Morbid Visions

In their early days, Sepultura were only mocked by the German Metal Hammer. "Morbid Visions" received the worst score in the reviews, "Schitzophrenia" a whole two out of seven points. It was ridiculous. But I admit, the debut in 1987 didn't quite convince me and that hasn't changed until today. There is not much to say. "Morbid Visions" is narrow-minded, one-dimensional, flat and raw. The production does not fully meet international standards, to say it politely. Especially the raging yet expressionless A side leaves me cold. Its best part is the Carmina Burana intro (thanks to Carl Orff) and I guess this speaks volumes. All tracks flirt with the charm of amateurism. Just listen to the stupid barking of Max in “Mayhem”, a terrible performance. Surely, one can say this is true underground and I am willing to agree, but a noisy demo tape without proper production or clean contours is also underground, but no festival of good music.

Be that as it may, two things are true. “Morbid Visions” was heavily influenced by Slayer’s “Show No Mercy”, Destruction and Kreator. But it was also influential for the next bands in line. The attitude of the quartet was metal as f**k, their exotic outsider image underlined their nonconformity and the fact that they did not make any compromise made them likeable. The worst rating in the commercial "metal" loving Metal Hammer, this could not be that bad, right? Indeed, the B side holds a few moments of pleasure, for example the very “demonic” chorus of “Funeral Rites”. Generally speaking, the tracks of the second half are more expressive and show one iota more variety than those of the A side. Nevertheless, “Morbid Visions” is a very homogeneous, more or less monolithic full-length.

The closer “Empire of the Damned” (no Messiah cover, of course) re-vitalizes the double bass of Kreator’s “Storm of the Beast”, while the short solo eruption delivers some Hanneman for beginners noise. With almost each and every detail on “Morbid Visions”, Sepultura wanted to show the pioneers that they loved them. But that’s okay for dudes with fiery souls who want to show the world their absolute dedication. So do not expect nuances, acoustic guitars or any form of melancholy or mildness, stubbornness was the highest virtue for the four-piece back in 1987. Therefore, “Morbid Visions” is an important document for the evolution of Sepultura, still one of the more important names in the scene, but from my point of view, its material is not much better than the childish artwork. Nevertheless, one out of seven points in the Metal Hammer only proved that the responsible editor was obviously deaf.

When you ask any metalhead, or at the very least someone with a general knowledge about heavy metal and thrash metal, how much they know of Sepultura, usually the first albums they speak of is their classic thrashers such as “Beneath The Remains” and “Arise” or their more popular groove metal and nu-metal outputs “Chaos A.D.” and “Roots”. Very little do I hear “Schizophrenia” being talked about and even to a lesser extent do I hear others talk about the album I’m reviewing today, “Morbid Visions”. I guess to make things direct, I do not care for this record very much. I assume, at least here on Metallum, I seem to be in the minority that finds this record to be of poor quality, though I will say it’s not very bad.

The first thing I always read or hear is how “raw” and “evil” “Morbid Visions” sound, which I wholeheartedly agree with. It does sound evil, it does sound raw but that isn’t verification to quality. I like to take into consideration all the components whenever I form a critique about music, or anything in general, and the thing about “Morbid Visions” is that, when I take all sums of its parts, the album as a whole is of lower quality that some don’t necessarily would like to admit. Again, I don’t think “Morbid Visions” is that bad of a record, it’s just a half-way decent debut.

If there’s anything really positive I can say about “Morbid Visions” is that it does have some fairly interesting moments. One of the things I’m pleased about about the record is that it does a great job at creating a, no pun intended, morbid sound and sinister atmosphere all around. Like I agreed with earlier, the whole album drips a raw evil that is comparable to your early black metal records you’d find in the darkest corners of your local record store. Matter of fact, the record feels much more in line with early black / death metal more so than thrash, though that’s a topic I’ll come back to shortly. There are also some interesting drum fills, riff and tempo changes, and even some nice solos here and there. I do like some of the more technical aspects in songs such as “War” and “Funeral Rites”, but that’s where most of my positive comments lie.

Overall the record is full of amateurish writing, simple riff structures, poor production (even for 1986), and some really sloppy performances all around. Max Cavalera vocally is very much more on the side of early black / death metal, with the echo effect enhancing more of those black metal characteristics, but it’s clear at this time he was not much of a singer, coming off key and odd at a number of instances. Even with some impressive speedy and hectic guitar playing, Max and Jairo T. are overall particularly sloppy, missing notes in both the main riffing and solos. The same can be said about Max’s brother, Igor, on the drums as he beats the living hell out of the kit though missing some beats and having some odd fills here and there. What it feels to me is that the need for speed and aggression out weighed their actual skill that they were able to produce. Max, Igor, and Jairo can, for most of the album, keep a standard sense of rhythm and pace but majority of the writing is very straightforward and simple in structure.

It’s so straightforward that a portion of songs begin to sound like runoffs or using riffs from their other songs with some minor tweaks. Listen to both openings to “Troops Of Doom” and “Empire Of The Damned” and tell me they don’t share some similarities. Lyrically it’s also fairly straightforward. You got your songs about death, satan, total destruction, war (literally the song name), and so on and so forth. I’m not going to criticize much regarding the lyrics as it is well documented that our Brazilian friends here didn’t know too many English definitions, and usually imitated the lyrics from their influences and used dictionaries to look up words. All I will say is that the lyrics are pretty simple and have some grammatical issues throughout.

Production is really poor as well. As I mentioned a few paragraphs before regarding “Morbid Visions” obvious influences from the realm of black metal and feeling more like a black / death record than thrash at this time, I’ve seen people use this as a justification for a positive critique. To counter that point, I like to look at other works, from either early black metal bands or thrash metal bands that start off with some black metal influences during their beginning. Bands like Bathrory, Celtic Frost, and Venom (which seem to be clear influences to the band) have released black metal records almost a year or more before “Morbid Visions”, with a better utilization of their respective sounds. Even Sodom’s debut that came out the same year as “Morbid Visions”, “Obsessed With Cruelty”, had a much fairer production. Those records still had that grimy, sinister, evil feel to them with atmosphere dripping at every second without sacrificing their overall sound.

