A long time ago, 1989 to be precise, Sepultura earned themselves a place amongst the greats of that time, with this album: Beneath The Remains. A slab of raging anger yet controlled brutality, this album is not an easy passable one. After a beautiful guitar intro we hear what is beneath the remains of this destructive era: coldness and hate. Churning guitar riffs, separated by a drum roll, some double-bass work, or another small musical accent, yet flowing together into a song accompanied by fast drumming and hoarse, half-grunting, half-angered screaming vocals make this album far more classier than the average riff-pasting metal bands. Somewhat inspired on Slayer this album stands on its own, a speed metal classic, in which already some rudimentary death metal structures can be found. Sepultura were a band that knew how to use guitar solo's to enhance/improve a song... The high piercing notes of Andreas Kisser's guitar are beautiful, a thread of hope in a world of sarcastic existence. The lyrics paint a world that is torn apart by war and greed, yet a will for freedom can be found, also in the music. What else would you expect by a band from Brazil, one of the more fucked-up countries of our time. This music gives the feeling that this album is as metal as it can get: exciting, beautiful, worthwhile. A metal milestone, and shame on this band for having turned utter and total shite in the '90s.

© 1999 dwaallicht