Track Listing

1. Roots Bloody Roots
2. Attitude
3. Cut Throat
4. Ratamahatta
5. Breed Apart
6. Straighthate
7. Spit
8. Lookaway
9. Dusted
10. Born Stubborn
11. Jasco
12. Itsari
13. Ambush
14. Endangered Species
15. Dictatorshit

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #12306 in Music
• Released on: 1998-04-20
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Explicit Lyrics
• Dimensions: .22 pounds

CD Description
On its sixth album, Brazil's most famous head-banging outfit takes a page from the nu-metal book but, more importantly,combines its brutal thrash-metal sound with indigenous music from its homeland, occasionally utilising the percussion and chants of the country's Xavantes tribe to powerful effect. The biggest standouts are the lively, acoustic-guitar-driven "Itsari" and the epic closer "Canyon Jam", both improvisations with Xavantes musicians that make for welcome contrasts to the record's intense bombast. Elsewhere, Brazilian percussionist Carlinhos Brown drives the rhythm-laden "Ratamahatta", a track that exemplifies the quartet's distinctive brand of "tribal metal".
ROOTS marks a big step forward for the thrash-metal genre because of the way Sepultura matches its carefully controlled mayhem with the dynamic nature of its influences and collaborators. Faith No More singer Mike Patton, Korn frontman Jonathan Davis, and Limp Bizkit's DJ Lethal all pop up on "Lookaway", a dark, grinding tune with Eastern-inspired vocals. As a whole, ROOTS is a visceral synthesis of groove and aggression, especially when drummer Igor Cavalera lets loose with flurries of tom-tom fury. ROOTS alsocloses a major chapter for the group, since after recordingthe album, vocalist/guitarist Max Cavalera departed to formSoulfly.

Customer Reviews

A Disappointing Release
Being a massive Sepultura fan at the time I always fellt that this was a good album. However with the benefit of hindsight it must be said that Roots really falls short of previous releases. When I recently bought the live album I found myself being bored by the Roots songs and even skipping some. Creatively Sepultura pushed the boat out with this album and must be commended for this but the song quality suffers as a result. There is way too much filler here such as Attitude, Endangered Species and Dusted. None of the songs are bad but nothing here compares to Inner Self, Slaves of Pain, From the past comes the storms, Arise or Refuse/resist.
I think that perhaps the rot had set in in the making of this album and it shows in the bland writing.
However there are some good songs also such as Cut Throat and Rattamahatta. But overall not up to Sepultura's impeccable standards.

HEAVY METAL
Wow, that was what I said after I heard Roots, quite simply, as metal magazine Kerrang! said, THE metal album of the decade (90's). The album starts with the metal song to end all metal songs, Roots Bloody Roots. A song so powerful, it will blow you away. I heard this and I worried, how will they surpass this monster. I have seen many bands do it, start with the best track and not be able to follow it well enough, Sepultura themselves did it on their Chaos AD and Arise albums and Metallica did it on their Black album, but my fears were unfounded. The next track, attitude is another undisputed classic and track 3, Cut-Throat will tear you apart. The best though comes next, Rattamahatta. A drum-busting monster that will give you an aural battering not seen since Motorhead's Ace of Spades. Sung in Portuguese and English, it's natural power will leave you a quaking pile of jelly. The album goes from strength to strength, classics like Breed Apart, Spit and Born Stubborn all lead you to the conclusion that if this band had carried on in this way they could have made something unbearable. As it is this album is unique, the line up changed after this mighty offering and they lost the plot a bit, but nothing, absolutely nothing, can take anything away from this masterpiece.

ok, but not Sepultura's best
I was first exposed to Sepultura when i saw the video for Roots Bloody Roots on TV, i was stunned by the pummeling heaviness of the song so i decided to purchase this album. When i got it i felt quite disapointed, there's just too much filler material and none of the songs match the energy and power of Roots Bloody Roots. Along with roots bloody roots, attitude, cut throat and rattamahata are all enjoyable songs but there's just too many filler songs. If you are thinking of purchasing this album i would go for Chaos AD, its a similar style to roots and still has some Brazilian tribal elements but is a vastly superior Album. Although i generally prefer Sep's earlier thrashier stuff (Beneath the Remains and Arise). This CD would be good if you like Nu-Metal (Korn, Slipknot, etc)