Sepultura ~ Brazil

Beneath the Remains (1989)

Sepultura first came across my radar while still in college, and to my ears at that time, they were just too primitive for me to get into. They were getting rave reviews in the metal mags at the time. I believe I first heard Morbid Visions (1986) which, even for fans, is some tough sledding. And that was really it for me and Sepultura. Which is too bad, because by the time of Beneath the Remains, we would have been on parallel paths for where we wanted thrash to go. I was deep into the Euro prog underground by then, and while still very much interested in proggy thrash, I guess I had already written off Sepultura. My loss.

Fast forward to 2017, and now I'm traveling down to Sao Paulo for business. In order to be on time at work Monday morning, it requires a late Saturday night flight from the US. Thus leaving Sunday afternoon open for strolling and a nice dinner. Fortunately my company allowed us to stay at ritzy hotels in safe, leafy neighborhoods. Like the Jardins. And what do people on Sunday do in Sao Paulo? They walk Avenida Paulista. There's many music acts you can catch for free while walking. Including metal. And there were at least three bands emulating Sepultura who were legend by that point. They were all fun to watch and got me into the mood to check some of their material out.

A couple of years later I ended up acquiring five titles on CD in a bulk buy, including the one I'm listening to now. I didn't write about it then, so Sepultura makes its UMR debut today. Beneath the Remains is on the heavier and darker side of the thrash genre, recalling the German groups Kreator and Destruction. The riffs are inventive and change quite a bit. While it's not really progressive in the traditional sense, the riffs are mixed up quite a bit to keep it interesting. Similar to Dark Angel in that way. The vocals are one step away from death metal, very angry and to the point. Not as powerful or accomplished as Tom Araya of Slayer, but we're in the same ballpark. Overall I think this is where I wanted to hear Exodus go, and they never did. Beneath the Remains is further proof that the late 80s were the golden era of thrash.

The first bonus track is a cover of a Mutantes song, done Sepultura style and sung in Portuguese, so there's something to ponder. 

Ownership: 2007 Roadrunner (CD). Booklet with lyrics and historical liners. Acquired in 2019.

11/23/19; 3/2/26 (review)

3/2/26 (new entry)