Sepultura

Roorback (SPV)
by Martin Popoff

No question the Seps have cornered this sort of hardcore/nü metal/metal thing, or to put it in an even more favorable light, Sepultura is unique. But there’s a general vibe out there that no one needs this right now, that the band are done, that it’s time to get on with the reunion. Harsh, quick world, but the buzz is pretty weak. The awkwardly-named Roorback is a worthy record on paper, but a bit of a smothering songless exercise down inside the heart.

Derrick is, unfortunately, just any shouter, and his phrasings on here are laughable, like he was given finished tracks and told to come up with something, quick, to strew on top (see “Come Back Alive”: It sounds like the first shot at a guide vocal). But this is a canny band of rhythm makers (but maybe everybody is playing rhythm, including Green), “Mind War” being an excellent example of bullfighting groove, “Corrupted” being a fastbacker that, if this record were a success, would and should have the pit dislocating shoulders, and “The Rift” pure heady metal dementia. But elsewhere – and most of elsewhere – there’s a grim, parched, mature, artistic exertion to the record that is commendable, but one might also call it a slog.
(www.spvusa.com)