Chaos A.D.

There's a time for everything, and a time to move on from a particular point in one's career or life. So Cavalera and gang decided to follow what their instincts were telling them and so they moved from point A to point B musically without caring about how the exterior world would judge them for it. After all, listening to each album leading to this one, it was only the logical progression of the band to arrive to this form of overly beefy post-thrash/groove metal - just a matter of time before they broke the mold for good. "Yeah but it's not thrash (!)". Exactly, and thankfully so. Obviously looking at main song-writer Max Cavalera's career (Nailbomb, later Soulfly notably), there always was an interest besides being just one thing and forever perpetuating the sound of one specific sub-genre would've been a grave hindrance on his artistic aspirations.

Would you, the listener, prefer Sepultura had released another thrash album in the vein of an 'Arise' but running low on inspiration and with no enthusiasm left for that style, or a different take - one that is the natural evolution of their endeavor as creative artists? There's no problem with loving or hating the classic Sepultura sound just as there's no obligation in subscribing to this newer groove metal ethos, but the fact of the matter is that's what they gravitated towards spontaneously and it was no fluke.

Considering what the 90's did to many of the thrash metal giants from the 80's (think Metallica, Anthrax, Slayer, Megadeth), it's comparatively good news this Brazilian act chose the path of salvaging the heaviness (rather than ditching it) while looking to deepen it, despite abandoning the complexity and eeriness from their previous death-thrash skin. Similarly, Rob Flynn and gang were doing Bay area all out thrash with Vio-lence in the 80's, and along came Machinehead with their first album in 1994, loaded with the revolutionary early groove metal sound. And Sepultura on this are not a trend follower - but a trend setter.

Now, 'Chaos A.D.' for all its boldness and willingness to follow its gut and push the envelope promotes a deliberately simplistic take on music altogether. Although fairly basic, it can still reach formidable levels of intensity. 'Refuse, Resist' is anguish in its purest form and describes a violent vision so vividly it generates a powerful experience that doesn't leave one indifferent. 'Territory' starts off ordinarily but that immense heaviness comes on after the chorus, including a fierce breakdown. The catchy element in the riff is still operative on this record: 'Slave New World' contains basically a series of hooks throughout.

'Amen' plunges the audience into something of a battleground filled with developments including highly atmospheric moments (one with an exotic female lead voice). 'Kaiowas', between ominous and festive, brings the drama of Latin American acoustic guitars and instruments with backing hand percussion. 'Propaganda' restores a bit of the thrash component with its chorus, not to forget that massive rhythmic trample later in the track. The hooks are generally sticky: 'Nomad' is another one that'll stay with the listener, in its otherwise dynamic background - and the songs generally keep busy that way, avoiding systematic repetition and exploring various rhythms or the odd (often dissonant) lead when it isn't a totally new added element.

Sepultura have been a divisive band in the metal community for quite some time. The fact that they had the balls to ditch their death/thrash sound they were known for and experiment with something pretty different is commendable on its own, regardless of quality.

When I was first really getting into metal as a teen, I found the Metal Archives website and started deep diving. It was before I had acceptable internet and wasn't really aware of downloading music, so I'd order CDs through the Search Ohio service our local library was a part of. That was how I first knowingly heard them, as you probably guessed. For years and years, their death/thrash era was my absolute favorite, and let's be real. It still is. That said, as of writing this, I'd say Chaos A.D. might be their best work. They managed to expand upon the newfound experimentation that started creeping up on the previous album (Arise) and do it very well. I mentioned they're a divisive band, this of course applies to metal elitists. I should know, I used to be one. Now, I can't say for sure if the groove direction really did it for them or it was the nu-metal direction on their next album, Roots. Nevertheless, it's important to point out if you're not familiar with the band. This was a very significant turning point for Sepultura.

There's so much variety on this album compared to their past work. The song Altered States from Arise (if I remember correctly) was the first to include their now (in)famous tribal influences from their homeland of Brazil. These influences make more appearances here, especially in the instrumental track Kaiowas, as well as the mostly instrumental (but chant-heavy) We Who Are Not as Others. The only song that mostly resembles their past work would be Propaganda, and even that has a lot of groovy riffwork along with the patented tremolo-picked riffs. Not to mention, this album just has some of their best known songs, such as Refuse / Resist, Slave New World and Territory. It seemed they had a habit of front-loading their albums with the 'hits', but this was probably the first time that the high quality was maintained throughout. No filler whatsoever (not that they had any bad songs from their 80s era until then).

Honestly, you'll have to make your own judgements here. Whether this is the beginning of the end of the Max-era, or groundbreaking is very much up to interpretation. My personal favorite album will probably always be Arise, but I would say as far as content and songwriting goes, this is by far their best work. I should also note that some of the post-Max albums with his replacement Derrick Green are also highly rated, so if you find yourself curious, there's plenty available.

I also just realized this album turns 30 this year, so happy birthday.

(reposted from https://brandonrandomreviews.blogspot.com/2023/03/sepultura-chaos-ad-1993.html)

People who have seen nothing of the world have a strong tendency to think in stereotypes. Alas, I speak from experience. When it comes to Brazil, I see a strange mix of barefoot boys playing football on the beach, big Favelas and the Sugar Loaf Mountain. Not to mention the scantily dressed young women of the famous carnival in Rio. I have heard they look very cute, but due to the fact that my liaison with the most beautiful girl of the world still is existing, I am not really interested in the female dancers in Brazil. However, dancers usually need music and some of the best music from the South-American giant comes from Sepultura. Too bad that “Chaos A.D.” from 1993 marks the last thrilling album of the band. Afterwards the guys released more albums than good songs. The legendary semi-final of the World Cup 2014 was the justified punishment for the shit the band had released for more than two decades.

But back in 1993, the sun was still shining and everything seemed possible. “Chaos A.D.” is a diverse, but not heterogeneous album. It’s the answer to the pretty predictable “Arise”, which was free from any experiments. Its only function was to draw back on the success formula of “Beneath the Remains”. The result was a good album without any surprising elements. “Chaos A.D.” is different. It has an apocalyptic touch that shimmers through the vast majority of the tracks. The sinister and wicked element ensures an homogeneous basic mood. Nevertheless, aside from this consistently dark aura, the brutal songs at the beginning (“Refuse / Resist”, “Territory”) have not much in common with the mysterious nearly-instrumental “We Who Are Not as Others”. The experimental, somehow superfluous but not annoying “Kaiowas” has no interface with the hardcore-influenced eruption of anger called “Biotech Is Godzilla”. Finally, “The Hunt” puts the focus on a smooth flow with pretty normal vocals, while “Clenched Fist” sounds comparatively bulky and hysterical.

The production plays an important role with regard to the overall impression. “Chaos A.D.” is based on a shady mix that combines the resistance of the underground with the technical opportunities of a successful metal unit. Sepultura do not exhibit their financial power by presenting a high-end sound. Their fifth work still mirrors the slums, poverty and aggression. Unlike the beauty I call my girlfriend, Max Cavalera prefers aggressive pitches. The riffs are heavy, cutting and crunchy and the drums serve the songs instead of wallowing in tribal figures. Also unlike my ever-busy beauty, the general velocity remains on a manageable level and with a little tear in my eye I realize that the days of “Schizophrenia” are long gone. Yet even though there is only a vague connection between the albums from 1993 and 1987, Sepultura convince with unambiguous attitude and penetrating power. No doubt, “Chaos A.D.” shows a more courageous band than its predecessor did.

And now it’s time for some very wise words: sometimes it needs courage to go for new horizons… but hopefully one gets rewarded afterwards. In 1993, Sepultura were still flying high and it is a pity that their downfall was not long in coming. Be that as it may, the perfectly costumed girls in Brazil are probably still dancing and the girl I love is still at my side. “Chaos A.D.” could be much worse and the same applies – I beg your pardon, Corona virus – for the whole situation.

Although Arise certainly began to incorporate more groove elements, it was here that Sepultura fully fleshed out its tribal influences. While Roots would keep the tribal drumming and traditional Brazilian instruments, it would eschew thrash (for the most part, possibly with the exceptions of the hardcore-tinged "Dictatorshit" and "Attitude"), and become a key album in the transition from groove to full on nu-metal. However, on this album, a combination of mid-paced thrash and groove with dissonant Latin melodies and tribal instruments creates a work that Sepultura should see as a second high-point, like a brilliant mid-afternoon sun, in their career.

While Beneath the Remains and Schizophrenia are my favorites, I confess that I enjoy this album more than Arise because this album definitely showcases a new direction and exciting sound for the band, whereas Arise, besides the masterful opening three tracks, can sometimes feel like Beneath the Remains 2: Electric Meaningless Movements Being Moved Through (see what I did there?), except at 70-80% speed. In contrast, Chaos AD very much stands up as a diverse musical work.While some may dismiss this as just groove metal, there are many legit thrash moments to be had, whether during the solo on Refuse/Resist, the main verse of Slave New World, the first half of Propaganda, and the end of "Nomad". On this album, we begin to see a stronger punk influence; examples include the New Model Army cover "The Hunt," and the hardcore-flavored "Manifest" and "Biotech is Godzilla." Then, there are also the grooving, somewhat ambient tracks "We Who Are Not As Others" and "Clenched Fist," which add to the protest message of the album. Up until this point, Sepultura's instrumental tracks had been actually thrash ("Inquisition Symphony") or classically influenced ("The Abyss"), but now, we have the wonderful Brazilian flair of "Kaiowas," a tribute to the people who committed mass suicide in protest of land incursions. In a turn of poetic justice (or irony, depending on your view of the culpability of ancestors vs. descendants, and of Europeans as a whole), Sepultura recorded it in a Welsh castle, obviously no longer inhabited by the European nobles that once lived there.