One of my biggest issues is how thin the guitars sound. They lack no punch or definition and come off fairly weak. As I mentioned with the bands above, their records during this time still had a heavy, distorted sound to their guitars and carried weight. Here, it's all too muted, which is odd as I found their guitar sound on their ep, “Bestial Devastation” to be much better with a more meaty guitar sound. The bass really is just there, not too high in the mix but at least noticeable, but unremarkable. The overall sound of the drums isn’t too bad but it really tries to dominate the mix, coming off too loud. I’ve read someone compare it like a battle between the guitars and the drums to be the centerpiece in the mix in a much more positive light and I will agree with that observation, though I’m on the opposite side and think it’s an outright negative as being able to hear all the instrumentation and singer equally will elevate the music as a whole. You can still have that same chaotic and evil feel without sacrificing the overall quality. “Morbid Visions” just has a really poor production and mix, regardless if it’s influenced by early black metal production as they miss the mark that those records were able to accomplish.

“Morbid Visions” sets the groundwork for what is to come for Sepultura yet it’s not a record of tremendous quality some deem it to be. There’s some skillful pieces to be found across the record, and some satisfactorily drum and guitar work but what really brings the whole record down is the combination of sloppy playing, poor production, and some straightforward and simple writing that comes off highly amateurish. I mean, compare other debuts from their thrash peers and their influences from within the heavy and black metal genres. “Morbid Visions” just does not hit the highs those records set forth. I personally don’t find “Morbid Visions” to be a noteworthy album to discuss, which may be a reason why it doesn’t pop up in discussions much, and would rather start with “Schizophrenia” when I’m talking about Sepultura or recommending where to start with the band but if you really need to be a completionist in regards to hearing all that a band has produced, “Morbid Visions” isn’t a terrible listen, it’s just very “meh” or some what decent. It’s clear the band tried to imitate their heroes and influences and I think it resulted in a poorer record. Luckily their sophomore material results in a much better effort and fully realized album.

Why is this fantastic album never given the attention it deserves? Why isn't it talked about much? And most of all, why is it never credited as one of the first death metal albums??? I'll never know. But I myself am so glad I've always been giving the almighty Morbid Visions the attention and appreciation it truly deserves.

I remember back in the day I kinda hated this album, because the guitars sounded cheap and tinny, the production on them I was confused by. That's pretty much the only reason why I disliked it a long time ago. But the more I've listened, the more I've started to love it and realize how wrong I was for disliking it and thinking it was trash. For a first timer on this album, one might react with "what the fuck" because of how the guitars sound, but you may eventually get over it. After all this is 1986, so it should get a little break from negative critical reception on how the guitars sound. Speaking of 1986, this was released in fucking 1986! THIS. I'd myself say this is ahead of it's time, because this is a pure, heavy, evil, bitchin' death metal album in 1986. Sepultura themselves managed to figure the genre out even before it found it's fixed sound and was properly founded.

The drums; filled with energy, power, and fury. The vocals; raspy, growly; just perfect. The guitars; awesome, raw, evil, and satisfying. The bass; present and hearable, and not overpowered by the guitars. The first track (also the title track) Morbid Visions, which is my favorite off the album, immediately shows the listener what they're about, and how raw and kickass this album is overall. Catchy fast drum beats and blasts at the beginning, fast riffs, repeated raspy growl-screams, what else is there to ask? This is incredible for 1986. The other best tracks are Mayhem, Troops of Doom, and War. The four tracks I've just mentioned are the best on the album, but every track is good; Morbid Visions is an album that's good from beginning to end.

One of the biggest reasons why I love this album is the fact that this was released in 1986, and it's really heavy and brutal for an album put out at that time. The main aspect that makes it heavy are the drums. They have a super strong, solid, brutal sound to them. The snare drum and kick drum don't fuck around, neither do the toms and cymbals. The guitars, once you get used to them, are great and sound fantastic. They sound evil, run-down (in a good way), and remnant of an ongoing fire. And the riffs are on point and of quality, I adore the guitar work on this release. Max's raspy growl-shouts are a cherry on top to taste. This is definitely one of the very first death metal albums, I'd say the second "death metal" album after Possessed's Seven Churches. Death's Scream Bloody Gore is most definitely NOT the first death metal album, Seven Churches is, followed by Morbid Visions. Scream Bloody Gore DEFINED what death metal truly is, it didn't INVENT the genre. Scream Bloody Gore is EXTREMELY overrated, go give Morbid Visions the attention instead, which it truly deserves and needs more of.

This will always be my favorite Sepultura record, Beneath the Remains or Arise will never come close to this in my opinion. Morbid Visions is great because: #1: It's raw, brutal, and heavy. #2: An album this brutal and ahead of it's time came out in 1986. #3: It simply just has very good and catchy songs. I may also like albums like Roots and a good chunk of the Derrick Green era of Sepultura, but this album will forever be my #1 of theirs.

Best Songs:
Morbid Visions
Mayhem
Troops of Doom
War
Crucifixion

What’s the deal with Brazilians and their contribution to the metal world? Looking back at the amount of bands signed to Cogumelo Records back in the 80’s, it’s as if the country was unstoppable for a while. Sepultura were one of those bands to get picked up by the label and it didn’t take long before they’d put out a series of high quality albums.

While the cover artwork looks more frightening than that of Bestial Devastation, I can’t help but think that Morbid Visions is a slightly inferior successor. Max Cavalera still sounds possessed due to his raspy growl echoing with great effects, but occasionally it’s as if he runs out of a breath during the album’s faster bits. I also wish Sepultura continued to use the death metal guitar tone they had discovered on Bestial Devastation instead of the guitar tone that was used here – that is a thinner buzzsaw sound more along the lines of Hellhammer. The guitars still sound out of tune here, but I’ll be lying if I said that would actually bother me, as this is one of those albums were plenty of such ‘’off’’ aspects somehow work. Lyrically this album is quite a mess but that’s to be expected of a bunch of Brazilian teenagers who’d write about Lord Satan. Indeed, this is Sepultura before were all about ‘’walking these dirty streets with hate in my mind’’ but then again, the cover artwork should hint you’re in for a hellish experience – it features a demon being that doesn’t look too happy (I’m not sure whether they could stare at one otherwise; I’m not an expert on these things).

Although the occasional nods to Celtic Frost have pretty much vanished here, there are still some raw edges part of Morbid Visions, preventing it from emerging like a pure thrash metal record. ''Troops of Doom'' exemplifies how far Sepultura were ahead of their time with its hidden diabolical tremolos appearing between these choppy thrash riffs, demonic roars and guitar tones crafted in hell – something the later version from 1990 unfortunately lacked. Likewise, ‘’Crucifixion’’ explodes into some tremolo-driven madness after that silly interlude and doesn’t that one specific riff (you'll recognize it) near the end sounds like a black metal riff? I doubt that even the band had a clue about what they were exactly trying to create at this point in their career, but it's quite a shock considering the year this came out. Having that said, Morbid Visions features plenty of thrash metal-breaks and crude riffs do hint the direction Sepultura would take with Schizophrenia. ‘’Mayhem’’ for instance, has more death metal overtones than main characteristics, even if it's still disguised due to the harsher vocal delivery and the not-quite-thrash guitar tone. While not being masters of their instruments just yet, the band really gives it all here and not even the out of tune guitars withhold Max Cavalera and Jairo Tormentor from unleashing the winds of damnation. Just hear how ‘’War’’ undergoes plenty of tempo changes and just when you think it’s to end, surprises you with one sudden impulsive riff that emerges itself with velocity, cranking the intensity levels up even more than that that the first three tracks on Morbid Visions are capable of.

