METAL NERDERY ALBUM DIVE
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1989. Brazil. Thrash Metal. Magic.
Sepultura’s “Beneath the Remains” is STILL a force to be reckoned with in the thrash metal community and really, the metal community at large.
It is fast, heavy, thrashy and also, GROOVY! (That’s right. GROOVY!).
Sepultura “raised the bar” with this album, bringing BOLTH groove and melody together with those amazing riffs, the breakneck speed and the incredibly complex, technical thrash choreography that PROVES this is the band’s “Master of Puppets” album moment.
Released: April 7, 1989
Eldorado (Label)
1."Beneath the Remains" 5:11
2."Inner Self" 5:07
3."Stronger Than Hate" 5:50
4."Mass Hypnosis" 4:22
5."Sarcastic Existence" 4:43
6."Slaves of Pain" 4:00
7."Lobotomy" 4:55
8."Hungry" 4:28
9."Primitive Future" 3:08
Sepultura
Max Cavalera – vocals, rhythm guitar, mixing
Igor Cavalera – drums, percussion
Paulo Jr. – bass guitar (credited but not performing)
Andreas Kisser – lead guitar, bass
Guest musicians
Kelly Shaefer (Atheist) – background vocals on "Stronger Than Hate"
John Tardy (Obituary) – background vocals on "Stronger Than Hate"
Scott Latour – background vocals on "Stronger Than Hate"
Francis Howard – background vocals on "Stronger Than Hate"
Henrique Portugal – synthesizers
Production
Scott Burns – producer, engineer, mixing
Sepultura – production
Monte Conner – executive producer
Antoine Midani – assistant engineer
Tom Morris – mixing at Morrisound Recording, Tampa, Florida, January 1989
Jeff Daniel – producer (reissue)
George Marino – Remastering (Reissue) at Sterling Sound, New York City
Don Kaye – liner notes (Reissue)
Chart (1989) Peak position UK Indie Chart 9
BENEATH THE REMAINS
(#BTR): Killer opener; standard 80’s thrash opening with the lovely yet haunting acoustic interludy sounding thing.
The fucking grooves, the riffs, the speed and the fucking AGGRO!!
I remember everyone was buzzing about them and for whatever reason I never got it back then and I don’t fucking know why.
I think because I could never find the tape (initially), and I can’t recall how hard it was to find the CD.
Which, NOW, btw, apparently is a RELIC…and yet Vinyl is coming back.
Go fucking figure. But I should have had this.
I’m still going to order the CD, just because I’ve got to have it. They should start shipping CD’s in Jewel cases that are album size so we can get the 60’s and 70’s experience of a full ALBUM COVER!!!
This one has a killer album cover btw.
INNER SELF:
Looks like this was the single for #BTR (Beater?
If you’ve got Mop and Rib then why not Beater?)/It’s like the music and Max Cavalera’s vocals are the perfect marriage.
You can hear that thrash/aggro/pre-death metal vocal sound but there’s also that tribal “we’re from Brazil, we’re not scared of shit!” intensity.
The part after the solo…I just started laughing because it was just SO fucking badass!!! HFS!!
STRONGER THAN HATE:
Take a breath, Ready: GO!
Whoa! It’s like SOD and THEN some!!! (okay, breather…riff, building; harmonies, additional interesting melody with the riff.
And of course, Mr. Max Cavalera on the vocales. HFS!!
The fucking drums!!! Kind of a creepy/eerie riff near the end. Killer fucking groove…and then back to GO!
That bass solo at the end was kinda interesting…and kinda left field.
Bass players used to also get credit back in the day.
Btw, I need to re-up my subscription to Ian Hill’s Bass Virtuoso Monthly Digest.
MASS HYPNOSIS:
It can’t be FAST enough! That nasty little part… HFS!!! LMAO!! The speed and the riffs…holy fuck!!
In retrospect, some of these riffs were even FASTER than what we had heard before with Slayer and Metallica; and early in their career there was NOBODY faster than those two, but some of the riffs on this album thus far, especially this one, are just fast as FUCK!!!