Obviously, all of these elements contribute to the strength, diversity, and cohesiveness of the album as a whole, but the album hangs its hat on the three singles: "Refuse/Resist", "Territory", and "Slave New World", along with the similarly hard-grooving "Amen", and "Propaganda." The rhythms on these songs are infectious, the vocals are vicious and righteously irate, the lyrics are catchy and easy to shout along to, and most importantly, they make me want to riot! In terms of message, this is something that both your average metalhead and a political activist can relate to, something that cannot be said about all of Sepultura's previous works. Indeed, this feels like the type of work that, if it had a greater influence, could be inducted into something like the National Recording Registry as a piece of protest music, in a similar vein to Master of Puppets or something by Joan Baez or Bob Dylan. Some might view this cynically, but I think it only adds to the gravity of the album.

One thing that has set Sepultura apart ever since Andreas Kisser joined the band was his keen feeling for when to use the major scale to create a sense of uneasiness and tension. This is present on Schizophrenia and Beneath the Remains, but often forgotten due to the sheer speed of the solos on there. Here, the solos are much simpler for the most part, often featuring variations on the same melody rather than reinventing the wheel every bar. Consequently, this use of major and/or atonal notes stands out more on this album, and gives Sepultura its iconic, distinct sound. Many bands feel compelled to use pentatonic, minor, or chromatic all the time, but never dare to use major, and this is one of the places where early/mid Sepultura gets the upper hand.

Here, Sepultura keeps the slowed down rhythms of Arise while removing the staleness and rehashed themes of death and nihilism from that record, replacing it with a message that one can be in control of one's own destiny if they just have the balls to stand up for themselves. At the same time, this album has a rhythmic complexity and songwriting nuance that is not necessarily lost on Roots, but is definitely simplified. For these reasons, I feel like Chaos A.D. represents Sepultura at a peak in their creativity. While it's not their best album in my eyes, it's definitely their most innovative, given that Roots was a much less drastic change from this than Chaos A.D. was from Arise. While Beneath the Remains showed that Sepultura could show up pretty much all of its thrash compatriots in speed, ferocity, and technique, Chaos A.D. demonstrated that Sepultura didn't have to just be a heavier, faster, more progressive Slayer or Kreator; it could in fact create something entirely new. For these reasons (along with the kick-ass music itself), I will always love this album, and it will always be an album I will point to as one of the best of groove metal. Maybe part of me wishes that Sepultura had become a full-on death metal band (I consider Morbid Visions/Bestial Devastation more black metal), but something tells me that this album is probably better than what would have resulted if Sepultura had moved in that direction.

In terms of weaknesses, this album has a few: the relatively bland "The Hunt", which I would remove from the album, the cheesiness of the samples in "Biotech is Godzilla", and the slightly more monotonous nature of "Manifest" and "Clenched Fist" in comparison to the rest of the album. That said, I would change nothing about the first six tracks, and I feel "Nomad" and "We Who Are Not As Others" are very strong as well. The fact that there are four songs I criticized might mean to some that this album deserves something more like a 90, but to me, the first six tracks are so strong, that if this pace had been continued throughout the whole album, I would probably give it a 99. And it's not like these four songs are bad; "Biotech" is still a banger, and the other three are just a little less memorable than the rest. I tend to reward albums for what they do well to a greater extent than I penalize them for what they do badly. Chaos A.D. is an album that will always be hated by many because it is a change in direction, which many fans never like, but I happen to think this was a change for the better from Arise, and it's a fantastic album in its own right.

For many, Chaos A.D. marks the beginning of the end for Sepultura - this highly divisive album is seen as their fall from grace and their first step into the pits they inhabit today. While sonically it did pave the way for the slop the band would put out after it, the transition made here is a successful one. On this album, Sepultura underwent a fairly drastic shift in sound to groove metal - obvious comparisons to Pantera can be made, with the riffs here being much simpler than on previous efforts. The band relies on texture, directness, percussive heaviness and simplicity for impact as opposed to an assault on the senses through speed and technicality. Max's vocals always tended more towards shouting than growling but here he sounds higher pitched, a bit more monotone, consistently louder and more angry sounding. The soloing and drumming meanwhile is in fact more active and technical than on past efforts - in a similar fashion to Pantera the reduced technicality of the riffs means the soloing and drumming has been spiced up to provide more variation to the songs.

However, the feel of this album certainly isn't merely that of a Pantera clone, as there is a distinct punk spirit running throughout the album, which manifests mainly in the focus of the music. The various songs here are much more stripped down in presentation than even something like 'Walk', with a lot more focus going towards big and simple messages and motifs within the songs, with anything else taking a back seat. The soloing for instance has been stripped of most of its melody, and as such they exist solely to serve the song by being a point of contrast within them for some variation. While there are a good few riffs in any given track of varying types, they are the principle motifs of the songs and exist to be as memorable as possible, with the band stripping them down to the bare minimum to make them and thus the songs as immediate and high-impact as possible. The drums exist to accentuate those riffs and give them impact by doubling up their percussive nature. The songs are built around verse-chorus song structures with very catchy, simple choruses usually consisting of just a few words, as well as simpler verses. The vocals are more straightforward too - they are there simply to relay the lyrics and as such are stripped of what little tonal variation they had. Everything exists solely to turn each song into an engaging and memorable vehicle for the band's anger and their messages - it's all been stripped down to the bare essentials.

Music this focused and stripped down requires a great deal of passion and creativity to get by, in a similar fashion to punk and alternative rock, and it is here where the band succeeds. They have a knack for making things stick by picking only the most memorable riffs to put in a song, as well as penning the most memorable lyrics (this album's lyrics are full of earworms and quotables - this review's title being one example.) The solos, while noisy, atonal and technical, never go overboard and start noodling or otherwise detracting from the focus of the songs. The drums are hit hard, and despite the simple nature of the music the drum performance is loaded with lots and lots of interesting fills (often influenced by tribal music) to back the riffs up. The guitars sound heavy, textured and thick, and the riffs are played with a great deal of conviction. The vocals too sound righteously angry, with Max making for a convincing, truly captivating frontman. It sounds as if he put his heart into the messages he is shouting forth which makes it much easier to take them seriously, and the general passion of the performances all around results in songs that feel very crucial, as if the band have to get their sounds out there. The band also does well to mix it up in songs too, with very few tracks ever stagnating on one idea for too long. There's always a faster thrash/hardcore influenced section, breakdown, solo or some other contrasting section around the corner, with each part consistently bringing its own memorable ideas to the table (a riff, a set of lyrics, a drum pattern or another idea entirely.) For all the deliberate stripping down Sepultura's music has undergone, most of these tracks are as energetic and dynamic as before and due to their simplicity have a much more immediate impact on the listener as the band waste no time in getting to the meat of a song's ideas and messages.

The album mostly remains within the realm of hardcore/groove/thrash, with some songs leaning more towards one or two of the three. The opener, title track and most famous song here 'Refuse/Resist' is a perfect mission statement for the album as a whole. The song drips with a rebellious, angered spirit that translates into how furious and strong the performances are, with its mid-tempo verses and undeniable hook backed up by a set of fantastic groove riffs, before the band break into a speedy bridge as Andreas solos away like there's no tomorrow. Tracks like 'Territory', 'Nomad' or 'Amen' go for more mid-tempo, crushing grooves while 'Biotech is Godzilla' is excellent and to-the-point crossover thrash song and tracks such as 'Propaganda' and 'Manifest' mix up faster and more mid-tempo sections. 'We Who Are Not As Others' in an interesting, mostly instrumental, piece that continuously builds up from a slow groove riff to the climax of the band shouting the title, with an increasingly frantic drum performance, strings and leads accenting the song nicely. The New Model Army cover is a successful translation of the song to the album's style, creating a rather dark track that thematically fits in quite well and provides some variety to the album. Another interesting track is 'Kaiowas' - an acoustic jam with pounding tribal percussion that functions as a protest song of sorts, one that fits in perfectly with everything else here in spirit if not in style.

Whatever it may have represented for the band and metal as a whole, Chaos A.D. will remain as a truly remarkable milestone and one of the genre's crown jewels for years to come. It's an extremely creative, potent and cohesive blend of aggression, memorability and passion, one that remains virtually unrivalled in metal to this day. It's not for everybody, but giving it a chance and allowing it to grow on you might just turn out to be very rewarding.

The late 1980's and early 90's were a time of massive upheaval, the Soviet Union had started falling apart, massive protests were rocking Asia and Eastern Europe, threatening the communists with their eventual removal, Latin America was seeing a massive crime wave in some nations and the last of its US-backed dictators being deposed in others, and thrash metal was using up all of its old ideas and looking for new ones. Sepultura had been taking note of all this happening around them and over time their focus had shifted from simple speed and brutality with lyrics about the occult towards slower and more crushing fight-grooves with songs about the much more real horrors of pollution, illness, callous businesses, abusive and corrupt governments, unreliable media, bigotry, and war. With all of this going on, not just in the news, but with some of it even happening in Sepultura's own backyards, they're bound to want to lash out at all of that. Their music had been getting slower, scrappier, more pissed off, and more socially aware, even on Arise, but Chaos A.D. is where the riot-groove laden metal protest anthems come into their most complete form.

