Roots (Sepultura album)

Template:Short description Template:Infobox album Roots is the sixth studio album by Brazilian heavy metal band Sepultura. It was released in Europe on Template:Start date and in the U.S. three weeks later on March 12 by Roadrunner Records. It is the band's last studio album to feature founder and vocalist/rhythm guitarist Max Cavalera, who left in late 1996 at the conclusion of a run of European dates in support of the album.

Following the shift to slower tempos and Latin-tinged rhythms on Chaos A.D., Roots delves further into Brazilian musical textures and features significant contributions from iconic Brazilian musician Carlinhos Brown, who guided and arranged the sections throughout the album that feature ensemble percussion playing. Both in sound and overall aesthetic, Roots is a conscious nod to Brazil's marginalized indigenous population and cultures. The song "Itsári" features a Xavante chant that re-appears on the song "Born Stubborn" and serves as a loose thematic thread for the album, which showcases the band's increased affinity for experimentation and collaboration.

"Lookaway" features guest appearances by Korn vocalist Jonathan Davis, then-Korn drummer David Silveria, House of Pain/Limp Bizkit turntablist DJ Lethal, and Faith No More/Mr. Bungle vocalist Mike Patton. Riff-wise, Roots also draws influence from the then-surging nu metal movement, specifically Korn (whose first two albums were also produced by Roots producer Ross Robinson) and Deftones.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> After leaving the band, Max Cavalera continued pursuing the nu metal and "world" stylings of Roots with his band Soulfly.

Roots has received critical acclaim as a seminal work in Sepultura's discography. It has proven commercially successful, selling over two million copies worldwide,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="uol20anos">Template:Cite web</ref> and remains Sepultura's highest-charting album, peaking at 27 on the Billboard 200.

Initial inspiration and recording

Roots is the product of a concerted effort on the band's part to embrace its Brazilian heritage, including indigenous sounds that were unfamiliar to the Sepultura's members up to that point. The album reflects Sepultura's heightened focus on the music, culture, politics, and history of their native country.<ref name = barcinski150>Barcinski & Gomes 1999, page 150.</ref> The overarching concept was inspired by the film At Play in the Fields of the Lord (particularly the scene in which Tom Berenger's character parachutes into an Amazonian village populated by the Niaruna people<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=":0" /><ref name="uol20anos"/>). The movie inspired Max Cavalera to try and record with a Native Brazilian tribe. After convincing Roadrunner Records to support the project,<ref name="uol20anos"/> Cavalera contacted Angela Pappiani, at the time the communications coordinator for Brazil's Núcleo de Cultura Indígena (Indigenous Culture Center). Nearly one year after Cavalera's initial contact, Pappiani arranged for a small party including band, herself, Robinson, and then-manager Gloria Cavalera to travel to Mato Grosso, Brazil to visit the Xavante tribe and record with them.<ref>Template:Cite AV media notes</ref><ref name=":0" /><ref name="uol20anos"/> At the time, the members of Sepultura were only peripherally aware of the indigenous tribes residing in Brazil's interior.<ref name=":0" />

In a 2016 interview with Nashville Scene, Igor Cavalera remembered:

Every second of that trip was insane in a very inspiring way. But there's a few things that really stand out. Like when they explained to us that the only way they wrote music was if someone in the tribe dreamed of the music. They couldn't just write a lyric or a melody. It has to be transmitted to them in a dream. From a musician's point of view, it was like, "Wow, this is a completely different way of approaching music."<ref name=":1">Template:Cite news</ref>

University of Iowa anthropology professor Laura Graham explained the role of music in Xavante culture to PopMatters in 2016:

