CoC : Sepultura - Roorback : Review

Sepultura - _Roorback_
(SPV, 2003)
by: Jackie Smit (8.5 out of 10)

With nu-metal on the fast decline, it should probably come as no surprise that the mainstream metal media -- once the main protagonists in the deluge of scorn heaped upon a post-Max Sepultura -- have suddenly transformed into a bootlicking collective all touting the return of Brazil's finest. The irony in this is that _Roorback_ does not differ all that much from either of its two predecessors, albeit for a marginal increase in heaviness. Truth be told, just about any track on the band's latest effort would rest quite comfortably among anything found on _Nation_. This observation aside, _Roorback_ is undoubtedly a fine record, and one which easily takes a lengthy piss on anything Soulfly has ever had their logo slapped on. "Come Back Alive" opens the album with a decidedly hardcore slant, while the thick, chugging grooves of "Godless" prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that Igor Cavalera remains one of the finest and most inventive drummers in modern-day metal. "Apes of God" is Derrick Green's finest moment vocally, while "Urge" sounds like the precursor to a full-scale riot. "Bottomed Out" on the other hand, clearly hurts the disc's intense momentum and at times almost sounds like a bluesed-out joke, before leading into the vicious "Activist" -- a track you know will lead to no small amount of venue destruction when the Seps hit the road this year. After three albums with the new line-up, it's clear that Sepultura will never again be the band who recorded _Arise_ or _Beneath the Remains_, but even so, _Roorback_ is a largely entertaining effort, and definitely one of the best straight metal releases of 2003 so far.

(article published 31/5/2003)

CHATS
3/13/2001	A Bromley	Sepultura: Their Nation, Their Voice
10/1/1998	P Schwarz	Sepultura: Slowed Down, But Not For Long
2/9/1996	A Bromley	Sepultura: Rainforest Rumblings Revealed

ALBUMS
1/15/2009	J Smit	5.5	Sepultura - A-Lex
3/16/2003	M Noll	9	Sepultura - Under a Pale Grey Sky
3/13/2001	A Bromley	9.5	Sepultura - Nation
9/1/1998	A Bromley	9	Sepultura - Against

GIGS
7/22/2003	J Smit	Sepultura / Stamping Ground / Atreyu	Coming Back Alive and Kicking
1/16/1999	M Noll	Slayer / Sepultura / System of a Down	Facing the Slayers, Down in the Grave
10/11/1996	A Gaudrault	Ozzy Osbourne / Danzig / Sepultura / Neurotic Gypsies	No More Tours, Again and Again...