Chaos A.D. has a very vicious "rise up and beat down your oppressor" feeling about all of this. Punishing grooves that would rile a crowd into a frenzy abound on this album, and build tension as Cavalera shouts out his rallying cries of "REFUSE... RESIST!", "WE'RE NOT SLAVES, WE'RE FREE!", and "WAR FOR TERRITORY!" This is likely Sepultura's most quotable album with so many brutish, memorable grooves matching choruses that many a dissident could rally behind. This is also Sepultura's most diverse album, aside from the much more derided Roots. This not only has to do with the introduction of tribal and traditional Brazilian instruments in some songs, but also in the structures of the songs. There are slower, more atmospheric, and brooding songs like "Amen", fast, pure thrashers like "Biotech is Godzilla", and some oddities such as a tribal piece like "Kaiowas" that provides a nice, easy, but still stoic respite from the protest-stomp songs surrounding it. Other oddities include the use of industrial effects to create a tense "news report" styled description of a massive prison massacre and police cover-up in "Manifest", which makes it stand out as a blistering and unique experiment on Sepultura's part. These more unusual songs keep Chaos A.D. from becoming monotonous and allows Sepultura to show off just how extensive their musical abilities were. Every one of these tracks is fierce and uncompromising in its riffing and its devotion to revolution.

Chaos A.D. shows Sepultura's ability to be agile about their craft and still make it seem consistent. If you can get diversity and make it feel consistent, you've succeeded at crafting an album, especially one with such iconic songs as this. They're all concise, memorable, and are fueled by undiluted rebel anger. You've also succeeded if you can even best one of your influences with a cover of their work. New Model Army's "The Hunt" is made into something that feels much more like a rally to mob justice with its heavier take on the original's tense melodies. Every song rings with a desire to bring the world and all its governmental and business nonsense down to rubble. With all of this revolutionary rage spilling forth from my speakers, it's hard to contain my urge to just mosh. This is Chaos A.D., Sepultura's strongest usage of the almighty groove.

I'm going to choose to ignore the fact that Sepultura used to be a thrash metal band, since it seems that their roots become redundant somewhere between Arise and Chaos A.D, the latter of which remains their most famous album and disputably their best, depending who you ask. However, it's also disputably the moment that everything went horribly wrong for the Brazilians and they plunged into a sort of groove metal slump as characterized by the other big bands of the time, such as Pantera and White Zombie. I'm not here to tell you which story to believe, but I will say that I stand somewhere between those groups.

Chaos A.D. is not an album that lacks heaviness. It isn't heavy like thrash or death or sludge metal, but it delivers the heavies in more than one way. The first way is the one that you would usually consider most important on a metal album: the music is bold and loud and contains both memorable riffs and plenty of aggression. The overall style of those riffs is not really dominated by one particular metal subgenre, which may have thrown a lot of people off the scent in the past, getting titbits from many areas to create what I would say is an amalgam of all that was "modern" in 1993 without playing to the commercial. Remembering that this came out before nu metal, before Machine Head, and way before the NWOAHM is significant because this album could be seen as an influence on all of those, yet - and this is important to grasp - it is much more extreme. The sonic dirt of the production helps, as does the fact that the pace is higher than any of Pantera's work, while there are sections that move close to blastbeat territory or flat-out riffing, as one can hear on the closing 'Clenched Fist' and 'Propaganda', not to mention the latter half of the unfairly maligned 'Refuse/Resist'. Sure, 'Territory' grooves just like Pantera's 'No Good (Attack the Radical)', but that's the kind of groove metal that doesn't sacrifice either of those two words - it includes both groove and metal.

The second way in which Chaos A.D. is a heavy album comes from its atmosphere. Why Sepultura decided to record in Wales is a mystery, though the studio clearly did some good work, giving a grubby yet biting sound to Andreas Kisser's guitar and a clear if slightly floppy sound to Paulo Jr's bass. The drums are not quite as sharp as you might wish and a little distant, but there's a great ambience to the sound of the band together that feeds off the sinister themes of the amazing artwork (it really is one of the best covers I've seen) and sets songs like 'Amen' and 'We Who Are Not As Others' thrilling against the nerves, especially when Kisser plays those eerie high chords. I must say that I have never felt any atmosphere while listening to groove metal, nor do many of the 80s thrashers have much to boast in most cases. Here, 'Manifest' could easily have been a total throwaway track included to serve a political point, but the sense of unease I get while listening to the narrative and the backing instrumentation is very real and shows the band had grasped how to craft songs beyond mere surface details.

The other thing that adds to the quality of Chaos A.D. is the attention to detail, which is usually missing from any kind of music that aims to possess an instinctive appeal. I remember listening to this for the first time many years ago and shying away from it as something that was a bit ugly and oppressive: now I'm coming to realize that is exactly what made this good, since there are some songs that seem simple yet actually include plenty of changes to prevent them becoming too easy to digest. 'Propaganda' starts off as quite a fast-paced thrash song, slowing down in its second half and cutting away the guitars on occasions to expose the bass twisting and turning like a worm in the dirt. Then there's 'Amen', the middle section of which totally goes off the beaten track and plays out several intriguing instrumental ideas in succession.

There are a few cuts that don't make it in terms of quality and it's a big blow for the album that they come grouped together towards the end. 'Nomad' is a fairly nasty groove song with big lumpen riffs that don't do much for me; that's followed by the (basically) instrumental 'We Who Are Not As Others', which has atmosphere but not the riffs to sustain interest; 'Manifest' I have mentioned already as being a risk, while the cover of 'The Hunt' is passable but lacks the gravity that the rest of the album possesses. In general, I would praise the album as strong and heavier than most people think; influential, but not so much of a bold stride forwards as some would have you believe; classic, though not really excellent.

It's not hard to see why this 1993 release from the bold Brazilians caused such a stir among the metal community. It's also easy to see that this kind of album was on it's way and was the next logical step. The band really gained it's potency with the 1989 classic, Beneath The Remains and became a league of their own with smart songwriting, urgent production and uncompromising brutality. Their followup Arise, while still carrying the thrash metal card was clearly adopting some groove metal stylings. While still having plenty of breakneck tempos and progressive riff changes (Subtraction, Arise) like it's predecessor, it had more than a few laid back grooves (Desperate Cry, Dead Embryonic Cells) as a hint towards their change of pace to come.

This came full circle on this milestone of an album, Chaos A.D. We're introduced to the new direction straight away with Refuse/Resist, it's main motif is introduced in the form of a two note groove riff, pedaling back and forth in a pendulum like motion. Max Cavalera demonstrates a slightly higher intensity (and pitch) vocal delivery compared to the last few releases. While being a slower speed, the drums do not sacrifice any power and put maximum weight and flourish lock-stepped into the tempo with a certain tribal flair. Andy Wallace's production is fantastic, giving a new sense of clarity and definition not previously heard while truly capturing the essence of the band with plenty of punch and thickness to boot with respectable dynamics.

Territory increases the tempo slightly and really emphasizes the Brazilian tribal vibe in the drum work. It carries a sociopolitical undertone which is a common theme across this album and Max Cavalera's theme of choice for the most part of his output. The songwriting is clearly intended for the mainstream with a more simplified approach to the songwriting. While this is quite a jarring contrast for the discerning metal fan who came to love (maybe even worship) their previous signature songwriting style, the album performed remarkably for a metal album from Brazil, ranking as high as 11 on the UK Billboard charts and reaching gold status right across the Western nations (and silver in the U.K.) so they achieved their intended goal.

There seems to be at least a hint of their thrash metal roots with a fairly brisk punk beat in Slave New World. The main riff sounds quite similar to Inner Self but faster and in a lower tuning. Amen brings the tempo back down and showcases the prominent bass guitar not previously associated with this band, which goes quite some way to invoke the groovier feel across the album.

Kaiowas sets an all new precedent for Sepultura consisting entirely of acoustic guitars and tribal percussion set in a Welsh castle complete with chirping birds in tow! Propaganda has great pummeling riffs and double bass from Igor Cavalera. Max lays the smackdown against propaganda as implied and this song features a killer breakdown towards the end of the song. Sepultura may have changed their style but it's impossible to deny how well they do it.

The guitar solos of Andreas Kisser are quite different compared to the legendary fretwork of old, The lead guitarist opts for a highly experimental and mostly rhythmic approach, sometimes eschewing actual notes for frantic noises featuring pick-scrapes and whammy bar attacks. If fits the rest of the music most of the time but it's not up to the usual standard of lead work.

The tempo finally gets cooking with the all too short Biotech Is Godzilla featuring laughably paranoid and vague lyrics by Jello Biafra. This is one among very few songs to have an upbeat, thrash metal tempo and is less than two minutes to conform to the hardcore punk vibe. Nomad is decent and isn't all that weak but shows that the new formula is prone to sounding a bit repetitive and the distinction between each song begins to blur. Speaking of repetitive, We Who Are Not As Others consists of one repeated phrase being the song title and is rather subdued, lacking bite and direction. Manifest breathes a bit of life back into the mix. Max's narrates the Carandiru massacre in a megaphone voice. This song has just enough tempo and riff changes to keep up the interest and prevents it from falling into the lackadaisical mid-tempo stasis of We Who Are Not As Others.

The Hunt is a New Model Army cover that would seem rather out of place if you did not realize it was a cover song but in that context, it is a rather interesting take. Sepultura always make for interesting covers under their unique style. The lyrics are also consistent with the underlying theme, making it an appropriate choice. The album closes musically with Clenched Fist which starts with an interesting tri-tone effect and mixes up the laid back groove pulse with more urgent thrash tempos.

The last track is simply an attempted whacky comedy skit with the band members laughing nonstop. There is no bonus song on the track and seems a bit pointless and fillerish in an otherwise great record. In summary, Chaos A.D. is a very enjoyable album for most people who enjoyed their previous works and aren't afraid to see their favourite bands evolve and is a memorable introduction to Brazil's biggest musical export for first time listeners.

Okay, some decent songs, but overall the band just sunk in crap in overall estimation. Definitely a decline in songwriting capabilities, the band just hit rock bottom even though Max was still with them. The 1st couple of songs are tolerable, but the album as a whole fell short in dismay and destruction. It seemed so half assed, lacking the aggression and originality in songwriting that they used to have. They just sold out with this one, kind of along the lines of Metallica with their "Black" album. Just all of the songs are in non-aggressive writing structures, just sub-par outputs where the band just lumped together some riffs and solos and just made a bland excuse for an album.

