Well here we go the 'dark days' of Sepultura, and some say they are still in the dark days. These are the first 2 albums without Max, former lead singer and guitarist. I decided to bunch them together because they seem to go hand in hand. Now first things first, Derrick Green who replaced Max is a good singer, but he doesn't play guitar so the sound of Sepultura will sound a bit different.
First Against; this is a pretty good album. One of the first things you notice is that the first song isn't one of the best on the album...something that was present in the last 3 albums. The title track is more punk than metal, not a good sign. Choke, Old Earth, Floaters in the Mud, and Rumors are really strong tracks which is good considering the first song was just 2 minutes long. In terms of music, Sepultura has gone away from the whole tribal metal on most of the songs. The guitars aren't as muddy as they were on Roots either. After the first 5 songs, the album just kind of wanders...nothing great, but nothing bad. I guess to show they still have the tribal roots, there are some instrumentals at the end of the album. Like I said the 1st few songs are really solid, but then it goes soft. Well I take that back, one of the best songs on the album is Hatred Aside, co-written by Jason Newsted of Metallica, Jason also plays some gutiar and sings on it. This song slays...classic, but then again I have always been a Jason guy.
Onto Nation; Nation is a concept album about a utopia nation. Sepulnation starts of the album with a catchy hook and sing-a-long chorus. Is it the best song on the album? Nope, so two albums in a row where the 1st song is pretty weak. Well Against was able to come back with 4 solid songs after their first track, what does Nation give us? A 56 second thrash song, not bad, but short, a mid tempo track, and a soft catchy song with really clean vocals. This album is more groove oriented than Against; tracks like One Man Army, Vox Populi, and Border Wars are all mid paced, kinda like Choas A.D. minus the good music. Then something different from Against is a tribal sounding song in the beginning of the album, with Uma Cura. Now for me the best song of the album is Saga, track 9, now this album starts off with some of the classic tribal sounds from Roots, then kicks into a heavy riff. After that, the album kind of wanders, like Against, there is a sort of reggae sounding song, a mid tempo song, and an instrumental. But they can't recapture what they started with Saga.
One common thing about the albums are the solos. There aren't alot and what there is could be described as noises. These two albums aren't anything special. They aren't horrible, but unless you are a die-hard Sepultura fan, there isn't much here for you.
Next up...some Soulfly, then back to Sepultura's last two albums.
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