Roots

I bought this album in the week it was released. I know this because it was embossed by the independent record shop i bought it from (dont ssk me why. It was just a thing). This album perfectly sums up the two sides to this era of Sepultura. One part full on growling thrash metal and the other drum centric, with traditional Brazilian drum sounds. Whilst still loving the drum led tracks wasn’t surprising (even without the remixed Kaiwas which i am sure was on my original version - wiki says not), I was quite surprised how much i enjoyed the rest with Max’s growling vocals leading the charge.

For a second, I thought I wasn’t going to mind “Roots Bloody Roots”. But then I really, really did mind it. And it never got any better from there. Just far too shouty and noisy for me to get any sort of enjoyment out of.

Don't dislike the music at all. Hate the vocal.... So pretty much as expected and weirdly, not a dissimilar position to the one I hold about Dexys Midnight Runners. It's so bloody long though. 2/5

Incredible tribal groove metal. Canyon Jam hit hard. Regret not getting into these guys when the Cavaleras were there. New singer /is/ awesome tho! 4 stars

Dogshit

Awesome if you're into this sort of music. Has some cool additions of more mellow acoustic tracks that seem to have a more Brazilian folk music sound. 3.4.

The music is really good. I can do without all the screaming "singing". Of course, this is what the genre is all about. If this is something you like, then this album is really good. You can tell the musicians are extremely talented and the sound is unique. It just isn't something I would want to listen to myself. 3/5

Kinda enjoyed it, but probably won't listen to it again.

I’m actually very familiar with this album, as most metalheads are. At the time the band was struggling with inner conflict and they solved it by adding 100% raw aggression total their mix, and broke apart when the contracted tour was done. This album is great because it deviates from other groove-metals albums of the time (closest was songs like Lookaway, with some prominent special guests from rock & Nu Metal) and featured a lot of Amazonian tribalism, most evident on the tribal chant/moshpit hit Ratamahatta, which also has a really cool in studio video. The real story here is in the amazing drum work of Igor Cavalera, who is a beast! I appreciated that this was such a celebration and warning siren for their indigenous populations. The bad part for me is almost the entire album is in-your-face hardcore with Max Cavalera’s voice right at the edge of his vocal-scream range and all amps cranked to “11”. The songs Itsari and Ambush are like the short lived eye of a hurricane. Key song for me was Endangered Species. If I’m doing a hard work out or forging a sword for the zombie apocalypse this is best album for it. But even I get tired after two straight listens. I actually like their preceding album Chaos AD better because it has a more dynamic song flow but retains its power. Not an album for everyone.

BRASIL PORRA!

Trying to sound like a robot. Mission accomplished

So creative. An amazing groove metal album blending Brazilian folk music. It's a wild and awesome album. Roots Bloody Roots was my fav song and first listen of the album. Attitude and Cut-Throat were my other highlights

Dreadful

Наконец-то что-то достойное среди кучи хлама. что выдаёт этот сайт. Не фанат этого жанра металла, но сам альбом бодренький. за исключением нескольких занудных и неадекватных этно-треков. Но Roots Bloody Roots всегда в моём плейлисте.

NuMetal apparently, at least to some extent. Nu Metal I can actually enjoy. Nothing frat boy about it. Probably because of how it blends so many deeper influences from within Metal and the group's Brazilian heritage.

The music was great. With an actual singer, this might have been awesome. Unfortunately, they just go for the standard (lazy) angry-scream all-the-time vocals. Those can be good in small doses, when countered with more melodic vocals. But when that's all you do it quickly looses any feeling the angry vocals could have stirred up, and they just end up sounding bland. I'll give it a 3, because the music was that good.

This was unexpected. I owned all the Sepultura cassettes through Chaos A.D. the album right before this one. My interest in metal was waning anyway with the upcoming Nu Metal scene, and I was moving on to other things. I heard Roots once when it came out, could not get into it. Today it just sounds long. I enjoy the tribal segments, but I felt like they should have been mixed in with the Metal music. Everything feels separated.

Was not in the mood for heavy metal this morning. I might have to go back and try this another time when I can be more open minded. I just couldn’t do it today. Ok, went back in the afternoon. It’s heavy metal. I have a hard time assessing it. It’s so much screaming and rage and screeching guitars. Some of it is pretty good though. Hear some Brazilian indigenous music in stops. Really liked Ratamatta a lot. Reminded me a little of Rage Against the Machine. Trying to be objective… probably deserves more, but can’t go more than 2.