Check out a song like "Refuse/Resist" and you'll find that they totally mellowed out, which isn't totally a bad thing, just a sad ending to a legend that turned rancid. The guitars are thick, but the innovative riffs that were amongst them in their earlier days just are no more. I wouldn't consider the band to be called "Sepultura" because this is no Sepultura to me, et al. What counts here is music, but if you want to call it thrash metal, I think that it would be a mistake. They used to come up with the most intriguing and aggressive songs and yet they put out something like this. They should've just changed their name like Metallica should've.

No progression, just regression, stick with the old stuff. This is just a waste, you really have to be in the mood to listen to something mild, but even so, pretend that their name wasn't Sepultura. An evolution? A destruction. A destruction of talent that they once had, musically the album isn't an entire waste. I could tolerate 3-4 songs then I have to turn it off in utter dismay. Sad to hear such a great band that gave up in the thrash metal community. Many bands went to hell, but this decline was as obvious as I've said Metallica's decline as well. If you want heavy metal, I'd say this is more fits in that genre.

The music contains just bar chords slapped together with some severe solos, plus a bunch of acoustic riffs during some songs and overall an obliteration of the band. Maybe it's a money thing or maybe they ran out of ideas. It could be both, but now that Max is officially done with the band, I say RIP to them with vigor. Bands that don't decline over time are ones to follow with each succeeding album. But bands like Sepultura you never would expect a death (1st) metal origin, then thrash, then like groove metal. It's kind of weary and a waste, unless you feel like listening to half assed crap.

Don't make a mistake and investing in this release because what you don't get is thrash metal, you get a non-super Sepultura. It's more like they as a band went to the grave with this one. Pardon the pun, but really, check out some songs on YouTube. If you like more groove oriented bands, this will hit home. But if you're expecting thrash metal, you won't get it here. It's completely non-existent. In all reality, we hear of Sepultura and think "yeah, they rock the hardest!" Well, "Chaos AD" doesn't rock if you expect like I said thrash, it's totally a decline and end of the band in general. So to me they're officially "dead."

The popular opinion among extreme metal fans is that with the release of "Chaos A.D.", Sepultura were hopping on the musical bandwagon for heavy metal in the '90s, abandoning their magnificent and decidedly non-trendy speed metal riffing in favor of a more commercially acceptable groove oriented style, made quite popular by bands like Pantera. The majority seem to speculate that the boys from Brazil changed their style so they could keep selling albums in the new musical climate, and that their output suffered because of it. I don't agree with that.

While the stylistic change may have come during a time when slower, groovier music was becoming popular in the metal scene, in no way is this album toned down as far as extremity. "Chaos A.D." contains by far the heaviest and arguably the most aggressive material Sepultura had yet written. What Sepultura choose to hold back as far as musical complexity, they make up for with sheer ferocity. The simpler guitar riffs bludgeon the listener in the same way Celtic Frost did a decade before and the slower beats allow some space and breathing room; they have time to build strength before crashing down. In a way I would compare the music on this album to classic Discharge or Cro-Mags. An odd comparison perhaps but the approach is similar: aggressive, yet simple, repetitive guitar riffs over steady, pummeling beats with angry, gruff, screaming vocals and minimalist, politically charged lyrics - total fucking hardcore.

While "Morbid Visions", "Schizophrenia", "Beneath the Remains" and "Arise", were all unique and highly influential albums, ultimately putting Brazil on the map for extreme metal, they were still of a style that was mostly rooted in the music pioneered by bands from the United States, England and Europe. I believe that Sepultura added the groove element to their sound, not to make their music more accessible, but because the rhythmic, tribal element was better representative of where they were from. It gave the band a sound and style they could really call their own, and at the same time pulled them out of the stagnant overgrown swamp that was the death/thrash metal scene at the time. Many die hard, "old-school" headbangers cry about this album being one of those that helped jump-start the whole "nu-metal" movement, and they're probably right, but "Chaos A.D." is far more abrasive than the melodic, pop-garbage that MTV, mainstream "hard rock" radio, and glossy magazines like Hit Parader were trying to pawn off as "heavy" music to angsty mallrats.

I once held the opinion that "Arise" was the last 'good' Sepultura album. It was only after discovering the aforementioned Celtic Frost and Discharge and masochistically loving every moment having my skull battered by them, that I've been able to draw the comparisons between "Chaos A.D." and the classic works of those two bands and it changed my opinion. I hope this review can change some others' opinions that they might come to enjoy this classic album as well.

Sepultura's fifth full-length is unique in terms of weirdness: "What does Chaos A.D. sound like?" is a rhetorical question even for those who are very familiar with the album. The amount of genres mixed into it is bizarre, and each song is so different from the other that if it were not for Max Cavalera’s vocals it would sound like a groove metal compilation. The situation is aggravated by its unique ability to generate commotion and polemics, and someone who has not heard the album before will still be unable to tell how it sounds like no matter how many reviews he/she reads. By writing this review, I will try to clarify things a bit, and succeed where others have failed. Do I sound preposterous? Surely I do. This is a doomed task, but as far as I know, trying does not hurt.

First, I don’t consider Beneath the Remains to be the masterpiece it is supposed to be. Surely enough it is creative, and it does have many interesting riffs, but Sepultura was little more than Slayer with lower vocals back then. Chaos A.D. was, if not their magnum opus, the first full-length that was truly theirs. Within the album, you will find some of the catchiest riffs ever, and the desire to mosh is present in every song but the bonus tracks. The drums – that mix Brazilian influences with groove metal ones – are undeniably creative and Cavalera’s pissed off vocals are amusing enough to keep you going.

The album has two main strengths. The first of them is the drumming - an extremely competent and creative Igor Cavalera pretty much carries the album for half of its length, and the mosh-friendly aspects of the full-length are empowered with a series of influences from Brazilian genres that at first do not have anything to do with metal. The drum patterns are so varied that one would guess that the band hired several different drummers instead of sticking to Igor. The second is Refuse/Resist, a track that might be not only the best Sepultura has ever written, but also one of the best songs in terms of mosh that human beings were able to come up with, despite its slow nature and simplicity. Everything in that song – with the possible exception of the lyrics – gets emotional response from the audience when played live, and I have yet to see a cover of this song being played without individuals thrusting each other.

However, once you start to think about the album as a whole you realize that it does not have a lot to offer: as I mentioned before, this album offers a different formula, one that was coined by Sepultura itself and that is based on immediate gratification rather than on technicality or skilled songwriting. It is a real mosh gem, but when listening to it alone for more than twenty minutes you realize that the recording is as superficial as it gets: the lyrics vary from weak to dumb and some songs are repetitive to the point of being annoying. Superficiality, however, does not explain the horde of outraged Sepultura fans that spit in the face of this album. What turned fans off was the fact that with Chaos A.D. Sepultura left the world of thrash completely, choosing to replace their Slayer heritage with hardcore-influenced groove riffs that laugh in the face of speed and are as complex as a hydrogen atom. It is true that those riffs did not exactly suck, but to give their fans something that was purely based on creativity and that could not be compared musically to anything they had previously recorded was the same thing as asking for bad reception.

Of course, when such a thing happens it is interesting not to have terrible tracks. “Biotech is Godzilla”, “We Who Are Not as Others” are two lame songs, being the first one extremely short and predictable (the same drum pattern for two minutes… ugh) and the other an instrumental track that simply doesn’t go anywhere and has a single sentence that barely manages to be an excuse for not being able to come up with lyrics at all. Those two songs wouldn’t make it to a list of the worst songs ever, but they make a statement about everything that is wrong with this album: when creativity falls short, the lack of depth makes itself clear and the listener is left with absolutely nothing but a lot of annoying filler passages.

Summarizing, this is not as good or as bad as it is supposed to be, it is simply a somewhat radio-friendly album with tracks that differ from each other not only in terms of riffs but also in terms of influences. The album does have flaws, which become visible when creativity falls short, but listening to it is an ultimately amusing experience as long as you do not try to sit through the whole album at once. I would give it a score of 70, but seriously, Refuse/Resist and the drum pattern that opens territory easily earns 10 extra points.

Few albums have polarized the masses quite like Chaos A.D., but I really have to admit, after careful consideration: this is my favorite release from the Brazilians. Why, you ask, would a thrash purist like myself prefer this over their faster, busier albums like Beneath the Remains? Well, for one, I found Arise quite a bore. There were a few good tracks hidden in it, but the tone of the album did absolutely nothing for me, and I thought it was a few steps backward from Beneath the Remains. More importantly, Chaos A.D. is a culmination of form. It was inevitable, really. Take the band's social and political lyrical stance, the tribal folk influence of their environment, and the down tuning hardcore breakdowns; combine these to create one of the most fist pumping pit epics ever.

I'll go one further: Chaos A.D. is probably the most mosh-worthy album in the history of metal. Almost every track here is laden with brutal yet simple pit grooves that are nearly irresistible, even to one such as myself, who has loathed the mosh pit culture since a very young age. Sepultura writes these things extremely well here. Max's angry barking and one of the best productions I've ever heard for a metal album round out the pummeling, furious statement that is Chaos A.D. Make no mistakes about it, this is one pissed off album.

