Reviews list for Sepultura - Chaos A.D. (1993)

Continuing my Groove Metal List Challenge (finally) and time to go back to my youth with the fifth full length release from a band who had a hard act follow as I simply adored their previous offering, Arise from two years earlier.  Arise had it all for me, solid structures, great production and still that fantastic hunger to it that exemplified the fathomless appetite for thrash metal tat the band clearly had.  I do not recal that I had heard any other albumby the Seps at that time even so I had no idea of the murkier beginnings from which they came.  To me, the bar was set high by Arise at the time and only coming to their early releases many years later actually enhanced my enjoyment of the album as it was clear throughout all of the releases, up to and including Arise, that Sepultura had grown with each release.  Inevitably, that progression would slow down and be replaced by some new influences.  The tribal trappings of Roots which was still some three years away at this point were more than clear when Chaos A.D. dropped.  Instrumental track, Kaiowas clearly showing the tide that was growing behind the more groove orientated direction the band deployed overall on Chaos A.D. and whilst I would not say the intensity levels dropped too much as a result, the quality levels unfortuantely took a hit.

Despite giving it many chances, even buying it on CD the second it came out, I could never shake the feeling that Chaos A.D. was a huge let down.  A top heavy record to my ears, by the time we get to track seven there is a noticeable dip in quality from what has come prior.  Despite flashes of promise from the likes of Nomad, there is little comparable quality to the likes of Refuse/Resist, Territory and Slave New World that open the record so strongly.  Tracks such as We Who Are Not As Others just come across as lazy by comparison and ultimately the album feels like it is made by a band who ran out of steam very quickly.  The inclusion of the New Model Army cover of The Hunt is the only other real high point of the album for me.  The politcal machinations of tracks like Manifest just feel like immature musings and Biotech is Godzilla should have been left on the cutting room floor.

It is disappointing when a band's golden run comes to an end, even though in this case, Arise is a real high point to finish theirs on.  With Chaos A.D. I get the sense that the growth of groove metal became something of distraction for the band and the song structures just became a tad quirky as a result.  I have listened to little if any Sepultura records after this one in all honesty and each time I approach it, I sort of want to like it more than I know I am going to.  My score has remained consistent over the years though and there is little chance some three decades after first hearing it of that changing I am afraid.

I think it’s fair to say that Brazilian thrash metallers Sepultura were more of an obsession than a passion for me from the time I first discovered their classic third full-length album “Beneath The Remains” in late 1989 right up until the release of this divisive fifth full-length. The timing of their infamous breakout from the underground was perfectly aligned with my own period of extreme metal discovery so they represented somewhat of a cult figure in my formative years & if it would have been up to me then the world would have waited until their arrival as a premier thrash act before deriving any sort of Big Four of thrash metal. But………. this brings me to the “Chaos AD” album from 1993, a record that would see the band dramatically altering the course of their careers via a fresh & innovative new sound.

I can still remember excitedly rocking up at Sandy’s Records in the Northern Beaches of Sydney on the day of release, racing home to experience “Chaos AD” for the very first time & the feelings of confusion I battled with as a result. It wasn’t that I found the music I was hearing to be unpleasant in any way. It was that it was so clearly very different from what I was expecting after the thrash metal icon that was 1991’s “Arise” album. The production job on "Chaos AD" is very solid with the rhythm guitars offering a chunky, heavy-weight platform that enables the fairly simple & uncluttered song-writing to do its work in workman-like fashion. Igor’s drums possess an organic depth, particularly the toms which were clearly meant to be a highlight of the record thanks to the continued focus on tribal rhythms that had been experimented with on “Arise”. There isn’t the brightness & energy to the guitars that I was expecting to hear though which is in large part due to the band having experimented with down-tuning their instruments for the first time. That’s not to say that the experiment didn’t work though as these more rhythmic & groovy riffs certainly benefited from the approach. It’s just that they sounded a little foreign to my fanatical thrash-trained ears at the time. You see, unlike the Sepultura of old, this Sepultura was in no hurry whatsoever with the songs given plenty of space & sticking predominantly to mid-paced tempos, the result of which was a more accessible product that was capable of seeing Sepultura crossing over into an as yet untapped market. Despite my initial hesitation though, I couldn’t deny that they'd managed to achieve this without losing much of their creative street credibility because “Chaos AD” is a long way from a sell-out.

Pantera had changed the face of the global metal scene in the very early 1990’s with their groove metal sound seeing a trillion bands adopting a more rhythmic approach to metal guitar playing & we can definitely see that influence on “Chaos AD” as there’s really very little that you can call legitimate thrash metal on this album. There’s an obvious hardcore punk edge to a lot of the material with Andreas Kisser having now turned all of his attention to creating dissonant, textured interludes rather than flashy, melodic guitar solos. The lyrics are predominantly politically focused which suits the material very well too. Igor is certainly the star of the show as far as the performances go as the groove metal platform afforded him additional room to move given the more rhythmic nature of the riffs around him. I saw Sepultura play live on the tour in support of the album back in 1994 actually & it was no surprise to find that the new material came across brilliantly in a live environment. I’d been lucky enough to see them two years earlier on the tour for the “Arise” album & they were just as impressive the second time around to be honest.