For them, music functions as a medium for entering into other realms—whether they be other dimensions of existence or other cultures. Well before they had any contact with white people, part of their culture has always entailed that men engage the spirit world, especially through music. This happens in their dreams. Not all, but most of their music is inspired—you could say "composed", although they say received—in their dreams through encounters with other worlds. When people come and visit the community from the outside, one of the things the Xavante ask them to do is sing them a song. Music is this medium for entering into relations with others—others meaning spiritual beings or, for example, white society or other cultures. The Xavante want to be known and they want their culture to be known. They want their music to be known because they think it's beautiful and view it as a contribution to humanity. It's like, "We have something beautiful to contribute to humanity—and, by the way, here we are suffering. We want people to know who we are and that we exist." And so when they got this proposal from a musical group that wanted to come jam and share music with them, they loved it.<ref name=":0" />

A spokesman for the tribe looked back on the collaboration: "We had seen pictures of Sepultura and we knew that they were different, with their long hair and many tattoos. We also knew that they had been discriminated, like we were. Because of that we were very curious about them."<ref name="CalmBeforeStorm">Template:Cite web</ref>

Meeting the Xavante was by several accounts a life-changing experience that has continued to resonate with the members of Sepultura ever since.<ref name="uol20anos"/><ref name=":1" /> Igor has also said that the band identified a lot with the natives: "In a certain way, I think that we, as a band, had a lot of things in common with the Xavante Indians. We also lived on the edge of society, and our music and lifestyle is a long way from being assimilated and respected by that society."<ref name="CalmBeforeStorm" />

After the trip, recording resumed with Robinson at Indigo Ranch, at the time Robinson's studio of choice. According to the same 2016 Nashville Scene article, by that point the band had amassed "an overabundance of material." Igor Cavalera remembered that it was a challenge to prevent the album from becoming "a gigantic jam that didn't turn into actual songs." He added: "It was quite a difficult record to finish. We did so much recording that the amount of stuff we had going on was quite crazy. We had to make sure not to let anything really special slip by. It was tricky to go through all of it, and it took a lot of time to find out what would work with what we were already writing."<ref name=":1" />

According to Korn guitarist Brian Welch in a November 1996 interview, his "own Bigger Muff guitar pedal" that he had initially modified and then used for his band was reused to his "great dismay" for recording the Roots album.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Musical style

Roots represents a significant shift in direction for Sepultura. On several levels, the album reflects a concerted effort on the band's part to embrace its Brazilian heritage, with a heightened focus on Brazilian culture that is strikingly apparent in the music.<ref name="barcinski150" /><ref name=":0" /> Musically speaking, the inspiration for the shift was twofold: One was the desire to further experiment with both Latin and indigenous strains of the music of Brazil, including the percussive style of the Salvador, Bahia samba reggae group Olodum.<ref>Barcinski & Gomes 1999, pages 113 & 150.</ref> Roots was also inspired by Korn's self-titled debut, with its heavily down-tuned guitars.<ref>Template:Cite AV media notes</ref>

Roots is a groove metal<ref name="iTunes">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and nu metal<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Dimery">Dimery 2006 pg 782, "Drawing on Brazilian Latin and tribal music, nu-metal, and Sepultura's own thrash/death style, the results were unique"</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> album that incorporates thrash metal,<ref name="Dimery" /> death metal,<ref name="Allmusic" /><ref name="Bukszpan">Bukszpan 2003 pg 226, "In 1996, they released Roots, whose down-tuned death metal aggression was tempered by the incorporation of Brazilian musical and precussion instruments"</ref><ref name="Rivadavia">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="philstar">Template:Cite news</ref> world music,<ref name="Rivadavia" /> various Brazilian musical styles (including Brazilian folk music),<ref name="RollingStoneCavalera">Template:Cite magazine</ref> tribal music,<ref name="RollingStoneCavalera" /> and ambient field recordings.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> All of the songs on Roots draw from these styles, with the band often blending them in unconventional ways and at times super-imposing them onto one another through creative mixing and editing in post-production.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> Several songs feature Brazilian instrumentation that had up to that point never been used by a metal band, and the album is peppered with ensemble percussion sections played by the band along with Carlinhos Brown.