"Refuse/Resist" begins the album with a powerful groove and some nice drumwork, before the infamous line Chaos A.D.! Tanks On The Streets! Confronting Police! Bleeding The Plebs! delivered just as angrily as any hardcore band. The tribal "Territory" thrives of its simplistic grooves and crazy breakdowns. "Slave New World" is a thrasher that might have also appeared on either of the previous two albums. "Amen" has the perfect, simple verse riff, dispersed by some slower drum fills and doomier guitar breaks. "Kaiowas" is a folk, acoustic piece, yet it feels as if it fits here completely. "Propaganda" starts with haunting, ringing guitars before pulverizing your face yet again with a simple riff which seems like it's just a variation of others on the album. But this is the forte of Chaos A.D., it's basically feeding you the same style of riffs over and over and having you love them every time, the power of cohesion and continuity reigns. "Biotech is Godzilla" is a decent, faster track but not one of my favorites on the album. "Nomad" begins with another ringing mid-ranged guitar, almost siren-like, before the drum fill leads into another neck breaking groove. "We Who Are Not As Others" is a progressive track with some acoustic fills, bluesy wails and gang shouts. Very effective. "Manifest" is a brutal tribute to the violence of prison population purges. The band covers "The Hunt" from New Model Army, and does an excellent job with the tune, sounding very much their own. "Clenched Fist" ends the album with another sick, grooving verse.

As I mentioned earlier, this album has an insanely good mix, recorded in England. Everything is loud and clear, the guitars sound punishing and the vocals pissed. The tribal fill inflections of the percussion are evident, and the bass runs thick. Crank this fuck and just try not banging your head to it. The lyrics are decent and meaningful, especially for the band. I have heard countless horse shit scenester complaints about how this album is 'sellout' and one of the influences that created the dreaded 'nu metal' genre, along with Machine Head and the emerging rapcore scene. But here is the catch: who cares? If all nu metal had been as good as this album, noone would have hated it to begin with. Unfortunately that was not to be, and even Sepultura started rolling downhill after this (I may not agree with the blowhards that this record was the Anti-antichrist, but I certainly agree about Roots).

Before this arrived, I had lauded Beneath the Remains as my favorite album from the band. While that remains the best of their speed/thrash style, Chaos A.D. is the album that truly defines this band for me. It's where they stopped being Slayer, D.R.I. and Metallica's heavily accented counterpart from Brazil and became an entity all to themselves, yet still has plenty of those types of thrash riffs. It is distinctive and nigh flawless. It still sounds great today. Give it a chance, or give it another.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

Contrary to popular belief, the majority of thrash bands in the 1990's did not fall into mediocrity immediately. There was always a "gateway" album, an album that was decent enough yet showed troubling signs of some degree which foreshadowed the musical horrors that would follow. The most obvious one of these was Metallica's self-titled album, which was lackluster but solid despite the change of sound. MegaDeth had this in "Countdown to Extinction" and "Youthanasia," both of which were very good for what they were. Slayer had "Divine Intervention," and our Brazilian friends in Sepultura had "Chaos A.D." It was by far not the worst thing they would do in their career, but it was a definite step backwards from the thrash excellence of previous material.

When I first began buying music CD's many years ago I got into Sepultura based on a recommendation from a friend. This was the only album available at the time (which makes sense, its their most famous and the only one retailers seem to have most of the time) so I picked it up. At that particular point in time, I immensely enjoyed what I heard and assumed the band's best moments were cemented around what I heard here. Naturally, after getting the band's back catalog, particularly "Beneath the Remains" a couple of years later, my opinions were completely changed. Suddenly, "Chaos A.D." was no longer the shining star I had mistaken it for previously. In fact, I dare say "Chaos A.D." was the gateway to disaster for this band, an opinion a good number of folks here on the Archives seem to agree with.

So where does this album go wrong? For one, the weight shift of modernity in the early 1990's was not a pretty one by any stretch of the imagination. Though some bands like Overkill countered this some degree of intelligence and retention of quality, most others, including Sepultura, did not. What "Chaos A.D." offers more than anything is a dumbing down of their incredible thrash legacy set in the four albums before this one. Considering the legacy includes albums like "Schizophrenia" and "Beneath the Remains," which were both ass-kicking whirlwinds of massive riffs, its hard to understand why "Chaos A.D." was ever concieved. Maybe it was the appeal of commericialism that struck the band like a virus, or maybe it was the desire to expand sounds and prevent musical stagnation. If it was the former, shame on the band and if it is the latter, they did a terrible job of expanding anything other than boring groove metal.

Contrary to most of the negative reviews here, I actually liked the song "Refuse / Resist." Yes, it is massively overrated, often considered by the media to be the band's best song. I can firmly say, after stacking it up against "From the Past Comes the Storm," "Beneath the Remains," among others, that it is not, nor is it close to being the band's best. Still, its kept to an ideal length for groove metal, to the point I can't truly complain. "Territory" is a different matter, as it becomes too stagnated and long winded for its own good. Other tracks like "Amen" and "Nomad" are both similiar stories, with the former going into some poorly placed religious chants, foreshadowing the ill-fitted avant-garde ideas that would consume "Roots" like a boa constrictor does its prey. This also plays into "Kaiowas," which I will admit was a decent enough idea considering it was fairly new at the time just not carried out very well. Again, more nods to the abominable mess heard on "Roots."

Yet not all is lost in the world of half-assed Brazilian groove metal. "Propaganda" hammers out some decent moments when it gets going, though still nothing compared to albums of years past. "Biotech is Godzilla" is silly as hell but a competent hardcore inspired song. I like the political message of the song, which Sepultura is usually known for, but the lyrics and Max's voice just do not work. Neither sounds like they were given much effort, and since Jello Biafra was involved in some sectors of this album, that explains the hit and miss nature of the lyrics all too well. At least Max doesn't end up singing the ultra-happy nonsense the Dead Kennedys often got into. Evan Sienfeld's name is also attached to the credits, though he appears as a musician only on "Slave New World." Nothing to get excited about there anyway, you can't really tell its him aside from the credits and I'm not someone who gets overly happy to see anyone from Biohazard appear on a record.

As much as I'd like to stomp this album flat at times, I really can't. It isn't as abominable as some might have you think, I come to this conclusion because I didn't judge this as a thrash album which it is not. Yet even based on groove metal standards, its a mostly pedestrian release with a few good songs surrounded by lame groove and bad ideas that only foreshadows what would transpire three years later on the tribal misfire of "Roots." I can say that while it is an accessible album for the band, I wouldn't really want anyone to discover Sepultura this way. Discovering them with this album might lead one to think "Roots" and post-Cavalera Sepultura are acceptable, which is as far from the truth as possible and I'm lucky to have found their thrash albums and to know what acceptable Sepultura sounds like. If you're already an established fan of the group and wouldn't mind a trip into a world where Sepultura tried to be the Brazilian Pantera, then you might find something worthwhile here. If such a desire should occur, seek out "Chaos A.D." from the discount aisle and leave it at that.

I don't get all the hatred for this record. 'Refuse/Resist' stomps out the box with a roaring riff that makes me want to throw molotovs at tanks. 'Territory' is possibly the greatest song Sepultura has ever written. Igor's drum work is insane here. 'Slave New World' is ferocious, a neck-snapper balanced on layers of menacing groove. Sure, this isn't the straight death/thrash of old but it isn't the dumbed down monotony of 'Roots' either. This is a hybrid, an experimental push forward that proved the tipping point for a lot of other bands that followed. For Sepultura, incorporating elements of hardcore, punk, and Helmet style start/stop into the thrash equation reinvigorated their music but also provided an unduely fashionable influence that other bands watered down. Maybe that's why this record garners so much hate? Not so much for itself but for what it engendered? I don't know how anyone could care really in the face of such monster songs as 'Clenched Fist' and 'Propaganda.' Those songs blister.

Sure, there are some flaws here as 'The Hunt' is not a particularly good cover and doesn't fit the mood of the album at all. 'We Who Are Not Like Others' falters along simplistic lines once the gang shouts kick-in. As a mantra for the album, it works but the beautifully textured music beneath the vocals deserves more than this redundancy. Lastly, 'Manifest' would've been better served to sound less like an homage to Ministry -- a case of Sepultura letting their influences get the better of them. That said, these flaws are relatively minor in the overall scheme of the album.

What strikes me most about "Chaos A.D." is its vitriol, that an album this angry could remain this relevant is striking. Lyrically, it was this album that thrust Sepultura into the spotlight of political mass consciousness. Their anger was, well, manifest: anger over the mass suicide of the Kaiowas, who refused to be removed from their ancestral Amazonian lands; anger over U.S. biotech companies forcefully raping and pillaging traditional Brazilian organic agriculture, as well as the rainforest itself; anger over Israels treatment of Palestinians, anger over endemic global poverty and the economic inequalities of NAFTA. This was the album that brought me to a global, political perspective and showed me that metal (more than any other form of protest music, including punk) was capable of generating that palpable synergy of energy, awareness, anger, and despair. Even today, it's incendiary stuff.

It's too bad that Sepultura couldn't hang on to this sound. 'Arise' had taken their death/thrash sound as far as it could go. To continue in that vein seemed pointless. Yet 'Roots' fell too far over into simplicity and redundancy. "Chaos A.D." gets it right and sixteen years later remains a vital testament to Sepultura's lasting power.

Or how about the riffs? Where are they?

After the really, really good Arise, Sepultura took a turn for the worse with this effort. Sure, there were already hints of experimentation on Arise, but there the experimental stuff really enhanced Sepultura´s lethal thrash formula. And from here on out, it would only get worse, with the groovy Roots, and the downright boring Against.

Basically, the album feels like a bunch of shit thrown at the wall, and seeing if any of it sticks. This isn´t nearly as bad as Against, which is chock full of filler and random shit, and there is a decent amount of consistency in the actual songs. Sadly, this involves rather boring riffs, and the songs themselves sound really rushed. Simpler is usually better, but on here, it really doesn´t work, especially when it is this hardcore focused stuff that really just kind of plods along. Yeah, you could say that there are some driving moments on here, like "Refuse/Resist" or "Propaganda," as well as "The Hunt," which they did not even write.

