Sepultura - The Mediator between head and hands must be the Heart

(CD Album Review)

***
The boys from Brazil soldier on with this poor effort!

Sepultura are the topic of many a Metal heads discussion and what makes these discussions so interesting is that no two people seem to have the same opinion. It ranges from people writing them off years ago and people that still like what they are doing now. Some people think that they have not done anything worth talking about since 1996's 'Roots', then there are those who like the vocal stylings of Derrick Green makes the best output that the band have ever put out. The truth as usual is somewhere in the middle and you shouldn't just write something off just because it is not your thing or the fact you prefer something else.

'The Mediator between head and hands must be the Heart' doesn't really stand out in the bands lengthy catalogue as either a classic and it's not a complete stinker but that's been the problem with the band since 1998 in my opinion. The band have never gone completely to the pits but nether have they released an album that truly stands up to the bands glory days. This album sees the debut of new drummer Eloy Casgrande who is awesome he fits the band like a glove and the tribal aspect is back at the forefront of their sound. He even has a drum duet with none other then Dave Lombardo on 'Obsessed' which is great. Ross Robinson returns as producer but that doesn't really make much difference either way, but I did expect a little bit more from this album with such a legendary producer being involved in it.

The problem with Sepultura since Max Cavalera left has never been Derrick Green he is a very good singer. Derrick has an raspy, intimidating, dark and unique voice as well ass an amazing stage presence, Sepultura still are an awesome live act even to this day. The problem is the riffs are just lacking memorability, and since 'Against' Sepultura have became a Hardcore band not a Metal band and it took a few albums to find their feet with their new sound and new frontman. They really found their fire again on 2006's 'Dante XXI' and 2009's 'A-lex' both of these were concept albums and worked as a whole listened to in one sitting but again lack of stand out tracks. 2011's 'Kairos' was the bands best album with Derrick. It was fast and furious and saw the band return to their Thrash Metal roots (no pun intended). That album was one of those albums that just played itself, it flew out the speakers effortlessly.

'The Mediator...' however simply falls a little flat on my ears, It starts off well and good the opening track 'Trauma of War' is furious and full of energy and urgency and has a wall of sound Meshuggah fell to it at times and there are good parts throughout the album but after a dozen plays there's nothing that sticks and grabs hold of you, like on the track 'Grief' which is a bit dull and hard to listen to and probably the worst song on the album. The riffs just grind into the next as do the songs and everything just seems similar but the intensity is really good. The other thing I noticed about this album is that it doesn't really have songs that stand out enough to be singles 'The Age of the Atheist' which is the first song to be taken as a single form the album, just does not have a radio or club appeal to it, for me I think all the songs on the album are the same.

Maybe the problem is that I want to like Sepultura more then I actually do. I don't think a reunion of the classic line up will help matters either. Just like Carcass did with 'Surgical Steel' last year, like Iron Maiden did with 'Brave new world' and like Kreator, Testament and Overkill's last batch of albums stand face to face if not betters their "classic" periods I want Sepultura to deliver an album that blasts away 'Arise, Chaos AD' and 'Roots'.

I want them to make questions of a reunion completely pointless. That's why I keep coming back to them but bit by bit I'm starting to accept it might not happen... you have to admire Sepultura though because they had a big impact on Metal music and really defined the Thrash Metal genre for quite a few years. I would just personally not go for this album if I had to buy a Sepultura record.

Review by Joe Denby