Sepultura

Sepultura got its start dishing out death metal at the tail end of Brazil's 20-year dictatorship, but quickly turned to the drag-race tempos and fleet-fingered ferocity of thrash. The young group was incredibly good at the latter, enough to write one of the scene's most revered albums — Beneath the Remains, which pulls you in with a gently weeping guitar, only to abruptly backhand you with double-bass drums and blazing solos. Not to mention the menacing vocals of "Mad Max" Cavalera, a commanding presence from the continued thrash path of Arise to the Pantera-esque groove-metal of Chaos A.D. and Roots.

Speaking of those last two long-players, you can't call yourself a metalhead without 'em — a fact our Next Steps prove with a severe beating and a smile.

The grossly appropriate guest spots in "Lookaway" — the turntable stabs of DJ Lethal (Limp Bizkit), the howling of Mike Patton (Faith No More) and Jonathan Davis (Korn) — expose yet another extension of Sepultura's extreme music influence: the down-tuned, meat-grinder grooves of nü-metal. Traces of that trend can be heard throughout Chaos A.D. and Roots, but that's not all: While the former is infused with ferocious, sociopolitical hardcore punk ("Propaganda," "Slave New World"), the latter's brimming with a bold world music influence (the traditional Brazilian undertones of "Attitude," the steely percussion section of "Dusted") like no other metal album of its time.

Not to be outdone, our Deep Cuts show even more sides to Sepultura, including their post-Cavalera career.

Before we go any further, listen to the lo-fi cage rattling of "Morbid Visions." We know what you're thinking: that 100-yard death-metal dash can't be the work of the same Sepultura that wrote the many mangled movements of "Manifest" and the towering, seven-minute instrumental "Inquisition Symphony." Ah, but it is — one of many head-spinning surprises waiting to be discovered in our Deep Cuts, from a freaky, sludge-dipped Celtic Frost cover ("Procreation of the Wicked") to a couple selections from Dante XXI, a Paradise Lost-inspired high point of Sepultura's Derrick Green period. (The hardcore punk vocalist first helped the band finish Against after irreconcilable differences caused the sudden departure of Max Cavalera.)

Like many heavy metal legends, Sepultura's story begins with a born-to-shred prologue. In this case, it was Max Cavalera's first trip to a São Paulo record store, a.k.a. the moment his young mind was impregnated with the finer works of Metallica, Megadeth, and Slayer. All three bands would play a part in the thrash and death metal beginnings of the Brazilian band (Schizophrenia, Beneath the Remains), but Sepultura soon transcended their influences and became the godfathers of an entire generation with their golden-age trio of heavy metal masterpieces: Arise, Chaos A.D., and Roots. Not that they're retiring anytime soon. Despite the fears of fans and critics when Cavalera quit, the band has lasted nearly a decade with Derrick Green at the mic, including their recent return to form Dante XXI.