Although I used to consider Morbid Visions to be too one dimensional compared to Bestial Devastation, over time I’ve learnt that there’s more to this album than meets the eye. ‘’Show Me the Wrath’’ is the most melodic number on here; only so due to that built-up before relying on that violent, yet earworm kind of main riff. Sepultura would get rid of unconventional songs as time went on and part of me wonders what they had could turned into, if only they progressed as musicians while retaining their rough edges. I’m also aware some introductions do feel familiar, as the aforementioned ‘’Troops of Doom’’ and ‘’Funeral Rites’’ almost start off identical, but they’re otherwise quite easy to distinct. The former almost sounds like a thrash/death metal hybrid of ‘’Symptom of the Universe’’ and the latter appears as something foreboding before turning into yet another infernal ripper of a track. Having that said, I’d argue even the two albums that followed weren’t exactly the most elaborated albums from a songwriting perspective either – something that worked well on Schizophrenia but became more of a disadvantage on Beneath the Remains (hold your pitchforks, I still like that album quite a bit).

Those looking for a tight thrashing experience might find Morbid Visions too much of a rough piece of work for its own good, but if you’re looking for a dirtier variant of the style, this album should be up your alley. Forget about cities in ruin, tanks on the streets and tribal violence everywhere...only death is real.

Pursuing my little trip in Brazilian extreme metal reviews, anyone who got into thrash metal discovered Sepultura as one of their first bands outside Metallica, Megadeth or Slayer. Mostly known for having one of the worst musical evolution in their history, the band went down to shit pretty quickly in the mid 90s and every original members leaving the group did not help either. Anyway, most people know the band mainly because of albums such as "Arise" or "Beneath the Remains". I do like those albums too, but if we go back in the very beginning of Sepultura's existence, we have primitive death/thrash metal that sound way more brutal than those latter albums. They have released their first EP called "Bestial Devastation" back in 1985 on the Brazilian extreme metal label Cogumelo Records. With much surprise, that record had a decent sound quality and was aggressive as hell, they of course took inspiration from the German thrash metal scene at the time and Hellhammer/Celtic Frost. That release pushed these guys to go with the extreme attitude even further on their first full-length album, which is the album reviewed here.

Released in late 1986, the first Sepultura album called "Morbid Visions" has never been a much popular album to their audience over the years. Like it did for Sodom's "Obsessed By Cruelty", I heard a lot of people claiming that the sound was too dirty or not listenable. At some point when I was younger, I thought the same thing actually, but after getting your ears used to the black metal sound, that record sounds beautiful. The primitive feel is what is making the charm of this album, every instruments (except the bass of course) sounds like they are fighting each others to see who does the loudest noise. The guitars tone is the classic, but great buzz saw that you can hear in many other underground extreme metal albums. The drums of Igor Cavalera are devastating and includes nice fills and techniques, even if these guys were still young, the tempo is followed decently. The vocals of Max Cavalera here is what should be considered as the typical death/thrash vocal tone, unlike the thrashier approach took in the subsequent albums. Although "Morbid Visions" has not even 35 minutes of play time, the speed at which they play is quite notable for 1986.

Originally kicking off with an introduction that got removed, the self-titled song "Morbid Visions" is pretty much what you should expect the entire album to sound like. It's straightforward, and it doesn't really allow us to breathe much, despite the presence of some cool rhythm changing riffs. At this point, the guys of Sepultura were not musical genius, thus the album containing mostly simple guitar riffs. However, they knew how to create a dark and sinister atmosphere with introduction riffs like in "Funeral Rites" or the classic "Troops of Doom", which the original version is on that album. While the track "Mayhem" fits perfectly its name with how fast and brutal it is, the more structure varied "War" has the most interesting parts technically speaking. Through the 80s, the band never ceased to progress on that side, which can obviously be noticed on each albums. For the vocals though, we can see how furious and evil that it sounds on tracks like "Empire of the Damned" and "Crucifixion". Max Cavalera unleash those intense hellish screams that fits the mood of the music flawlessly.

You might notice that there are few guitar solos on this album as well, and those solos like heard in "Show Me the Wrath" for instance, are kind of messy, but at least fits within the music. On the lyrical content, "Morbid Visions" is basically the same Satan related topics as many other bands did at the time. Nothing really special there, except the funny aspect that the lyrics are translated from Portuguese to English, thus the presence of mistakes. Overall, to be quite honest, this album is really good, but can get tiresome to listen to if played too many times as the material is not that memorable, even if it's still great. Of course, if you like primitive old school extreme metal, you will dig this album as much as I did, and it also allow to discover the evil past of Sepultura. It's definitely a record that I recommend giving some play through, as it may take some times to grow on you. That is what happened in my case, and I do not regret it as I even prefer this stuff over the other classics of their discography.

Favorite tracks:

Crucifixion
Empire of the Damned
Morbid Visions
Troops of Doom

People have dismissed this classic album for it's sloppy performance and poor production, but I believe that's what gives it so much character. It sounds like a few angry, repressed youth playing extreme metal, pretty impressive for their age.

Igor's drumming on here isn't nearly as tight as it would become on later releases such as "Beneath The Remains". It is particularly sloppy and almost dragging the faster songs like "Mayhem". The guitar solos are pretty decent and add to the wickedly intense and evil vibe that oozes from this album. But Jairo is no Andreas Kisser for sure. Max's vocals here are unlike anything you've ever heard from him on the post-Schizophrenia releases. He does demonic growls that make him sound possessed, as his nickname for this album suggests. Paulo on the other hand has never usually done anything notable in his bass playing for Sepultura and this album is no exception. The bass is not even all that audible or present in the mix.

As for production, I think it can be excused. If people can dig "Under A Funeral Moon" and "Filosofem", then what's wrong with the sound here? Isn't black metal supposed to sound bad? This is also one of the earliest blackened death metal albums ever made, from Brazil no less, and at the time no one really knew how to produce such an insane, busy sound. So give it a break, the songwriting should count more than the production.