The parts that take from Brazilian music are pretty good but all the heavy metal and hoarse scream singing is pretty bad. Too bad that’s the majority of the album

Du bruit

Having now heard this offering from Sepultura, all I can really ask is WTF is "Arise" even doing in this collection? This is so much more interesting than their debut album (albeit much longer), and makes me far more interested in them than the other album ever did. I'll admit I might not have caught all of the Brazilian/indigenous-culture exploration if I hadn't read about the album, but I'm glad I did, especially about their experience traveling to and working with the Xavante tribespeople. At times I was reminded of a Brazilian version of Rage Against the Machine (in a good way), although there's a bit too much filler/metal-noodling to make the comparison fully stick. And as much as I enjoyed the sonic overload, I'm not sure all that many tracks really stuck; that said, "Ratamahatta" (and its accompanying stop-motion video) is truly inspired, and I also really enjoyed the full-throated spirit of the title track (and its video) as well as "Lookaway". It's not quite four-star material, and some of the tracks like "Itsari" and "Canyon jam" seem more blandly world-music-esque than not, but it's also light-years beyond their other album in this collection. (I just worry for Max Cavalera's vocal chords--there's *no* way that style of singing can be good for his throat over the years...)

There were a few interesting ethnic twists and the music was okay, but the constantly screaming vocals got to me early on.

Thought this would be a struggle but I actually got quite into it, not sure who they think they're yelling for though

Not a fan.

i think i'd rather have the instrumental version lol e: on track 7, kind of getting used to the screaming

This is killer! Such an awesome pleasant surprise. I loved it. It hits so hard from the start. I must admit I was hesitant when I saw that it was one of those long runtime albums from the 90s, but it plays out fine over the long runtime. It feels paced like a film! There's even a third act where you start asking yourself "acoustic guitars? Chanting? Is this even metal? Are we still metalling?" before the chugging comes back to reassure you and save the day.

This is the best screamo album that I've ever listened to. The musical depth is outstanding!

Heavy and thundering without being speed-obsessed. Vocals that are distorted but still possess some melody. Related to the nu-metal of its time but still much more than that (Sepultura have been around since '84). Incorporating Brazilian chordal sensibilities and rhythms, indigenous Xavante music (the band travelled to visit the Xavante people) and nu-metal breakdown grooves, it's a fascinating take on heavy music from a titan of the discipline. It's excellent and has a protest streak to it, too. Well, well worth your time.

I SAID NO MORE 60’s ROCK Not sure how good this is technically, but I don't think I like metal all that much. Although, I need to figure out how to differentiate it from the men screaming that I do like.

I'll start bu saying that im not generally a fan of this type of music, but ive always think a singers ability to do the growl thing is impressive. Roots bloody roots is a great opener and sets the tone and then it kind of wanders off taking a tour of other influences to show musical chops and some range. But it still sounds pretty ridiculous to me

nah

Epic sauce

I appreciate what this album is doing, but this was REALLY not the week for this to be my first album review. I'm also ultimately deciding right now, for the sake of this project, that I'm not going to flatter myself and pretend to be a music reviewer. I can just admit there are some genres I mostly don't like. Nu-metal is one of them. My favorite nu-metal album of all time (Slipknot's "Iowa") is still something I put on maybe (MAYBE) once a year, and usually don't even want to listen start-to-finish. Having said all that, I'm thrilled at the idea of incorporating tribal Brazilian music into such an unlikely genre, and I can absolutely get down with raging against the destruction of indigenous cultures and the Amazon rainforest. The vocals ripple with righteous fury and the snare has that delicious thunderclapping crackle, iconic to turn-of-the-millennium metal. But ultimately, even accepting that this isn't gonna be my thing to begin with, my frustration with the album is that the metal elements remained stubbornly conventional for an album famous for its genre fusion. If you just walked up to the mixer and pressed "mute" on the Xavante tribal instruments, Roots would sound like a pretty conventional late 90s metal record. I love the concept, I just wish the riffs followed through on the promise. Maybe I'm spoiled off Acabou Chorare (10/10 pure-gold classic album), but I have good reason to believe distorted guitars and Brazilian rhythms can dance together way better than they do on Roots.

I like the heavy stuff and some of the riffs are pretty cool on this album, but the vocals make it unlistenable for me. Next.

Me pareció excelente súper fuerte, la atmósfera, el cambio de ritmos y las canciones acústicas

I don't care much for scream-o but I like the instrumentals.

