sepultura kairos

Released: 24 June 2011 Label: Nuclear Blast

With the release of their twelfth studio album, Sepultura has now released as many albums with ‘new’ vocalist Derrick Green as they did with the charismatic Max Cavalera. It’s fair to say that much of the post-Max output has been hit and miss to say the least, so it’s a pleasure to report that six albums and fifteen years after his departure, Sepultura are – finally – showing signs of getting back to somewhere near their best.

Of course, being modern-day Sepultura, nothing is ever plain sailing and there are still moments on this album that no one would miss if they weren’t there. The covers of Ministry’s Just One Fix and The Prodigy’s Firestarter may work well live, but fail to fully ignite on disc. Likewise, the industrial / tribal mash-up of Structure Violence (Azzes) stands out only for its superfluous indulgence.

But, let’s concentrate on the positives because there are many of them.  After the slow burning intro of Spectrum, the title track and Relentless are vintage Seps and recall the halcyon days of Roots and Chaos AD.

The real treat though comes in the form of tracks like Seethe, Born Strong and No One Will Stand which find the band capturing the primitive thrash spirit that was their stock in trade pre-Arise. The awkward rhythms and jarring riffs of contemporary Sepultura are still there but the songs burn with a hunger all too lacking on recent albums.

This is the best album of the Green-era by some distance. While not a complete triumph, it comes damn close and serves as a timely reminder of just what a potent force the Brazilians remain. It’s been too long. Welcome back.

by Marcus Jervis