The songwriting here is pretty solid for the most part. Some tracks are really good. The opening title track has sick and twisted riffs that give you a taste of what this album has to offer. "Troops of Doom" became a live staple in Sepultura's setlist for years. "War", "Show Me The Wrath" and "Funeral Rites" are other noteworthy tracks that get regular play from me.

The lyrics have also received some ridicule, and some of the lyrics here are admittedly cheesy and amateur. But English was not their first language and they learned English from Black Sabbath lyrics, and that is pretty badass! So I'd give those a pass too, plus it's death metal, how seriously are you really going to take the lyrics?

I would not say that it's anywhere close to being Sepultura's finest, but I think a lot of people are being harsh on this one. It was very influential and ahead of its time. It deserves some respect, even if you don't really like it.

I have had a bone to pick with this fucking album since I was 16 years old. This album gets every pass in the world from metalheads for being so “raw” and “evil.” Yup, it’s definitely both those things, but it still sucks. If I had to pick just one album that’s praise is entirely undeserved, “Morbid Visions” would be it.

First things first: The music here is completely uninspired. Yeah, I said it. This shit sounds like a third rate Slayer clone tripped over a shitty Venom cover band. The lyrics are dumb as hell, but whatever. They were translated from Portuguese, so I’m gonna let about 25% of my beef with them slide. The remaining 75% of my beef is about the subject matter. Seriously, how many generic songs about Satan and how poopy Christianity is do you assholes need? Here’s a hint: not a whole album’s worth. But that lack of originality and imagination in songwriting pales in comparison to the amateur hour musicianship here.

I am at a complete loss to how Sepultura forgot to even tune their fucking instruments on this album. That’s like the first lesson in Guitar Playing 101: Tune your fucking guitar. Like, what? No one started playing and though “Hey, this sounds like total ass…what’s up with that?” And as much as Igor Cavalera would improve on later albums, his performance here suuuuuucks. It’s like he thought that keeping on beat was more of a suggestion than a hard and fast rule of drumming. The vocals are, I don’t know. Raw? Fuck it. I don’t want to talk about the vocals. They’re not that interesting. Also, I would talk about the bass, but I think they probably forgot to add it into the mix. It is literally almost entirely inaudible.

And now, here to talk about what is inexplicably considered the crown jewel of “Morbid Visions,” me! Let’s talk about the production. It’s bad. Awful. Terrible. Grab a thesaurus and find more negative words, because it is the straight worst. It’s so RAW, right? Like an evil tin can. The guitar tone is thin and squeaky and pretty grating all around, which is equal parts production and (again) forgetting to tune the fucking things. The most you can hear of the bass is a vague sense of a low end here and there. The drums sound like they’re made of cardboard that’s starting to get kind of wet from a leak in the roof of the cut-rate studio that obviously oversaw production of this album.

“Morbid Visions” is a C- album that gets dragged way down by shitty production. It actually gets to a point where it’s fucking punishing to listen to. It doesn’t even point in the musical direction that Sepultura would be heading by the very next year with “Schizophrenia.” The ONLY redeeming quality this album has is that it isn't that long, so I didn't have to suffer too long re-listening to it to write this review.

Unless you have a compulsion to listen to a band’s complete discography, or are just kind of brain damaged, there is absolutely no reason to listen to this. Oh, you don’t agree? Go ahead, then. Give it a good, solid, honest listen and tell me if there’s really anything redeemable about “Morbid Visions” beyond it sounding “evil.” (There isn’t. Basically all extreme metal sounds “evil.” You’re an idiot.)

Long ago, it was a time of peace, happiness, and prosperity. Little did everybody know that their time of peace was to end. Suddenly, out of nowhere, the ground shook, creating a mighty rumbling sound, and the people shook with terror. Then it came. Bursting out of the earth, coming from the very depths of Hell (Brazil, actually), the Sepultura rose. Its guitars growled with an ever burning hatred for mankind. This was the dawning of the Sepultura, a mighty beast which would destroy all with its wrath..... Yeah, I know, I went overboard a little with this, but Sepultura was actually a group of young teenage musicians, influenced by many bands, namely Slayer. They were still very young when they released their first full-length effort "Morbid Visions", and their lack of experience, along with the tight budget of the albums production, shows.

Everybody knows that the production that was used to make this album was low-fi and primitive. The sound may be pleasing to some black metal fans, but to others, it's kind of crappy. The snare drums sound like Igor Cavalera was hitting a plastic bucket rather than an actual snare drum, and the guitars have this sort of buzzing sound, kind of like that of swarm of angry bees. Both of them seem to drown out the bass guitar, which is barely even heard, if at all. I can't blame them for this poor-quality production, cos when they made it, they were young, and barely had any money to make an album using top-notch production. What's more is that Brazil, and especially Belo Horizonte, was very poor. Do you expect to hear an album coming from Brazil at that time sounding like it had been produced by a label such as Metal Blade or Megaforce? I didn't think so. I'm giving Sepultura a free pass on the production, though, cos hey, who can blame them? They didn't have a lot of money!

Now to the music itself. Even with the crude production, there are some things that the band needed to work on before actually shelling out an album. Some of their songs have the same chord patterns as others, making them sound almost like the exact same song. For example the intro to "Funeral Rites" sounds A LOT like the intro to the all-time classic "Troops of Doom". The speeding riffs on both songs also bear an uncanny resemblance to each other. The e-note rhythm is used quite a bit on the album too. All of the songs, not almost all of them, but ALL of the songs on this album feature the e-note rhythm. They are relatively easy to play on the guitar I'm not saying that it's a bad thing, I'm just saying that it shows the band's inexperience when they made this. It's sort of like Warbringer when they released "War without End", except with shoddy production. However, unlike Warbringer, their choice of time signatures did vary, though they were speedy. There was one to two different time signatures in each song (three if you count the intros to some of them). It's kind of hard to tell them apart, but who cares? At least they've got something going! Despite its lack of riffing skills, "Morbid Visions" has all of the energy and intensity it needs to start mosh pits.

The band not only lacked musicianship when they first started out, they also lacked lyrical creativity. Have you ever noticed that pretty much all of the songs on here had lyrics that had to do with everybody's favorite Lord of Darkness? That's right, that's all they talk about. Look, I'm not a Christian prude or anything (I'm just as disillusioned with the corruption going on in the church as a lot of other people), I'm saying that Sepultura really didn't think too much about writing songs that were about things other than Satan. They could have written songs about how they were fed up with all of the poverty, the corruption, and the violence that was going on in Brazil. They could have at least written songs about wicca, or anything that isn't related to the church, but nope! It's all about the Father of Lies, here. Though, to be fair, singing about the Devil was all that the band needed to get attention. That's how Slayer got successful, and made them one of the biggest bands in the world. Sepultura, on the other hand, would eventually shove Satan out of the way in favor of writing songs about stuff not Satan-related in "Schizophrenia" and later releases.