Not really my thing, but interesting and different listen so glad to be getting exposed to something different to my usual preferences

Le travail sur la texture du son est incroyable, notamment la basse et les guitares, et les influences de musique traditionnelle très chouettes. C'est vraiment la base "classique métal" qui plombe l'album.

Not my cup of tea, but it has some character I guess. What was that last song also???

Not necessarily my go to type of metal but there were some good tracks and compared to a lot of stuff on this list this is much my more kind of music

You should be able to pick ZERO stars!

the few initial songs weren’t anything special but i like how diverse the album became

No son mi estilo, de ningún modo, pero no les quito el mérito de su excelente trío en los 90: Arise (1991) Chaos A.D. (1993) y este Roots (1996). La única que me guts es Ratamahatta con Carlinhos Brown.

3,5

One of the best influential extreme metal album off all time!!

I’d never heard Roots in full until today, which surprised me. I was massively on board with Sepultura as a teenage thrasher - in at Beneath The Remains (which should be on the list in place of Roots), saw their first headline UK tour… Arise ruled too, but I checked out soon after it. This didn’t really resonate with me. It’s a far cry away from their first four albums, all of which I hold dear. The influence of “nu-metal” here put me off, and it quickly outstayed its welcome. The title track is a banger and Igor is solid throughout, but I couldn’t give this more than a 2.

This one spoke to me

8 - GOOD

No

Nü metal is a genre I'm not interested nowadays, but I'm not going to hide the fact that I did have a phase as a teenager when I basically only listened to it, although it was also in a very superficial way, as I was just hearing the most well known acts, such as Linkin Park, Korn, Slipknot and System of a Down (come to think about it, these were exclusively the only groups I was listening to from that particular style). Sepultura was not a group that was in my radar, so this is my first time listening to it, and I'll say that this album is alright. It is very aggressive and loud, riffs are heavy, and the voice is very angry, but I certainly not banging my head to anything, and the screams and guitar playing can get a bit monotonous. What I'll give the album credit for is having some very interesting mixes of metal with folk and tribal Brazilian music, specially coming from the drums, giving the album its own personality. Nonetheless, I wish they were more ambitious about it, as some songs are just pure Nü Metal, and in others they just play some timbau or djembe and call it a day, so the more intriguing moments where they use chants, tribal rhythms or the influences are incredibly clear and add something truly valuable are very few. Ultimately, it is a decent album. It has its energy and aggressiveness, but it is also very long and sometimes it feels just very standard Nü Metal that I'm not crazy about.

Teini-Rampa kauhistui aikoinaan tämän levyn ilmestyessä, kun ei sepultura enää ollutkaan rässiä. En pitänyt levystä. Mutta vuosikymmenet maailmalla on vaikuttanut muzamakuun ja kyllä tämä on ihan sepulturamaista, maittavaa metallia. Juuret, veriset juuret. Kuuntelin sitte sepulturaa loppupäivän kun innosti.

Groovaavaa groove metalia. Tittelibiisi hyvinkin tuttu, mutta en ollu tajunnut että näinkin nu metal levy. Aikasen ajan Slipknot selkeästi ottanut vaikutteita. Siistejä eteläamerikkalaisia juttuja, Viva Braziu!!

Listened

Not usually into metal, but this slaps. They're going for somethign unique and different. You can really tell they're literally trying to define a new genre.

Estática demais, batuque demais e gritos demais.

Some songs start out with genuinely interesting melodies - "Ratamahatta", "Breed Apart", "Spit", and "Ambush", for example. But then the screaming vocals kicks in, the band surrender to tiresome metal cliches (heavy bass, the lead guitar thrashing over half-beats), and the songs end up sounding too much alike. The instrumental tracks fare better: "Jasco", a great solo guitar instrumental, "Itsari" and "Canyon Jam" manage to escape the imprisonment of (nu) metal tropes.

Normally, I’m not a fan of singers from the “Rottweiler growling down the mic” school of metal, but there are so many interesting things happening rhythmically here that it actually works . That combined with heavy riffs, that it all comes together into something genuinely heavy and pretty much fun from start to finish

Favourite Songs: Roots Bloody Roots Ratamahatta

Intense but interesting enough to make me want to dig deeper. Cool to explore the marginalized indigenous groups of your own culture and bring them together with your own. I would kinda rather listen to Korn tho

The music itself is cool, but I’m just not a fan of the throaty vocals

As a Brazilian, I’m proud to say that the best album in the entire Black Metal genre comes from Brazil. Chew on that!