Of the album's prominent Latin influence, Igor Cavalera told Nashville Scene:

I'd always wanted to do a little more stuff with a Latin feel, but it took until Chaos A.D. to realize how we could make that into something that wasn't too clichéd. That was always my fear. I'd been exposed to samba and the African Brazilian rhythms before I played the drums, and I'd always had a lot of caution about incorporating them in the right way, and not doing it for the sake of just having them there. It took us a lot of research and time to make sure that we did it in a way that felt completely natural. It wasn't just like "OK, we like this and it makes sense, so let's just do it." It took a lot to develop.<ref name=":1" />

Lyrical and visual themes

Disparate elements of Brazilian culture permeate every aspect of Roots, from the music to the lyrics to the artwork and visuals to the videos the band made for the songs "Roots Bloody Roots," "Attitude," and "Ratamahatta." The album cover features an indigenous man of the Karajá tribe taken from a 1990 banknote of the discontinued Brazilian cruzeiro, to which artist Michael Whelan added a locket with Sepultura's "tribal S" logo and a background of red roots.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":0" />

Much of Roots references Brazilian culture, history, lore, and politics, either directly or indirectly.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="RollingStoneCavalera" /> According to Max Cavalera, "Roots Bloody Roots" is "about believe in yourself, about be proud of your heritage, proud of where you come from. Really powerful but simple lyrics. So it's really about just be down with your own roots and believe in your roots".<ref name="SongfactsInterview">Template:Cite web</ref> In a 1996 MTV Europe clip, Max Cavalera explained the meaning behind the song as: "Don't give in. What you believe is for life, even if people try all the time to change you. The song is about 'don't let the bastards grind you down.Template:'"<ref name=":0" />

"Ratamahatta" is "a celebration of life in Brazil's favela slums, sung all in Portuguese, which tells the stories of people like Zé do Caixão (Coffin Joe) and Lampião, the leader of an early 1900s outlaw gang from north Brazil, whose head was put on public display after he was captured".<ref name="BoysFromBrazil">Template:Cite web</ref> "Itsári" ("Roots" in the Xavante language) features a Xavante healing ceremony chant.<ref name=":3">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":4">Template:Cite web</ref> "Ambush" is "a tribute to murdered South American rain-forest activist Chico Mendes".<ref name="BoysFromBrazil" /> "Dictatorshit" addresses the 1964 Brazilian coup d'état.<ref name="barcinski150" /> "Endangered Species" addresses environmental destruction. "Cut-Throat" is about Epic Records, who the band had some trouble with during their previous album, Chaos A.D.; the last words in the song are "Enslavement, Pathetic, Ignorant, Corporations", spelling "Epic".<ref name="barcinski150" /><ref name="BoysFromBrazil" /> The lyrics to "Attitude" were co-written by Dana Wells, Max Cavalera's stepson, whose death (in part) led to the events which caused Max to leave the band.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Dana also came up with the concept for the video for the song, featuring Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu experts the Gracie family.Template:Citation needed

Critical reception

American newspapers like The New Times, the Daily News and the Los Angeles Times reviewed the Brazilian band: "The mixture of the dense metal of Sepultura and the Brazilian music has a intoxicating effect", wrote a Los Angeles Times reviewer.<ref name="CalmBeforeStorm"/> The Daily News praised the album saying: "Sepultura reinvented the wheel. By mixing metal with native instruments, the band resuscitates the tired genre, reminding of Led Zeppelin times. But while Zeppelin mixed English metal with African beats, it's still more moving to hear a band that uses elements of its own country. By extracting the sounds of the past, Sepultura determines the future direction of metal".<ref name= barcinski153>Barcinski & Gomes, page 153.</ref>