It all really just feels like they smoked a shit load of weed and got lazy. "We Who Are Not As Others?" Come on! At least put in some more lyrics! "Kaiowas" is just goofy as all hell, and might have made sense, had the album not contained so many damn songs. And the riffing...there is just no riffing going on, just silly hardcore chugging and chords. I just can´t even begin to place this alongside the first four albums.

The drumming here is very good and powerful, which works to the advantage of the album. In fact, the production is downright heavy. Sadly, the material is boring and disjointed at best. You can´t polish a turd, kids. And Andreas Kisser is really starting to slack in the lead guitar department on here...I´ve always likened him to Kirk Hammet, being that he´s technically very good, and does a few memorable leads, yet doesn´t fully push the envelope. On here, fuck, you don´t even get a memorable lead.

No wrath, no riffs, no Sepultura. I can see the mass appeal of this, the same as I see the appeal of Pantera´s Vulgar Display of Power (which is much better and more consistent), and sadly this is the real slip-up of Sepultura, before they took a massive fucking plummet over the next two albums, and never recovered. This was my first Sepultura album at the age of 13, and though it sounded really cool back then, I since found their past discography and grew out of this album at a rapid pace.

Chaos A.D. is the fifth Sepultura’s full length and it can be considered very innovative looking back the other releases before it. I was 14 years old when I listened first to this one, I loved it and I still love it now. Comparing this album with the others, it is totally different. This album starts the Sepultura groove period that continued with the following, boring and too tribal influenced Roots.
The music here is heavily influenced by Discharge but it can be considered a big mix of hardcore, thrash, tribal music and death metal. Well, the true death metal has a bit (a lot) gone away but some influences can be found in some riffs spread in the album.

The tribal influences started with Arise album where were used only for the intros, but here we have the explosion of these ones, like in Kaiowas song, completely tribal. In this one there are no electric guitar sounds or raw vocals. Just bongos and acoustic guitars. The atmosphere on this song is strange, in some parts is ritualistic…like early brazilian music, made by the natives….in this case we can really see what would have been the group's style in the future.

The first three songs of the album, Refuse/Resist, Territory and Slave New World are the most famous. From the first two ones they took videos concerning the never ending wars in the Middle East. As you can see, also the lyrics have completely changed since their past albums. These lyrics are typical of the hardcore genre; so forget the inner struggles and violence that were a trademark of the group in the past. Biotech Is Godzilla is the fastest song of this album, but not so death metal…massive hardcore influences in the riffs, while Max Cavalera’s way of singing is less growly.

We Who Are Not As Others song is the slowest one, very dark, with strange voices and the refrain sung endlessly. Strange and obscure.
Distortions, noises, loud guitars whistles, obscurity and a lot of differences from the early Sepultura’s albums: this is Chaos A.D.
With this album, Sepultura proved to everybody they didn’t want to be stuck in a genre forever, trying to change and accept various influences also from their mother country. The problem is that after this one, the group wanted to go beyond with the next album, losing lots of old fans.

In my opinion this is the last great Sepultura’s album but I have to warn you, because you must forget about the true death metal, so well done by the group in the past. Innovative but extremely good!!

Okay. What actually happened here? Sepultura were really at their peak on the tour following the 'Arise' album. But how could that be leading to this? Did they feel they didn't have enough midpaced and slow songs in their set and decided to write a bunch and then had an album full of it? We could have seen it coming though. The songs ‘Under Siege’ and ‘Altered State’ from the ‘Arise’ album were actually an indication of a slower style and afterwards turned out to have been an omen for the basis of this ‘Chaos A.D.’ record.

'Refuse/Resist' is the best song here. The only song that remains powerful from start to finish. The heartbeat-intro progressing into Brazilian drums was a good find and it sounds great. Riffs, vocals and solo are solid here and so are Igors drums. Great song. A bit different stylewise from earlier works, but no problems so far....

'Territory' has a lot of groovy doom metal elements and the rhythmical Brazilian drums are quite enjoyable yet they should have been more present throughout the entire song. The extremely slow sections of the song just go on for far too long. It should have been followed by a fast track to keep the album interesting. Although on 'Slave new World' the pace was somewhat increased, one could not speak of an uptempo song. It isn’t until ‘Kaiowas’ that something different finally happens. This accoustic intermezzo with nice rhythms gives the album an extra edge and is the first really interesting thing happening since the opening track. The song however is a bit too long for my taste and at times feels like a jam session instead of a song.

‘Propaganda’ continues the Slave New World and Amen style but is slightly better due to the fact that the pace is somewhat higher and the vocals have a catchy edge. The only truly uptempo song comes next. 'Biotech Is Godzilla' is one of the best songs on the album but isn't Sepultura. It’s a punkrocksong co-written with Jello Biafra (also on guest vocals). Due to the different style and short length it is the kind of song you would normally expect as a bonus track or B-side to a single. It is, however, one of my favorite tracks on the album. ‘Nomad’ and ‘Manifest’ are once again mostly midtempo groovers but on ‘Manifest’ I rather like the whole intro. ‘We Who Are Not as Others’ is really the low point on the album. A doomy and monomtome track on which the title is repeated a lot of times. ‘Clenched Fist’ has a sparce fast moment and therefor actually becomes rather enjoyable. The New Model Army cover ‘The Hunt’ is adequate although I’m missing some guitardetails from the original.

As a whole ‘Chaos A.D.’ was quite a disappointment. The production is good as were a few songs. But not enough to make this a memorable Sepultura release. There are too many Pantera-immitations presented here and not enough thrash nor Brazilian-rhythm moments to make up for the lack of speed. Also Max’ vocals were getting too monotome at certain points here. The album wasn’t exactly bad and I don’t mind owning it and playing it from time to time. If it had been a new band and this would have been their debut, It might have gotten more points. But knowing the quality and intensity their previous four albums…. Ouch…only 60 points

After putting out four albums which were the perfect blend of death and thrash metal with shitloads of riffs, Sepultura seemed to have run out of ideas. They couldn’t come up with any new thrash riffs that were actually good, and the aggression they previously held was slipping away. They wanted to continue however, and so they released the steaming dung heap that would be known as Chaos AD.

See, the boys in Sepultura, having previously written songs with at least six riffs a song played at breakneck speed, weren’t sure how to write another album considering their lack of solid riffs. So they picked some thrash riffs out at random, slowed them down and downtuned to make up for the lack of heaviness. This way they could have an excuse for playing slow to midpaced with a single riff per song, and to the people who said it wasn’t thrash, they could counter them by saying it had a ‘more crushing sound’. They weren’t really that angry as before, but they needed something to make it sound more metal, so they threw in some unintelligent lyrics focused around anti authority. Sure, they weren’t exactly geniuses at writing lyrics on the previous albums, but at least those ones suited the type of music they used to play. Max Cavalera’s voice was starting to go to shit but he couldn’t sing, so instead of doing death-ish screams/growls, he opted for an idiotic sounding shout which was supposed to sound extreme and pissed off, but ended up sounding more annoying than anything else.

That’s really what the album sounds like. When you combine all the aforementioned elements you get a pretty good image in your head of what the content involves. The whole thing drags along in the same pattern, not really changing or evolving or speeding up, just content to stay at the same pace, with the same sounding ‘riffs’, with the same drawn out shouts. As one could expect, this starts to get old quickly. While it isn’t too bad listening to a song every now and then, trying to listen to the whole album is a chore, I myself only having done it once. It just stays the same, not managing to keep the listeners attention for more than five minutes or so. And just when a good riff comes along and manages to make the listener sit up, it is slaughtered by some stupid noises (Manifest), annoying vocals (Biotech is Godzilla) or something else of equal worthlessness. The album is 50 minutes long, but feels as if it should be 20, and the individual songs are too long at only 3 or 4 minutes.

This album is just pointless and worthless. When you consider who released it and the quality of their previous albums it feels as if it is a different band behind it. This isn’t even recommended for people who are heavily into groove metal, and the few highlights (Refuse/Resist and Slave New World) are barely even worth downloading. This is a failure in every sense of the word, and a completely worthless album.

Oh Sepultura, what the hell happened? And why did people encourage you? Many mysteries surround this album from the Brazilian quartet, Where did the album come from? And why did people not jump on them and tell them emphatically "No! Go back"? There were no hints at what the album was going to be like, admittedly, Arise had a lot more crush and a lot less neck breaking thrash, but only in comparison to Schizophrenia and Beneath The Remains. Most of the other bands who had these massive changes have always had clues that it could happen, but really, there weren't any here. They just stopped kicking ass.

As you may have guessed, Sepultura have undergone some changes since Arise. And clearly, they're not very good. The band has adopted a more groove based approach, with the tribal sounds taking a larger hold over the band, rather than just being a cool signature to mix up the speed. Now, I love groove metal and half-thrash, as its where I came into metal from, but this is just bad half-thrash. Almost every riff just sounds so damn boring. I bought this at the height of my half-thrash adoration period, and it still bored me to tears. And yes, this is before I heard any of the earlier albums, so it's not even in comparison, it sucks outright.

Things kick off well enough, Refuse/Resist has a couple of faster thrashish punk riffs in it's arsenal, and I happen to be a fan of Max's lower, louder vocals. Although they do suffer from 'vocal retardation', where the approach of singing makes the vocalist sound like they're retarded. This is usually seen in bad death metal vocalists. Territory has a couple of nice groove riffs as the band shows off it's new half-thrash style, namely tom heavy drumming, and riffs which generally involve a couple of quick notes followed by a drawn out one or two. It's fun for about two songs.

Unfortunately by the time 'Amen' chugs around, everything is kind of dull. And unfortunately doing spoken verses isn't the way to excite people. And you find yourself losing concentration on the music, and thinking about insects in the room, and whether you remembered to put your phone on the charger. And 40 minutes of thinking about unrelated things later, the album finishes, and you can't remember a moment of what you just listened to.