Not a huge metal guy. But really can't deny the incredible musicianship. Especially the drumming.

Una cumbre revolucionaria del rock pesado y la música contemporánea que ha envejecido bien como un hito indiscutible de mestizaje sonoro, peso cultural y audacia estética. En el plano de diseño formal, la producción de Ross Robinson articula un entretejido que abraza deliberadamente momentos asfixiantes y densos, equilibrando afinaciones ultrabajas, baterías arrolladoras y el filo de las cuerdas con la textura orgánica de berimbaus, timbales afrobrasileños y cantos tribales en una masa acústica imponente y física. La banda despliega una fuerza y calidez que transmiten autenticidad pura, otorgándole al cuarteto brasileño una autoridad superior desde su comunión con las raíces indígenas de su tierra. Hitos como la combustión tribal de "Roots Bloody Roots", la celebración percusiva de "Ratamahatta", el experimento claustrofóbico y denso de "Lookaway" (con la destacada participación vocal de Jonathan Davis junto a Mike Patton y DJ Lethal) y la conmovedora comunión acústica de "Itsári" dan forma a un documento profundamente conmovedor, crudo y real que opera como un lúcido y urgente llamado a la conciencia sobre la memoria ancestral, la opresión histórica y el orgullo identitario frente a la violencia colonial. Por su tracción rítmica telúrica y su dinamismo visceral, la obra encuentra una gran funcionalidad para múltiples usos, destacando como un catalizador incomparable para la exigencia del ejercicio físico de alta intensidad, la conducción enérgica o para desatar el foco en el trabajo creativo.

The last record of Sepultura with Max Cavalera as the mastermind of the band also has seen a lot of backlash throughout the years. Many people will blame it as one of the records that influenced Nu Metal and consider it part of many reasons why the genre almost died that year. Edited by a legendary label like Roadrunner Records, Roots continued in the same path and the same groove metal sound his predecesor Chaos A.D had for the majority of the songs. This time, the Brothers Cavalera, Andreas Kisser and Paulo Jr made a remembrance to his brazillian heritage, exploring tribal and amazonic sounds in songs like "Roots, Bloddy Roots" or "Ratamahatta" The album also has a surprise in "Lookaway" a song that features Jonathan Davis from Korn and Mike Patton from Faith No More and saw DJ Lethal from Limp Bizkit and House of Pain as a producer and helping in composition and writing. Carlinhos Brown, a famous brazilian percussionist it is the one that gives the most magical and charming parts, introducing as we said, a lot of brazillian percussion. The album cover features an indigenous man of the Karajá tribe. And most of the lyrics from it, they are a celebration not only of brazillian but also Latin America as a culture. This one is a record that despite it's sound, it was and still is absolutely the definitive gateway to many metal fans around the world, to discover how the sounds of the ancient can sometimes work better than expected.

It's hard and harsh, that can be good but I'm not sure that is the fact with Roots...

Not my jam but that doesn't mean its bad. Interesting and creative, especially when reading up on the influences for the album.

2 I haaate this style of vocals. Ruins it for me completely. I enjoyed the song with the amazonian tribe though, that was interesting

Heavvvy! 3.5/5

Really heavy. The percussion gives it something different. Liked the rhythm a lot.

So far out of my wheelhouse I can't even begin to review it. Talented musicians, and the vocals... achieve what they were going for... but I can't really give a good score to a genre I seriously dislike. I appreciate some of interesting ways they've tied Nu Metal to folk music. The songs that weren't Metal were enjoyable.

I think I already had a Sepultura album on this list. This is more of the same metal with argle-wargle-bargle vocals. Dispensible.

Accurate representation of me losing in monopoly

I wish I liked this more. Death metal vocals just turn me off, though I recognize the talent required to do them well. I do really enjoy when the band starts throwing in more ethnic/indigenous rhythms ("Ratamahatta" is my favorite). The band is tight (with special props to Igor Calavera's drumming), the production is excellent, but the vocals just don't work for me. Respect to the talent, but it's not going on my playlist.

Good classic metal

Interesting, and I liked the traditional Brazilian aspect, but generally not my favorite style of music

I think that this album does overstay its welcome a bit (actually, a lot), but that's not to say there isn't a lot of good stuff going on beyond that. People love to shit all over nu metal, like it's just some cringey thing that teenagers liked in the 90s and 00s, (which is partly true), but this album shows that it can be so much more than that. On top of all the things that make nu metal what it is, the aggression is still very real, and the rawness in the vocals and guitar playing is on another level for its time. I find it to be a shame that it drags on for as long as it does, I was really enjoying most of it but by the end I was getting a bit bored. Either a shorter tracklist or just a more diverse pallet out styles would have done this album wonders, as there was a hell of a lot of potential.

