Review by UnhinderedbyTalent 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.