What could you expect from a band of newbies on a small, unknown label? Not much, I suppose, but do I enjoy this album, despite all of the things that a young Sepultura could have improved on? I say I actually kind of do. It might not have been an excellent start, but it did get the band noticed, so that they could eventually get signed to a bigger label to produce "Schizophrenia", and eventually leave Brazil to tour the world. Max Cavalera himself admits that "Morbid Visions" wasn't Sepultura's best effort. He said that it was the product of a very young band with very little experience, and I can believe him. It's easy to acknowledge the band's lack of creativity when the album came out, but then again, Sepultura really didn't need much when it started its high-powered attack.

Sepultura… Yeah, that band really meant something back in the early 90’s. They were one of the first extreme metal bands, which I started to listen to and which I became fan of (and when I started to learn how to play guitar I played maniacally some of their songs, trying to play them as fast as Cavalera and Kisser… sick!). They were also a mandatory band for all metal maniacs here in Poland; whether you preferred death or thrash metal, you would always like Sepultura. There was something unique about this band; maybe it was because where they came from, or maybe just because they were very talented musicians… all in all, there was no metal fan back then, who wouldn’t have their cassettes in collection (CDs were still a rare thing)! Nowadays it is obviously different, the band is barely a shadow or caricature of what they once have been, in my opinion, their last really killer album for me is “Arise”… Yeah, an album from 1991! But this is exactly the same what I can say about Slayer or Metallica. The last really good albums of all these bands have been released in 1991, sorry to say so… ever since then all these bands started to play something what I cannot stand at all. Anyway, speaking about Sepultura I can even tolerate the modern metal they did on “Chaos A.D.” and the tribal metal of “Roots”, but to see this band without Max Cavalera behind the microphone is just enough and beyond my tolerance. For me this band doesn’t exist for almost 20 years now. Anyway, I still like to listen to some of the old Sepultura records and this week I decided to play a record, which I haven’t listened to for something like 15 years. This is Sepultura’s classic debut LP “Morbid Visions”. It is not the album, with which I started to listen to this band back in 1991, it was “Beneath the Remains”, but obviously I also had “Morbid Visions” in my tape collections. Nowadays I have it on vinyl, the old Roadracer version, which comes with “Bestial Devastation” MLP as a bonus, so it is a great collector’s item for sure. And despite having so many years, this vinyl still plays great. And despite not listening to it for so many years, I still remember every sound from it perfectly.

In my humble opinion “Morbid Visions” is not the best Sepultura LP, maybe it is only like my third favourite – after “Beneath the Remains” and “Schizophrenia” (and who knows, maybe I also prefer “Arise” over it??). Anyway, it definitely is an album, which can be called classic and cult release. Recorded back in 1986 (and “Bestial Devastation” MLP back in 1985) it was one of the first as harsh, as raw and obscure, relentless and brutal, evil metal releases of all time. In my opinion it is even more aggressive and darker than “Seven Churches” and for sure it equals such classics as “Endless Pain”, “Bathory”, “Show No Mercy”, “Hell Awaits” or “In the Sign of Evil”.

There are two things, which I need to point out about “Morbid Visions”. First of all, it is the production of this album. I must say that it is not my favourite sound, Sepultura sounds terribly messy and poor here, sometimes it almost feels like the band was just loosing the rhythm, played terribly uneven or something, creating a chaos and distortion. But despite that, it all seems fine anyway. Why? Well, it is because of the songs, which are on “Morbid Visions”. To be honest with you, you’ll find here some of the most memorable and classic riffs / songs of all time, when speaking of such extreme death / black / thrash metal. Track number three – “Troops of Doom” – is the most obvious example. For sure it is one of the most memorable and classic Sepultura songs ever, I especially like its opening theme, with that fantastic and catchy riff; oh, what a characteristic and timeless tune! It is almost pity that such an excellent riff is so short and will not be repeated later in the song, as it soon speeds up and gets way more extreme than this memorable opening part. But extreme is almost the entire album, often it is just incredibly fast and I can say that it is probably one of the fastest and most intense LPs of the time of its original release. And it is just great that all this relentlessness comes in hand together with catchy riffs, memorable choruses and just great songs – my favourites along with the one, which I mentioned already, would definitely be the title track (“Morbid Visionnsssss” – scream!), “Crucifixion” (oh, what a massacre!!), “Show Me the Wrath”, “Funeral Rites” (which has a lot of similar patterns to “Troops of Doom”, really)… All have some absolutely amazing parts and each also has that kind of chorus, where you just must join Max Cavalera and just scream the texts! I love them all, Sepultura created an evil and obscure atmosphere like no other band around and it just sounds great, even if that production could have been better (for instance I think I prefer the sound of “Bestial Devastation” little bit more). And besides, just listen to Max Cavalera’s voice – he does sound like a ghoul here (and his lyrics were all about the dark stuff: satanic, death, violence, rituals… classic metal stuff, far more what I like than reading about some Brazilian tribes living in the jungle or the police violence).

And speaking of “Bestial Devastation”, this EP has been added to “Morbid Visions” LP re-release from Roadracer and it is great, as this EP contains such classics as “Antichrist” and “Necromancer” – another classic Sepultura tunes. And who cares if the artwork for this MLP is just primitive and childish and the logo is awful? This is a killer beginning of a legendary band (which luckily soon changed their logo for the one from “Morbid Visions”- and it is one of the best logos EVER!). Musically I guess “Bestial Devastation” feels slightly more thrashy and not as obscure and aggressive as the full length album (did they sound more like Sodom or is it just me??), but obviously it also was pretty damn violent and crude stuff.