Wow, damn did not expect roots! This is fun, even though I definitely prefer their earlier work before this, but this is a good album

I generally like metal but, bruh.

Itsari and Jasco are on an island by themselves on this album and unfortunately for the rest of the album, it's an island I'd rather be on. Jasco is a short but sweet, almost classical guitar style instrumental, while Itsari is an absolute banger built around a melodic native american chant that I could have listened to for hours. Neither sounds remotely like the scream style heavy metal surrounding them, which makes their inclusion a little baffling but very welcome. The rest of the album is strong instrumentally, but the lyrics and singing style are just not my groove. I can appreciate the musicianship, but apparently my two favorite songs on a metal album are the ones where nobody is shrieking at me. 2 stars for the two songs I liked.

Hmmm I may not be the intended audience for this one

Hell NO! Could not get through the first 30 seconds. Hate when the daily album sucks... what a wast of the day ahead...

I was always a bigger fan of Soulfly than Sepultura but I still remember listening to this album a few years after they came out as one of my first metal albums and its a genre that stayed with me and that I still listen to often today along with similar genres. It was a while since I listened through it from start to finish and I had a great time doing so today. Commenting on the music itself is hard for me since its something I have listened to for over 20 years. A great example of metal from this time period. The genre and the band themselves have evolved their music over 30 years but going back to the roots at times can be great.

I got through the 1st minute but that was enough for me.

Classic album. Sometimes it’s groovy, other times it’s heavy as hell. What I really enjoy is how they shifted their sound toward a more nu metal and groove metal direction and actually pulled it off in a convincing way. A lot of bands from that generation didn’t age very well, in my opinion, but this album still holds up. The way Sepultura maintained their Brazilian identity and incorporated strong tribal elements is a huge part of what makes this album feel so unique and one of a kind.

Solid record, it’s pretty amazing, I love a lot of the style of music and a few of their other albums. It’s def not for everyone but I love the grooves and the drums are amazing.

Oh, I had Sepultura just a couple of weeks ago. That one (Arise) was OK. I think I'm upsetting some purists here, but Roots is better. Much better. Almost (but not quite) 5 star better. The industrial noise and beat is there of course, but it's evolved here. The craftmanship is better and more polished. I loved it.

Whatever your Attitude is about this album, it will still make you feel it in your Roots.

definitivamente uma experiência

7/10

Nothing but noise - 1/5

Roots Bloody Roots - 4/5 Attitude - 3.5/5 Cut-Throat - 3.5/5 Ratamahatta - 4/5 Breed Apart - 3.5/5 Straighthate - 3.5/5 Spit - 3.5/5 Lookaway - 3/5 Dusted - 3.5/5 Born Stubborn - 3.5/5 Jasco - 3.5/5 Itsári - 3.5/5 Ambush - 3.5/5 Endangered Species - 3.5/5 Dictatorshit - 3.5/5 Canyon Jam - 3/5 At the beginning, I was pleasantly surprised given its low rating on here. "Surely it doesn't deserve its rating?" I said to myself. I certainly like the concept of it, merging groove metal and nu metal with traditional Brazilian music to make something truly unique. However, it drags on way too much after the first few tracks and doesn't use the unique blend of genres to its fullest potential, though the themes still remain in the lyrics. It's a bit too growly of metal for me to enjoy but there were parts of it that weren't terrible to listen to despite the "nu metal" label given to it. Overall: 3/5 Favorites: Roots Bloody Roots, Ratamahatta

i can’t

Man what a listen. Raw, unadulterated groove metal. Just fantastic throughout.

Great very heavy metal album.

Some good riffs and fun pieces of the songs, but not really my style of music.

Not my cup of tea.

Breed Apart

Not a fan of this one. Loud, but not very interesting. Nothing overly technical.

Roots Bloody Roots: 10/10 Attitude: 10/10 Cut-Throat: 8/10 Ratamahatta: 10/10 Breed Apart: 6/10 Straighthate: 8/10 Spit: 9/10

No quiero ponerle mala nota, porque no es malo, pero es 0% mi rollo y se me ha hecho un poco largo el querer escucharlo entero.