afterthought for a while. It was during this time that many of the longtime staples in metal had begun to change their sound, either out of mainstream starvation or out of boredom. Sepultura was one of the prime examples, releasing Roots early that year to some controversy. Oh, was there controversy. The media, for the most part, loved it. The metalheads, for the most part, hated it. I love me some controversy, especially regarding music, so Roots is a very interesting album to me. I was on the fence for quite a while, trying to decide if it was either creative genius or nu-metal garbage, but after navigating through the deepest jungles of South America (read: my brain), I have finally seen the light in Sepultura’s most diverse record.

Roots is famous for being one of the first metal albums to incorporate heavy doses of tribal elements. Of course, there were some hints of the band going in this direction on Arise and Chaos A.D., but not to this magnitude. Just about every track has Brazilian percussion and reggae influences thrown in there, making for a listening experience that’s unique, at the very least. Tracks like Ratamahatta and Breed Apart are centered around such drumming, with Brazilian musician Carlinhos Brown making a significant contribution on the former. This is the album’s calling card, as the tribal aspects outshine everything else and make Roots what it is.

Don’t be confused. This is still a metal album. The thrashing is all but gone, but Roots is still one heavy sonofabitch. The riffs are slow, sludgy, and simple, creating more of a bottom-heavy atmosphere than a guitar-oriented attack. When tribal drumming is not being used, Igor Cavalera is still as steady as they come behind the kit, beating his drums with relentless energy and vigor, especially on Dusted and the Cut-Throat. It’s different, sure, but that’s why they call it alternative metal. Oh, and the other Cavalera? He’s on an absolute rampage on this album. I would hate to be the person who sent Max over the edge, because he’s beyond pissed on every track. His guitar work might be a bit lazy, but his emotive vocal performance more than makes up for it.

So, what’s wrong with Roots? To a lot of people, this album comes off as too experimental. The tribal elements are annoying, it’s not metal enough, and the band’s changing image (Max’s dyed dreadlocks, in particular) made many fans wonder where the hell that great 80s thrash band went. It’s no secret that two of the biggest influences on Sepultura’s alternative metal adventure were Korn and Deftones, which was a big no-no to those who cared way too much. The guitars are downtuned to an atrocious level as a result of these influences. Did I mention it’s not metal enough? I mean, those exotic jams are just WEIRD! The distorted vocals are stupid (I can agree with this), some of the songs are too noisy (I agree with this too), and it’s still not metal enough. Lookaway is definitely a “miss” in the grand experiment, using the vocals of Jonathan Davis and Mike Patton to zero effectiveness, and having two tribal jams in a row (Jasco and Itsari) kind of put me off. Obviously, when a band changes its sound so drastically, you can’t really expect consistent songwriting results on the first (and only) try; there are plenty of things on Roots that just flat-out do not work. The album is closed with another jam, which might have been a good idea if it wasn’t so damn long. Instead, it acts as a sort of anticlimactic ending to an album full of variety.

Despite all of the mixed feelings I have about Roots, here is why it ends up working. In making this album, Sepultura did not just base their music off of Brazilian culture, but they embraced it. Forget about the nu-metal influences for a minute; the band went to great lengths to make this album a piece of Brazilian history, and that should be commended. Sepultura met with the Xavante Indians to help with recording and learn more about their culture and, they based almost all of the lyrics on problems in the Brazilian culture and politics. This can be hard to take in going track-by-track, but if you look at it from a broader perspective, you can realize that the album is truly greater than the sum of its parts. Roots is not a concept album, and yet it embodies the society, emotions, and people of Brazil all the same. As a straight-up metal album, Roots falls short; but as I understand more and more about the creation of this album and the ground it broke, I have less and less of a problem giving it the respect it truly deserves.