In the end I must say that I cannot imagine a metalhead, who doesn’t own “Morbid Visions”. This is one of those classic records, which are mandatory and which will always be praised. And who cares if the album may seem to get old quite badly and feels very, very archaic nowadays? I surely don’t, as this is why it also has a specific charm, feeling and atmosphere, which nowadays are almost impossible to capture.
Standout tracks: “Troops of Doom”, “Crucifixion”, “Morbid Visions”, “Show Me the Wrath”, “Funeral Rites”
Final rate: 85/100

It's hard to even properly interpret Sepultura's earliest works considering the direction they went later. Everyone's firmly aware that Sepultura began as a raw, unformed, primitive death/thrash band before evolving into one of the more seminal and technically accomplished bands of thrash's golden age, but making albums like this one cognitively jive with releases like 'Arise' is still challenging. A lot of people forget that at the beginning of Sepultura's career, they were knee-deep in the brackish Cogumelo sound of related bands like Sarcófago (which Wagner Antichrist would later establish after his brief term with Sepultura was up) or Holocausto, not the refined sound of American thrash that they would later come to more or less emulate. It's because of this that opinions on 'Morbid Visions' tend to miss the mark in my opinion; a great number of people put an excessive emphasis on the relative brutality or extremity of this album and the rest of Sepultura's pre-'Beneath the Remains' output and not enough on the pure songwriting involved. Is 'Morbid Visions' the most extreme work of Sepultura? Probably- but it's also a rather confused, very unrefined album that is more significantly dated than many similar records from the same period.

The most immediate sonic comparison is, rather unsurprisingly, Possessed, filtered through the more barbaric and primitive lens of early Teutonic thrash like Sodom or Kreator. A release date in late '86 gave the Brazilians plenty of time to spin 'Endless Pain' and 'In the Sign of Evil' in anticipation of their first full-length, and it shows: the ranting, too-fast vocal performance, tension-laced tremolo riffing, and sloppy, juvenile instrumentation are all directly derived from the German camp. From Possessed, though, comes a more immediately dark and twisted feeling, the hellish and fiery sound of which was clearly a conscious takeaway from 'Seven Churches.' Even though this is Sepultura's most brutal and crude release, it's still not quite as antagonistic and self-involved as 'I.N.R.I.' or 'Campo de Extermínio'- this album is the sound of kids who really look up to Slayer but are basically unable to achieve that level of instrumental prowess at their age. Hints of the sheer brutality of the Cogumelo scene will pop up in fits and starts in the form of sloppy, uneven blasts and even more malevolent than usual riffing, both of which dot tracks like 'Mayhem' with little ceremony or sense.

The playing is uneven and crude and the production is the same, but what I think prevents this album from really entering classic territory is the songwriting itself. As previously stated, this is clearly the sound of Sepultura trying to emulate several contrasting, combative styles of thrash at once, but the combination of all these different influences doesn't end up displaying hybrid vigor so much as a diluted sense of self. The riffcraft tends to be rather generic and over-simplified, with too heavy a reliance on typical thrash riff structures, a lack of rhythmic variation, and a lack of variation from track to track. Oddly enough, many of the musical ideas here are present on later albums- 'War' is like a prototype of the title cut off 'Arise'- but refined and streamlined, which really seems to be what Sepultura was originally made for. Even at a young age, Sepultura weren't quite the drunken sociopaths that many of their Cogumelo brethren were, and even on 'Morbid Visions' you can tell that they aspire to more mainstream and traditional ideas of quality.

All that being said, 'Morbid Visions' certainly occupies a crucial spot in early extreme metal history simply by virtue of its sheer influence. In one fell swoop, 'Morbid Visions' essentially codified the style of Brazilian thrash (even if it wasn't really a sterling example of it) and set up the beginning of Sepultura's legacy. While this is certainly not their greatest work, it's an invaluable look at the early Brazilian scene and the first real volley from one of thrash's pioneering bands.

If you have anything after the initial pressing of this album, you have the 'Bestial Devastation' tracks from Sepultura's split with Overdose tacked on as a bonus- considering the impossibility of finding an original copy of 'Morbid Visions' (or even a copy of the isolated 'Bestial Devastation') it only seems fair to discuss that as well. Even more overtly Teutonic than 'Morbid Visions' and somewhat less preoccupied with the burgeoning death metal sound 'Morbid Visions' clearly attempts to emulate, these short, violent tracks could easily be b-sides from 'Endless Pain', with an almost identical vocal delivery and chaotic, jerking drum performance. The aggressively '80s production (replete with vocal echo and half-distorted guitar) has a charm to it that 'Morbid Visions'' hazy cavern tends to lack, and the songwriting seems more genuine, enthusiastic, and less self-aware than the material off the band's first full-length. I personally prefer these tracks to anything off 'Morbid Visions,' but since getting them together is something of an inevitability, it all comes down to a matter of taste. I will say, though, that the Wagner-penned 'Antichrist' is probably my favorite track on the entire disc, mostly because it absolutely sounds like a forgotten Sarcófago track, with its ludicrous, clumsy blasting and adolescent joy.

Regardless of my particular feelings on this album, it's rather inevitable that I'm forced to recommend it to anyone interested in early metal. Enthusiasts for oldschool, primitive death/thrash will likely find a lot to love here, but more important than that is the historical relevance of these tracks. It rarely gets more authentic or archaic than this in extreme metal, and anyone who wants to hear the very earliest fires of death metal burn will need to pick this up as a matter of course. Even if you don't like it in particular, it inevitably occupies a valuable space in anyone's collection.

(Originally written for http://www.trialbyordeal666.blogspot.com)

I love listening to Morbid Visions for the physical tension that I hear in the playing. The album has no ambitions other than meeting its own demand for constant regimented violence. It’s like a blank background for the tendon-ripping ‘Marshall arts’ performance ethic underlying all extreme metal, here presented without distractions as the absolute center of drama. Sepultura only have about three or four different moves at this point in their career, which they link together by reflex in songs that feel like endurance exercises. But they execute each routine with the heart that many listeners identified as the band’s best attribute at their commercial peak. Whereas early material by influences like Sodom and Kreator has a decidedly gawky vibe due to instruments constantly falling out of time, the martial discipline of teenage Sepultura is well-documented by this record of their practice, an unwavering barrage of close-knit patterns of blows. Aided by a production that’s cheap-but-clear with cool effects, Morbid Visions is a great example of how to write metal with the sustained application of force as the only principle.

The single-mindedness connecting Max’s guitar and Igor’s snare is the album’s real currency. One gets the impression that the brothers have self-taught as a duo, developing complementary instrumental styles in tandem with a shared concept of the way thrash should be performed. To them, intensity lies in prioritizing control over constant aggressive strain: core strength. They structure individual riffs and entire musical sequences to contain pronounced synchronized rests on each instrument. This allows the players to get back in step with each other, as well as to conserve energy for their individual parts. It pays off in a huge yield of unusually well-matched speed picking and diabolic polka beat. Melodies are retarded most of the time, stunted little horrors dredged from the ugliest and most conservative parts of Hellhammer and Mantas. But something about the same-ness of it all, the fact that they constantly rearrange the same handful of ‘wrong’ notes, only adds to the impression of a band intently focused on their task.

