Sepultura – Chaos A.D.

My copy has two B side labels enter more words

Along with Pantera's ‘Far Beyond Driven’, Nine Inch Nails' ‘The Downward Spiral’ and Biohazard's 'State of the World Address', Sepultura's 'Chaos A.D.' essentially rescued heavy metal from itself in the early 1990s, helping to breathe much needed new life into the genre musically, lyrically and stylistically.

'Real' metal was suffering something of an identity crisis following the increasingly ridiculous antics of bands like Twisted Sister and Kiss and the refusal of groups like Iron Maiden, Manowar or Megadeth to develop and evolve. The creative cul-de-sac of the late 80s was compounded with the onset of grunge and its relatively emotional complexity and levels of introspection. The overt masculinity of the 80s metal bands, their clichéd imagery and their total disassociation from real world events was brought into even sharper focus by the work of artists such as Cobain and Vedder and their emotional realism.

At the beginning of the 1990s then heavy metal faced both an identity crisis and almost certain creative oblivion. Enter stage right Sepultura. Perfecting their Slayer influenced thrash metal for some years deep in the musical trenches of Sao Paolo, Chaos A.D. was the first album to properly realise the Sepultura sound: fast, heavy, dark and possessing of a deep rhythmic tribalism. The album burst onto the consciousness of the wider metal community like an adrenaline shot. Utilising the profound technical abilities common to heavy metal groups and pairing this with the no-frills, back-to-basics fury of punk and hardcore Chaos A.D. drew on the best from both scenes: the technical virtuosity of metal tempered with in-your-face brevity of punk. Fundamentally though, heavy metal artistry and white hot punk fury were bound together and given grounding via Septultura’s ultimate signifier: deep drum driven tribal grooves, monolithic tribal drum patterns and workouts which confidently revel in Sepultura’s own Brazilian heritage; a not insignificant point given the predominantly white, Anglo-Saxon nature of ‘mainstream’ heavy metal in the UK, continental Europe and the United States at the time.

In addition to its profound musical qualities Chaos A.D. possessed an imagery and lyricism concerned with the real world, the effects of capitalism, consumerism, poverty and totalitarianism on the human psyche. Chaos A.D. channelled Sepultura's experiences growing up in the developing Third World country of Brazil of the 1980s and 1990s, rooting the music in the here and now and filling the album with a depth of meaning and political awareness rarely seen in extreme music.

On all counts then Chaos A.D. is a winner, a classic of the genre and a pivotal moment in the evolution of the art form of heavy metal music. Chaos A.D. is confidently embedded in the credible quality past of heavy Metal, i.e. schooled in the works of Metallica and Slayer, whilst pointing the way to a heavy metal future unafraid to incorporate foreign styles and real world subjects, a brave new world of Metal soon to be occupied by bands like Korn, the Deftones and System of a Down. With Chaos A.D. Sepultura were the bridge between the old and the new, musically, stylistically and socially and this album is their definitive statement, the sound of a band reaching maturity for the first time, unafraid to experiment or innovate whilst being darkly, crushingly heavy.

Note: If you enjoy Chaos A.D. then you must go and hunt down a copy of Nailbomb, another 5/5 album from the early 1990s. Nailbom sees Max Cavelera working with Fudge Tunnel’s Alex Newport, again creating politically aware, punk informed noise bombs, though this time with the added edge of brutal industrial aesthetics via juddering drum machines and samplers.

This album is perfection the whole way through! Equal parts thrash metal, groove metal, hardcore, punk, and influences of their native Brazil's musical heritage all bombarded into one obliterating force. There has yet to be a metal album to this day that even comes close to reaching the seamless force of Chaos A.D. while genre mixing. Many band's attempts at such creativity seem forced or pretentious whereas Max and gang make it seem so focused and natural as well as angry and unleashed at the time. The production is top notch as well as the overall mix has such a tight and punchy snap to it....ahh how I miss the pre-Pro Tools days. I also have to mention how 99% of today's hardcore and "groove" metal owes it's existence to Chaos A.D. Copies are still plentiful and easy to find and well worth whatever price you might be willing to pay.

catalogue# 168 618 859-2, barcode: 016861885922, us, 1993, is what i have here. it's potentially this http://discogs.descargarpelis.net/Sepultura-Chaos-AD/release/367322

edit: new release added: http://discogs.descargarpelis.net/Sepultura-Chaos-AD/release/3197831

AWESOME ALBUM!!! REFUSE!!! RESIST!!!!

Criminal that this album hasn't yet been rated here. One of the best trash/punk albums IMO and a killer album still today. Refues/Resist is a huge middle finger up to the establishment and is a quintessential punk track. Kaiowas (recorded in a Welsh castle if i correctly with seagulls'n'all) is one of their finest. This album was criminally underrated at the time but has stood up well.