It didn’t take me all that long to find a level of acceptance for “Chaos AD”. My major challenge was accepting that the Sepultura I’d loved & adored was now a thing of the past & to treat the new Sepultura as almost an entirely different band. Once I was able to do that I found that it’s actually a very consistent, well written & professionally produced metal record that achieved a feat that so many have failed at. It had created something fresh & different that could draw the attention of a wider audience but still appeal to a large percentage of their existing fans (at least those with an open mind). I have to say that the New Model Army cover version of “The Hunt” was a poor choice as it stands out very clearly in an otherwise quite cohesive artistic statement & there aren’t many genuine classics here either but the majority of the album is very strong nonetheless with “We Who Are Not As Others” (the least popular metal track on the album unsurprisingly) being my clear standout. There’s no doubt that “Chaos AD” was a step down from the two classics that preceded it but I actually think it sits very comfortably next to the Sepultura’s earlier material these days. In fact, I’d probably take it over “Bestial Devastation” & Morbid Visions” & don't place it too far behind “Schizophrenia” either. Fans of the band’s earlier work really should give “Chaos AD” a chance as you may just find yourself buying what it’s selling.

For fans of Soulfly, Cavalera Conspiracy & Machine Head.

Even before the exit of one, then both, of the Cavalera brothers, Sepultura’s fanbase was divided by the band’s new stylistic directions, most initially on Chaso A.D. The album saw the band influenced by the changing landscape in Metal (in part they were influencing it themselves) and they all but dropped their Thrash roots, slowing to a rhythmic groove. Even here, they incorporated some tribal beats no doubt stemming from their heritage. Lyrically as well, the album gets more abstract and even alternative in parts.

I’m in firm favor of no holds barred Thrash era Sepultura, and this album is where their string of mediocre material begins for me. The riffs are quite simple and repetitive, and ditto to most of the drumming; It’s very tom-heavy, with loads of good fills, but the actual beats are weak. Naturally I favor the speedier tracks: opener Refuse/Resist, Propaganda, and Manifest have remnants of their Thrash style. The rest is certainly not bad either, and most tracks have enough aggression to give them power despite the drop in speed and energy. It’s a fine Groove Metal album, but I’ll always be over the fence on the Thrash side of Sepultura.

Also, that cover of The Hunt is brilliant.

A brave album that integrates numerous influences while remaining relevant and consistent in character.

Given the massive increase in popularity that Sepultura had just gone through, due to the excellence of Beneath the Remains and Arise, it would have been very easy for the band to just crank out another similar thrash metal album without really trying to break new ground. It’s testament to the ambition and passion of these still young Brazilians that they chose to take on a fresh approach, and even went as far as changing their whole recording environment to make sure they didn’t repeat themselves. After Scott Burns gave them the professionalism and production they needed to hit the big time on their two previous albums, Sepultura walked away from Morrisound Studios to search for something new. After considering numerous producers, including jazz freak John Zorn and industrial legend Al Jourgensen, they ironically settled on Andy Wallace, who had mixed their last album Arise. The band suggested to Wallace that they really wanted to record their fifth full length album in total isolation from society, and agreed with his suggestion of Rockfield Studios, which is located in South Wales. It’s there that they recorded Chaos A.D., an album that expanded Sepultura’s reach, while polarising their existing fan base in the process.

Like many Sepultura fans, I originally wasn’t all that impressed by Chaos A.D.. The main issue I had with it however was that it didn’t sound like Beneath the Remains or Arise, but over time I came to appreciate it for the very same reason. Arise had already contained small injections of outside influences, so in hindsight it’s not really that surprising that these same influences were given so much more emphasis on its follow-up. Any hints of death metal were all but gone and the thrash metal performed only intermittently, with industrial, hardcore punk, groove metal and even Afro-Brazilian percussion vying for attention. The fact that Sepultura combined all of these elements and still created a solid album with a consistent character throughout is impressive, and the end result is an experience far more diverse that what most metal albums could possibly achieve. The themes of the album also tie in terrifically with the sound, with the lyrics dealing with real world issues such as the Palestinian – Israel conflict (Territory), the massacre of David Koresh’s followers in Texas (Amen), and censorship (Slave New World). Chaos A.D. is like a call to arms and its angry spirit gives it vastly greater relevance than the Venom-inspired nonsense of their early years.

The album starts powerfully with Max’s then-unborn son Zyon’s heartbeat breaking into Brazilian styled percussion, before a couple of huge riffs welcome Refuse/Resist with no shortage of energy and authority. In fact, the first four or five tracks of Chaos A.D. are really great, varying in style and velocity without releasing their grip for a second. Kaiowas deserves a mention as it’s an entirely acoustic track (Andreas and Max on guitar while Igor and Paulo handled percussion) that was recorded live among the ruins of the medieval castle of Chepstow. It’s the first real time that Igor was given the chance to really explore the tribal drum patterns that he’s more than capable of producing and one of the most enjoyable parts of the album for me. Of course all of this variety comes at a price, with so much genre-shifting testing the listener’s personal preferences. I personally don’t really enjoy hardcore punk so that aspect of the album is a bit off-putting for me (in particular Biotech is Godzilla), whereas others may not appreciate the increase in groove that entered their riffs at this time. There are far more hits than misses on Chaos A.D. though and Sepultura showed that they had a lot more to offer than endless shredding thrash metal albums. As much as I will always prefer their earlier work, Chaos A.D. is a strong album and one I’m glad they made.