What I don't understand is how they got away with this, most people will tell you to go out and buy this one first, even people who hate the new stuff. It just doesn't make sense, Sepultura were never really a band you listened to for variation, or overt technicality, neither of which are present here, but hell they had so much energy, and really, that was it. If you take away that energy Sepultura are just an average band with a slight change in sound because they're not from a standard geographical area. That's it...

The production on offer is meaty and as heavy as possible, which is a good choice if moving into a half-thrash sound. Oh how Vio-lence missed that on 'Nothing to Gain'. At least that album had great music being played, this one doesn't have that, it only has the right production.

Guitar wise, there's some problems, Max Cavelara and Andreas Kisser both put in dull performances. None of the riffs have any bite, or are really all that catchy, it's like Pantera without any drive behind it, it's just some low notes being played after each other with no reason. The soling is pretty shit too, but not too many groove bands had great soloists in them.

Most of the faster riffs come across as punk to me, just like with Nailbomb I'm pretty sure it's the name which makes people say 'that's a thrash riff' instead of a punk riff. Manifest has some cool stuff, but the only other song which tries to pick up speed, 'Biotech is Godzilla', is ruined beyond imagination by the lyrics and the pathetic little add-ins after the chorus, such as the nauseatingly bad 'Godzilla... raaar'. This sort of shit happens much too often too, such as the stupid laughing at the ends of a couple of songs.

The drumming here is actually pretty nice, being a half-thrash fan, I love it when the drums get a big say in the sound, and Igor certainly has some fun with his new production, as the massive drum sound does suit his very powerful drumming. As with all Sepultura albums, the bass is insignificant.

Vocally, Max is a little excessive in his desire to be heavy. I like them, but he tends to sounds a bit mentally challenged as he slurs his words stupidly. Very much a personal taste and can easily piss people off. Lyrically, he is disgraceful, 'We Who Are Not As Others' has the title as it's only lyrics. And yes, it's a full song, Max just repeats the title a dozen times. Of course you have your un-knowledgeable protest songs, such as the previously mentioned 'Biotech...', which seems to be like Max just thought, 'biological engineering sounds bad, I think I don't like it... I wonder what it involves, never mind, It's just bad, like Godzilla', and then wrote a bunch of stupid lyrics. Most of the other songs take the idea of 'We Who Are Not As Others', and extended that notion out to 3 verses and a chorus.

Overall this an poor album, in fact it outright sucks, and wouldn't even garner attention if it weren't for the albums before it. There's a few good riffs on some of the songs, Manifest, and The Hunt Come to mind, and the grooves are catchy enough on Territory, but for the main part, this is a terrible album, and should have been a black mark in the bands history, but people an embraced it, and now look what we have... Thanks fans.

This album pretty much embodies the principle reason why I hate the vast majority of groove metal albums. We have random vocal grunts and barks that are supposed to articulate masculinity and aggression, repetitive and over simplified riffs often consisting of two or three notes, way too much emphasis on the drums, nonsensical lyrics that would make the staunchest of anarchists embarrassed of his ideology, and a sheer lack of speed. You could sum this album up as being a half-assed rehash of Pantera’s “Vulgar Display of Power” with a heavy Brazilian accent, even less standout songs, and a complete lack of coherence in the arrangement.

Although the vast majority of the riffs on here are over-simplified groove drones that induce testicle shrinkage in the listener, the few leads found on here succeed in achieving the opposite extreme. While Dimebag Darrel was a sort of saving grace within the fatal mediocrity of Pantera’s sound, Andreas Kisser succeeds only in making random noises due to overuse of the whammy bar and effects pedals, sounding more like random computer generated sounds than guitar solos. The worst offender is the lead break found on “Territory”, although similarly forgettable collections of half cocked improvised nonsense can be found on several other songs ("Biotech is Godzilla" anyone?), to speak nothing for the occasional high ends drones that probably inspired Korn like the one found at the intro of “Propaganda”.

Some of the songs on here might pass for decent punk rock songs if the vocals weren’t so damned terrible and the words so ridiculous. “Biotech is Godzilla” (what a stupid name) could almost pass for an S.O.D. song if the singing wasn’t so poorly done. “Slave New World” has a couple of solid riffs that come and go, but Max Cavalera’s voice track completely buries them. The same thing could also be said about “Propaganda” and “Amen”, both of which would sound like decent Pantera songs if the mix was more even and the guitars could be heard clearly.

The remaining stuff on here is forgettable, disappointing, or just flat out annoying. “Refuse, Resist” takes my pick for the worst song on the album, featuring a sleep inducing principle riff consisting of two notes, and a plodding beat that makes Machine Head sound like Megadeth circa 1986. The cover of “The Hunt” would be decent, but is utterly destroyed by the vocals, despite not being as ridiculously high in the mix as with the other songs. “Kaiowas” is a rather annoying acoustic jam session under the guise of some kind of protest song, featuring ideas that sound akin to hillbilly folk music. Actor Christopher Lee once quoted a person as saying “You should try everything except incest and folk dancing”, but it seems that the boys in Sepultura felt differently.

To put it plainly, if you like metal in any of its variants, avoid this album. Even if you like groove metal (why you would I’ll never know), there is better stuff out there carrying that label. I bought this album thinking I was picking up the latest release by a band credited as influential in the thrash/death genre, and boy was I in for a rude awakening. If you are overcome with a desire to own it nonetheless, take the advice of the first song, REFUSE!

So sue me, I'm open minded. While everybody else thinks that Sepultura effectively died after "Arise" (a classic album of theirs, I agree), some folks are being unfair to this album. This was, for me anyway, the last gasp of Sepultura as a thrash-oriented band before they went into nu-metal/fellating Ross Robinson mode, and instead of a gasp it's more a final bellow of defiance, if you ask me.

Yes, they began incorporating the tribal elements more, yes, they slowed down the tempos more, but there is still plenty of aggression to be found here, plenty of speed still. The title track is one of the slower ones, but to me it reeks of attitude, and is a statement of "Hey, get off your ass and do something! Don't let 'em grind you down!", and likewise for "Territory", which is powerful and solid, a good strong headbanging groove. The latter also features a sweet little otherworldly solo break from the underrated Andreas Kisser.

"Nomad" brings the groove some more, as does the only other throwaway track here, "We Who Are Not As Others"--I could've done without that one even years after the fact. And "Manifest" is an abrasive and lurching industrial-flavored track with screeching atonal guitar parts and distorted spoken vocals that I still think is quite creepy. But there's still lots of speed and aggression, as I already mentioned; "Biotech is Godzilla" is a frenzied heads-down charge through hardcore punk territory, and "Slave New World", while not thrash per se, delivers a slamming up-tempo jolt as well. The New Model Army cover is pretty close to the original, actually, but tuned down a little lower and with Max' guttural yelling instead of Justin Sullivan's smooth and passionate baritone, and while it's not essential to the album I like it anyway because it shows they have good taste in music other than metal, for one thing.

Their sociopolitical commentary became even more pronounced on this album too, with songs like "Manifest", an account of a Brazilian prison riot fuelled by police brutality, and "Biotech is Godzilla" which ends with the inflammatory statement "Biotech...is AIDS!" in case anybody was wondering. "Nomad" speaks of indigenous tribal peoples being sold out and ripped off by the "civilized" world as imperialism continues to this day, and the brief break of tribal chanting and percussion near the end is haunting. "Kaiowas", while intriguing, is another throwaway ultimately as it really doesn't do anything for the album's pacing or atmosphere.

In the long run, this album holds up well enough to count as a good effort that showed Sepultura still had the potential to rouse the punters. I still like it just fine, myself, and I'd encourage people to at least give it a chance and be open minded about it before trashing it.

This is not as bad as some people make it out to be but it’s not brilliant either. The guitar riffs are much more simplistic this time round and the album becomes pretty boring during the second half. Refuse/Resist is a good opener and is one of the band’s most popular songs. However, it’s quite obvious this is not thrash. There is a faster section before the solo that’s cool but it goes back to the groove riff for the rest of the song.

Territory has some very nice drumming at the start and the rest of the song is quite good. Slave New World is one of the better songs. It’s a got a faster pace to it and is a straightforward headbanger. Propaganda is closer we get to thrash and it’s an enjoyable listen. The last track of note is Biotech Is Godzilla which is the fastest song on here. However, it’s shorter than it could have been and it sounds more like hardcore punk than thrash.

The rest of the album is quite boring. This is where the tribal stuff really starts to rear its ugly head. It doesn’t quite reach the depths of the album following this but it’s already well on its way.

This is a disappointing effort. It’s a far cry from the thrashing goodness of Schizophrenia, Beneath The Remains and even Arise. Having said that, it’s still far better than any album they did after this.

I liked this a lot when I first got my hands on it, even though I always knew it was no match for anything they’d done before. Time was when the whole groove thing was not such a huge commonality, so this album would doubtless have sounded better on its release than today. Not personally overloaded with it, I took quite a liking to this grooved up Sepultura who still retained plenty of the thrash temperament to keep me happy. This squarely marks a transition from their “Arise” period to the sound found on the “Roots” album. It’s a decent midpoint that lacks the former greatness, but also thankfully lacks the dull aching music of their next development.

The formula peaks at certain points and dips into a sludgy tedium near the end. Even though the music never sounds especially sludgy, that’s the tired and muddy feel it gives off. Max is gruff as ever, and the rest of the band is enthusiastically charged up with a mix clearly emphasising the vocals and guitars. There’s lots of promise as “Refuse/Resist” opens neatly and departs before it wears out its welcome in predictably strong opener fashion displaying qualities typical of the album as a whole, and “Territory” just crushes everything in its wake with a mid paced crunch overload.