So, this deeply shared musical language keeps all the band members focused on the conversation, but all they can do is keep repeating the same invocations of darkness, evil, and hatred. This suits me fine, and I’m not especially interested in those things. Because whatever the music may superficially be ‘about,’ its real essence is the sheer pleasure of being able to concentrate body-and-soul on creating something excellent, that thing being brutal pitch-black speed metal. Hearing it, I always get the impression of running around madly, to and from the possibility of life’s destruction, through a series of long black tunnels. In that sense the album is kind of like Satanic Blood by Von, especially with the reverb-ed vocals and overly loud drum fills, but with events and musical drama that prevent the metal from becoming trancelike and ritualistically decadent. In sum, Morbid Visions is just an enervating rush of youthful power desperate to perpetuate the terms of its own existence. Primitive thrash that makes you want to survive the impossible.

It goes without saying that what Sepultura has turned into over the years is not only disgraceful to the name of a once-was-great band, but really just metal in general. However, this is not a rant concerning the shit-eating nature of their post-‘Arise’ material, but rather a review of my second favorite release from the band’s ’85-’89 golden era (my first being the ‘Bestial Devastation’ EP), as well as a way of hopefully justifying the album’s downfalls.

‘Morbid Visions’ is one of those albums that has to be looked at in a contextual manner. Yes, it is sloppy. Yes, the production isn’t quite up to par with people’s need for digital perfection. Yes, the lyrics are retarded. All of these complaints are perfectly justifiable for those who just simply cannot handle raw recordings such as this one, and whose ears have been tainted by today’s modern metal standards. However, for all of us who can in fact appreciate albums such as this one, in all of its sloppy, ugly glory, then ‘Morbid Visions’ really is a classic, and it will always be considered as such.

One of the main complaints this album seems to get is the production value. Well boo-fucking-hoo, you pussies. Personally, I would have preferred another ‘Bestial Devastation’-type production job, but this one still does not bother me at all. The vocals are perfectly audible, and have a dark, cavernous reverb effect on them. The guitar tones are rather thin and tinny sounding, sacrificing a bit of the heaviness this album could have achieved, but still do not deter from the malicious aura this album gives off, and as long as you can still hear the riffing perfectly, which you can, then you really can’t complain. The bass, although not quite as upfront and kick-you-in-liver as it was on the preceding release, is still there, albeit a bit buried amongst the reverberated murkiness. The drums are also perfectly passable for an older black/death album, despite sounding rather distant and of course the sloppiness in which they are played with. Basically, if you can handle ‘Bloody Vengeance’, ‘INRI’, and ‘Immortal Force’, or pretty much all the other classic Brazilian recordings, you can without a doubt handle ‘Morbid Visions’.

Where as ‘Bestial Devastation’ had a much stronger thrash-oriented, proto-black/death sound, ‘Morbid Visions’, despite its primitiveness, is pretty much a pure black/death metal album, with little in the way of thrash influences. Max’s vocals on here are a bit deeper then on the EP, but not my much. He also continues to use his brief, gruff growls, with the occasional drawn out last couple of words of a verse, which often is also given another layer with even more reverb on the original vocal track. This effect has been used by many, and each time its just as effective as the last. The riffing is still quite simplistic and hadn’t quite reached the level of technicality, for lack of a better word, as on ‘Schizophrenia’. But I feel it’s really for the better that the riffs on here are as simple as they are, as the band at this point obviously was not capable of impeccable, precise thrashing madness. They use lots of tremolo picking, almost in a black metal fashion, mixed with death metal-like palm-muted riffs and things of that nature. I think they could have been even more effective given the proper production job, but the way they were recorded actually gives off a rather eerie atmosphere. The drumming is the sloppiest part of the album, as well as the most simplistic, but he keeps up pretty consistently, and when he does lose his place, he seems to find it again a short while later. The fills and snare rolls are kind of all over the place, and the double-bass skills are pretty much non-existent, but this all adds to savage, bestial nature of the album.

Once you stop being a pussy get past the production and sloppiness, this is a pretty damn fine piece of early black/death metal done in the 80’s Brazilian tradition that many of us have grown to love. I know it may be hard for some to believe that a band who sucks as much as everything released after ‘Arise’ did was actually good at one point, but I still recommend you forget about all of that and worship at the altar of this amazing piece of old-school history.

...So why do I like it!? Considering this was their formal debut (I consider LPs to be a band's true debut), it's very disappointing and underwhelming. When you consider their next album, Schizophrenia, you can hardly believe it's the same band. The biggest crime here would be the tinny guitar tone, c'mon guys! Bestial Devastations had a better tone! The guitars are particularly cringe-worthy when the solos come. Not that Jairo T., who doesn't look like a metalhead in the liner pictures, is a bad guitarist. It's just that the production makes his solos so squeaky and difficult to listen.

The other aspects are slightly better: The drums aren't horrible but very, very sloppy; The vocals have this weird effect put on it that makes it sound louder and echo-ish but not quite as much as reverb; The bass...well the bass is there. Poor Paulo, this and the EP before is the few albums where you can here him. Although his bass playing isn't too special.

The songs...well they're okay. Clearly these boys had much potential, the songs are like a rougher and rawer version of Schizophrenia or Beneath the Remains. But the songs, although headbang worthy, don't stand out very much. Oh sure there are interesting riffs in the songs and some solos that are above average, but it's not as strong as their future records. Even Igor admits (according to the re-releases liner liner notes) that they were ripping off the songs from their heroes, thus there ain't much depth to them. The only one that stands out is "Troop(s) of Doom" but it still suffers from the same obstacles from the others.

As you'd have guessed by now, I'm reviewing the re-release with Bestial Devastations. But since there's a separate page for it, I'll review it there.

Conclusion: This album is off-putting at first, what with the rawer-than-black-metal production and kids playing it fast and sloppy. But give it a couple of listens, then this album begins to grow on you.

Get the re-release, you'll get more bang for your buck.

What can we say that hasn’t been already said for this great debut (in full length if we don’t consider the Bestial Devastation EP) by one of the most representative bands in thrash/death metal during the 80s? Every fan of this music not only should, but MUST, know this one like every album by Sepultura ‘till 1991 or, if you want, ‘till 1993 (it’s my case). This is one of the most influential blackened death/thrash release ever!

Teenagers who wanted to play Sodom/Kreator/Venom style, created an album to remember for the ferocious, vicious sound. The most thrash metal influences of their first EP were brutalized by a high dose of early black/death metal to create legendary tracks like “Morbid Visions” or the great “Show Me The Wrath”. Max's vocals are on the borderline between screams and suffered growls, the drumming by Igor is fast as hell with brutal, primordial up tempo parts.