And The solos! I like that little clean section in the middle. #dontdenythepowerofsepultura
How the FUCK did I NOT have this album back in the day!?
SARCASTIC EXISTENCE:
This should be my personal mantra :D Damn
It’s like they’d do the metal equivalent of a jog, then a sprint, then a run, then a mini sprint, then a run, then run for your life there’s a maniac right behind you!!!
Moving right along. I like that Skanky riff. The fucking SPEED!! Their riffs are just so sick!!!
SLAVES OF PAIN:
Those riffs!!! Sepultura always had those riffs that really just…had like a driving kind of force to it.
Like a really primitive tribal force. Their guitar sound just had that gnarlyness to it.
Like if Slayer had that offensive midrange section, then Sepultura had that with even more angstyness. The fucking speed just kills me. And the tightness of the riffs.
Pretty busy; a LOT going on, but then, that was standard for thrash in the 80’s.
LOBOTOMY:
Motherfucker, DAMN!!! *Firing gun*GO! Right out of the gate, no hesitation, no buildup, no lube!
Going in dry! It was like they had to get to the point even FASTER than thrash bands had done previously.
It’s like they kinda had that Dark Angel kind of vibe; like somewhere between Slayer and death metal with the intensity and ruthlessness of hardcore and straightedge.
I think this was like a good “next step” in thrash even before Cowboys from Hell came along; listening to it now; I feel like Max should take one of his dreadlocks and bitchslap my face while Milley flings hot pasta sauce at me.
It HAD to be availability! (sigh).
HUNGRY:
Kinda filler ish to me a little. It’s the #reborn of BTR. still killer, but comparatively speaking…meh.
PRIMITIVE FUTURE:
Fuck. YES! THAT is the shit!!!! HFS!! That double bass! And the speed!! #bookingalonghella
A Hora E a Vez Do Cabelo Nascer:
Bonus track? “I knew what the fuck was going on.” the time and time of the hair being born
Article from Revolver regarding the cover art for BTR; also some interesting factoid nuggets regarding the album:
https://www.revolvermag.com/culture/sepultura-beneath-the-remains-michael-whelan-cover-art
Show Notes
(00:00): Wait, WHAT!?/Sepultura: Beneath the Remains (and the “buzz” in the halls of school and metal)/ assthrashing/ Availability of underground metal music for purchase in the 1980’s/Sepultura’s “Puppets” (vs their “Justice”)
(04:47): Released 04/07/1989/The Sepultura “Tribal” Metal sound/Cover Art (#lookdeeply)/” Nightmare in Red”/Lineup changes
(08:18): 1989 Metal/The budget for the lbum/#curiousaboutbrazil/#excellentcrunch #precrunched/ Beneath the Remains (BTR) (standard 80’s metal intro) and GO!/The Sepultura “Groove” (and the rifftacularly riffy goodness)/ Who can play the fastest AND the heaviest?/BTR: Definition of Thrash Metal/Speed Metal vs Thrash Metal (interesting tangentionally related tangentionality conversation topic)/I KNOW IT I KNOW IT I KNOW IT!!!!!/#ultimaterevenge #combatrecords/additional tangentionally related tangentionalality that’s almost beyond tangentionalalityness) #forbidden #darkangel #faithorfear #raven
(18:52): Inner Self (check out the video)/Stronger Than Hate (GO!) Sepultura: A more Melodic Slayer? #faster/Old Masquerade memories/Mass Hypnosis (The fucking RIFFS!!!!)
(27:09): Sarcastic Existence (#personalmantra #tattoospellcheck)/Death and More tangentionalness/ Slaves of Pain (*Listen on Headphones for MAXIMUM enjoyment*)/Another great example of Technical Thrash Metal/Lobotomy (more delicious #riffcasserole)
(38:48): Hungry (#readthoselyrics)/That Puppets “feel” #bigness #roudness/A “bonus” bonus (BONE US!) #laxer/Primitive Future (GO!) #cardiometal/The “Essence” of Sepultura/International Charts (#tots)/ #itsnegative/ CONTINUE spreading the wordery about Metal Nerdery!!
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