“Slave New World” is a reasonable, if numbly reconstituted continuation of the last track and things pick up again on “Amen”. This song makes an admirable attempt to make a flowing atmosphere of questioning and rejection, throwing in a complementing Middle Eastern flavour during the middle. It sounds pleasingly like a Chaos A.D. variant of “Under Siege”. “Kiaowas” moulds a welcome new face for the album as acoustic guitars and tribal percussion recorded within castle walls build up an instrumental full of stirring passions. It’s nice to see them further some of the hints in this direction that thinly surfaced on “Arise”.

Things then go back to basics as “Propaganda” is the most “thrash” song on the slate so far. Deliciously brutal and angry, and “Biotech is Godzilla” is a shorter and much quicker burst, though a sizeably more passable variant of this. A wilderness of savage sound is what dominates the rest of the album, taking its cue from “Nomad”. Like an animal lying in wait stalking its prey, the rest of the album takes its sweet time in prowling through each song. It does sound interesting and workable, but could potentially swing either way and goes both. As more tribal overtones and harmony guitars flurry around the mostly instrumental “We Who Are Not As Others” the album could just come to a satisfactory close and wouldn’t have lost a thing.

They decide they want to pad out the running time with a bit of filler however, and a break into more upbeat tone with a New Model Army cover is still tiresome. They try to go all experimental in doing a narrative passage to the music in “Manifest”, but it ends up dry and without any creative fuel in its engine; plodding and directionless. They also do some really silly shit at the end after (same old story) “Clenched Fist”, doing inane laughs and noises for a couple of minutes (ones for the end of the instrumental earlier) that I really don’t want to hear. Apart from this, while it’s not “Arise” by any means it’s still quite enjoyable and is to me their last good release before they hit rock bottom.

One listen to this album and its immediately shown some kind of diabolical change has occurred in the past couple years. Arise was a bit of step down from Beneath the Remains but it was still fucking fast and had some nice riffs packed in every song. You wouldn’t expect both elements be gone with this release but alas. Now the production is really good on this album which is one good thing. Igor is on top of his game now that the music is so slow it gives him room to be really creative. Max’s voice sure kind of took a little spill though not to mention the absence of all good riffs. I guess they used so many good riffs in the last three albums they got drained. At best this album is slightly thrashy and when it’s bad it’s horrible. Like Amen with its boring as fuck slow plodding riffs and the industrial touches they’ve thrown in. But it’s still better than some give it credit for. Manifest is still a nice fast addition. The first three songs are pretty good as well.

It starts with a usual ‘noise’ type opener but wait instead of a beautiful thrash riff there comes in this alien industrial garbage. Surely after that maybe a decent thrash riff should come in. Not really just a mid-tempo forgettable riff. Now this song would be a lot fuckin better by itself but no this is Sepultura this should be a whole lot more. Well it speeds up with a great section for a good solo which definitely saves it, but slows itself back down again and ends with the same effects it began with. Holy shit Territory starts out impressive. Or I should say Igor Calavera does. Nice tribal drums and the guitar comes in, this seems like its going to be quite enjoyable. Goddamnit it slows down again. But its still is a nice brutal riff complemented with equal drums. Slave New World starts out with an ok mid tempo riff and well stays that way throughout the song. Again nice drumming. Ouch, Amen is just shit. Very slow, uninteresting music with some weird tribal voice sections thrown in. Kaiowas is well… interesting. Nothing to wrong with experimenting but this is supposed to be a thrash album. It’s done with acoustic guitars and Brazilian percussion. They pull it off well live though. Propaganda is an all right song though I’m dying to thrash though it never quite makes it. Once it starts it sounds promising enough (except Max’s lyrics, I mean come on “Why don’t you realize that your fucked up!!”) but becomes boring after a few listens. Biotech is Godzilla is a super fast song but is kinda silly and doesn’t quite sound like Lobotomy or anything. Nomad is another plodding slow song that would be boring but somehow remains interesting with the riffs. Manifest is one of faster songs on the album is probably the highlight but could’ve been better without the industrial crap. The Hunt is a forgettable cover. Clenched Fist starts off horribly and doesn’t get any better until about 1:39 where it gets really nice and thrashy. Really stupid lyrics; every time Max says “Soul! Mind!” I get a sinking feeling in my gut how close that is to his “Soul Fly!” yelling.

The reason this album seems so bad at first is because it followed some of the best thrash albums around. But after listening to Roorback you’ll think this was Beneath the Remain.
Highlights: Territory, Manifest, and well those are the only essential tracks from this one.
If you like Roots you’ll probably like this, otherwise you will be disappointed.

Chaos A.D:

As many critics of this album said, this record put down the basic lines of mallcore, due to the progressive commercialization of thrash metal (Pantera and all the anti-"post-thrash" sellouits theories are the main example of this campaign of hatred, which is unfair confronting to all the gems Pantera offered to the main thrash current.)

I've never been a Sepultura hardcore, but I still had appreciated the Arise album. This didn't made me feel Chaos A.D. was crap. The variety of the grooves (I hate talking about "grooves", but anyhoo!) makes it an experimental album on an experimental path, which will lead to the horrible stuff Sepultura get around right now.

Somehow, I could still recognize an incredible skill of Igor behind the drums; the touch of tribalism put on the songs, with plenty of wooden bells, samba-like percussions and stuff like this is an improvement, not necessary but at least not annoying. Max, to my opinion, has made the choice to seem never-endingly growling, and I wouldn't blame him for his eventual technical limits. Guitar riffs are quite heavy, with small solos and power strums, in Sepultura style...which means they're always the same. This leads to have all the tracks with identical riffs, but plenty of different rythms and stuff added to not make you see the riff is the same from the previous song.

Maybe it's compensation for Arise, when the drums were always the same and the riffs changed play by play.

This must be a complete joke, right? After Arise, which had plenty of groove but also plenty of riffs, they put out... this?? This doesn't even function well as punk rock, it's that sloppy and that careless and that seemingly done without regard to making music.

What this can be described as best is a vocal track over random instrumentation, where the two are entirely disjoint and appear to have been recorded in separate studios. Instrumentally, the whole damn thing sounds like one really long intro to a thrash album, with the slow riffs that come in and any minute now - really, any time now, come on folks, you expect this to blast out into some screaming riffage.

The closest thing that this comes to screaming riffage is the intro to Slave New World, which is a bit above midpaced, and for the most part sounds like a punk rock song... not quite thrash enough to be thrash, but at least it doesn't sound like someone is trying to pass a bowel movement.

The rest of the album... yep, it's pure defecation. Including Max's constipated vocals being mixed far too loud in the mix... these aren't death growls; these are random barks. And they are about 9dB too loud for anyone's good. All you hear is this megalomaniac asshole talking with his funny accent, like a badly designed Hitler making a badly designed speech.

DAS!

EST!

GUT!

The whole FUCKING album sounds like that. Believe me, it's funny for the first ten seconds or so (Chaos AD, tanks on the streets!) but then you start wondering if the whole thing ever turns into anything musical, ever.

Aside from the brief moments here and there, the answer is, no it does not ever turn into anything musical. The only digressions from the random Machine Head sounding half-Pantera riffs (does that make them quarter-thrash??) are silly instrumentals like Kaiowas - that little acoustic guitar bit sounds more Fleetwood Mac than anything else, except Fleetwood Mac didn't sound like a 33rpm LP stuck on repeat, ever. And I can still hear you saying, you - and I can still hear you saying, you - and I can still hear you saying... OH AND TURN THOSE FUCKING DRUMS DOWN.

Oh yeah, the cover of The Hunt? Everyone calls this a highlight... the only thing that's any good about it is that the vocals are turned down a bit, and it's a bit more catchy than the rest; but not nearly enough to make it any memorable.

Complete shit here from the cunts of Brasil. Again, I don't think this is a serious record. Like Bathory's "Octagon", they probably thought that people would - given the quality of the first four albums - buy anything with a 'Sepultura' tag on it.

Well, don't buy this shit. It's completely without value. Good grief, it's worse than the first Machine Head album. There's pretty much nothing catchy here - not the opening riff to Refuse-Resist, not anywhere else. Okay maybe the first few seconds of Manifest (before they get into the random stupidity), and about half of Slave New World, but come on, even Regurgitated Cow Fetus could come up with a minute and a half of thrash among forty-eight minutes of pure shit.

Chaos A.D. is totally different from the previous Sepultura releases. This isn't thrash like BTR/Arise or Schizophrenia, this album has more variety and has hardcore/groove/tribal influences.

The opening track Refuse/Resist shows what this album is about. tribal drumming and a very catchy riffs. Max vocals on this album are really amazing, his vocals are really agressive and powerfull. The next song is "Territory" which also starts with the tribal drumming, for a lot of Sepultura fans this is one of the best Sepultura songs. Slave new world and Amen are decent songs but nothing really interesting.
Kaiowas is an instrumental (tribal) song.

Propaganda is one my favourite Sepultura songs ever, this song also starts with an drum intro and then there is the catchy riff again. This song is so powerfull, (especially live) the drumming of Igor Cavalera keeps amazing me every time I listen to this song.

Biotech is godzilla is a real hardcore track, but still very enjoyable. Nomad is simply amazing, this song isn't fast but so brutal. Max vocals on this track are almost scary, so powerfull! This track shows that Sepultura really changed, no fast brutal thrash but still really agressive/heavy music. Another example of the change of Sepultura is Manifest, this track starts fast and thrashy and by the end of the track you are listening to some brutal hardcore breakdowns.

The rest of the songs are just decent, but not really interesting just like Amen and Slave new world.

Overall I still really love this album! Songs like Territory and Nomad make this release one of the best things Sepultura has ever done.

I really recommend this release to any metalhead who can appreciate more then one genre.
Stand out tracks : Refuse/Resist, Territory, Propaganda and NOMAD!