“Mayhem” are total vocals madness: fast as hell in pure Reign In Blood style while the guitar parts are always easy but catchy and total impact. The solos are quite messy and very raw with tremolos and whistles. “Troops Of Doom” is the track that made history here because it would have been done again in the future and it’s the one that shows a quite more “mature” structure. “Crucifixion” has to be mentioned for the sick guitar lines and the Latin spoken part in the middle. Desecrating and blasphemous.

This album isn’t technical, isn’t melodic but it’s just fast as hell, brutal as fuck and a truly heavy influence for the future generation of deathsters. Evil, rotten, blasphemous…a fist in the stomach and a lesson of history. Almost everything started here for the extreme metal movements.

Let's be honoust. In essence there's a lot to laugh about concerning 'Morbid Visions'. These guys were still young kids here and it shows. The lyrics are pathetic and so are the performances and especially the sound. The compositions themselves stick to worshipping early-Kreator, Slayer and Sodom with more than a hint of 'The Return'-era Bathory. It wasn't until 'Schizophrenia' that the boys learned to play.

However! It all seems to work for some reason. The enormously simplistic riffs, the hideous squeeky solos of Jairo, the straight forward drumming, the over the top reverbish vocals and the awful production alltogether form a truly 'evil' hyperactive atmosphere that I really still like to put on my recordplayer every once in a while after all these years. I dare say it's because all the flaws fall in place with eachother in exactly the right amount and balance.

Not considering the performance and sound there are actually some great songs here. My personal favorite 'Crucifixion' (due to the vocal effects on the chorus and speed in general), 'Show Me The Wrath' and the titletrack of course. Most songs follow the same path and structure but the album doesn't get boring. The songs are all relatively short. The original version of 'troops Of Doom' is quite nice but the 1990 version showed the true potential of this song.

Yes, there's something about Morbid Visions

Sepultura kicks it into high fucking gear here, issuing their edict that THIS is how to play heavy fucking metal, and ya know what, I'm game, I'll listen. This is 1986, where pretty much thrash comes to a boil, and both the good and the bad aspects of it are polarised and appear in mass quantities... I won't dwell on the bad (let's just say that it is anally expelled by Danish trolls), but note the good. Pleasure to Kill. Reign in Blood. Darkness FUCKING Descends. The unholy trinity...

And then, just on their heels as far as influence, and completely as good, is this album... similar to the second Possessed, in that it's not nearly as out-there as the album (or EP) that preceded it, but still competely extreme and still completely fucking metal. This is pretty much straight-up thrash metal, a la Schizophrenia, but with the death-metal necro vestiges of Bestial Devastation sometimes quite prevalent, mainly in the production values and also the occasional off-kilter drumwork (those toms are mixed rather loud). The production kinda blows ass, being neither here (necrotic chainsaw-gougings in the vaginal region, a la Bestial Devastation) or there (precise bludgeoning trauma wounds to the neck and face, a la Schizophrenia), but the riffage is top notch.

Songwriting follows a basic style... similar to the EP in that just about every song is fast, then slow, then fast again - the thrash breaks are very crisp and very clean and very overt, and Nuclear Assault is the only other band I can think of that drops to 50-75% speed this consistently and this effectively. Throw in Max's narration - he says "thrash!!!" in at least three songs, and we've squarely identified the genre.

Highlights... War is basically a sloppier version of Escape to the Void (especially in the pattern of the vocal delivery), and Mayhem has that nifty middle break, which is probably the best of all of them out here... Morbid Visions has a damn catchy four-note riff that comes in just enough times to leave you wanting more...

Some of the songs sound really damn similar - check out the intros of Troops of Doom and Funeral Rites for example. Troops of Doom, incidentally, is not all that different from the Schizo version, other than the production values. Both are raging thrash beastfucks of the highest order.

And yes, Crucifixion does have a random silly Latin passage... and that final outro to Empire of the Damned is just plain hilarious - but hey, they were 17, they can't be blamed for not having any idea of what is correct... this album doesn't sound very much like anything else out there, and for that they must be commended. Staple thrash metal. Along with the next two LPs by this band, and maybe even the one after that, this one is recommended.

Here we have a classic example of a band at its most brilliant, if not necessarily as technically proficient as it would eventually become. Sepultura showed astounding promise with this release, and would go on to make some equally killer albums before sinking into oblivion. "Morbid Visions" is a bare-bones death metal record that sticks to the core ideals of the genre, not straying too far in any one direction, and not collapsing on itself due to lack of innovation.

I admit that by the time the last track rolls around, things sound a bit dull and contrived, but that is easily forgivable. Almost every song is a winner, and the raw production only serves to purvey the aggression and determination of the band. Max's singing is suited well to the minimalist style of the record, and the lyrics, although silly at times, do the job. Igor doesn't bust any balls, but the drumming does set a nice pace. As for guitar, Jairo provides ungodly shrieks and squeals on lead, and Max shows signs of the potential that would be realized on "Schizophrenia " and "Beneath the Remains".

Overall, a definite must-own for anyone interested in early Death Metal, and the beginnings of a band that would equally mesmerize and disappoint as time went on.

So, this is where Sepultura started (actually, it was the Bestial Devastation EP, but that would be another review). Before they got into the thrash assault of later albums, the teenagers Max, Igor, Paulo and Jairo wrote fast and evil sounding compositions that took all the good stuff that was in Hell Awaits (i.e. all of it) and made it more insane and uncontrolled. Despite the quality on future releases, they could never match this except for Beneath the Remains which is different in style but still very fucking good.

The main thing that differs from all the later Sep albums is the evil as fuck vibe that makes you feel that you're wandering alone in a cemetery on a misty night with church bells tolling on the background. Some may say that the production here sucks, but again their mothers could have been on coke while pregnant which ocasionated their offspring to start talking at the age of 12 and later become Skylark fans. So that you know, the production values here are PERFECT (think Seven Churches with Darkthrone tweaking the knobs) and keep the rawness and the atmosphere of the songs the way it should be.

All the songs here range from good to fucking excellent, but my personal choices would be the title track, "War", "Crucifixion" (I never thought that the latin spoken part on the middle had very much sense, but that's a minor complain) and "Funeral Rites", which is similar to the more known "Troops of Doom" only way much better. Sepultura later re-recorded "Troops" and made it thrashier and more technical but lacking the evil feel and the vibe that is the single most important thing about this album.

If you consider something worthy of being titled "metalhead", or like anything that has to do with the word "rule", then get this NOW!