Specialized heavy metal critics also reviewed the album positively. Martin Popoff, author of the book The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal, ranked Roots as the 11th best metal record of all time. "This is a spectacular metal and futurist hardcore LP", wrote Popoff, "a masterpiece, accomplished by a band with an enormous heart and an even larger intellect". Kerrang! magazine awarded Roots second place in the list of "100 records that you have to hear before dying".<ref name="barcinski153"/> In 2001, Q magazine named Roots as one of the 50 Heaviest Albums Of All Time.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Rolling Stone Brasil named it the 57th best Brazilian music album.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Rolling Stone contributor Jon Wiederhorn gave the album three stars out of five and said, "Sepultura play a violent game of sonic overload... the band uses its catharsis as a creative force, funneling torrents of noise into a tunnel of hate" and called the album "a refreshing step forward in a genre full of bands that are creatively bankrupt."<ref name="RS"/> Music critic Robert Christgau gave the album a negative "dud" rating.<ref name="Christgau">Template:Cite web</ref> Looking back on the album 20 years later, PopMatters contributor Saby Reyes-Kulkarni described Roots as "inarguably one of the most radical [stylistic] departures from convention in heavy metal history," an album that "blew the doors open on our perceptions of metal and so-called 'world music,'" adding that "we haven't heard anything quite like it since."<ref name=":0">Template:Cite news</ref> In April 2005, Decibel inducted Roots into the Decibel Magazine Hall of Fame, becoming the third album overall to receive a coveted spot in their Hall of Fame.<ref name="dB HoF">Template:Cite web</ref>

Legacy

Speaking to Kerrang! in 2008, Max Cavalera looked back on Roots:

Roots came from a blurry dream I had about going to the rainforest. Wine may have been involved. In the end, when we actually went into the forest to record, it was unbelievable. The whole album was a huge personal journey for me, and as a Brazilian, it felt as an incredible achievement. Everyone was inspired and Igor was at the top of his game. The percussion was crazy and we worked with so many great musicians, in the end coming out with a 15-minutes drum jam that someone likened to a crazy Brazilian Pink Floyd. When we took the album to Roadrunner they loved it except for the title. They thought it would sound like a Bob Marley tribute album. We explained it to them, and thankfully they got it.<ref name=":2">Cavalera, Max / Beebee, Steve. Kerrang! Magazine. #1213, June 07, 2008. Treasure Chest. An Intimate Portrait Of A Life in Rock. P. 52</ref>

As for the Xavantes, both their leader at the time of the band's visit (Cipassé) and Pappiani agree that Roots helped the tribe gain some visibility, to the point that people would actually identify them as Xavantes instead of just calling them "indigenous people". Pappiani noticed an increase in people's interest for information on the tribe and their music.<ref name="uol20anos"/>

On March 25, 2021, French heavy metal band Gojira released the single "Amazonia", a song about anti-deforestation of the Amazon and the protection of Brazilian indigenous peoples' rights. Shortly after its release on April 15, frontman Joe Duplantier in an interview with Blabbermouth.net was asked his thoughts about comparing "Amazonia" to Sepultura, to which he said:

I go, "Yup." And it's a compliment, and there is no shame here. And we ripped them off, but we didn't do it on purpose. But we realized it right after. We were, like, "Oh, that sounds like SEPULTURA. Ahhh, whatever." It's a tribute to Sepultura — how about that? It's about Brazil. It's about the Amazon. It's tribal.<ref>blabbermouth.net/news/gojiras-new-song-amazonia-is-a-tribute-to-sepultura-says-joseph-duplantier/</ref>

Brazilian UFC fighter Alex Pereira uses the song 'Itsári' as his signature walkout music before his fights. Commentators have noted the connection between the song and Pereira's indigenous heritage.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":4" />

Saby Reyes-Kulkarni stated of Roots, "we can still only point to a handful of acts that have even nibbled at cross-continental mass appeal by blending metal with music that strikes Western ears as comparably remote and alien", noting the Armenian, Assyrian, and Sumerian cultural influence on Melechesh; as well as the Taiwanese cultural influence on Chthonic.<ref name=":0" /> Alien Weaponry have also been compared to Roots-era Sepultura due to their usage of Māori culture in their music, stemming from their own Māori heritage. Drummer Henry de Jong said they were not aware of Sepultura before writing their first song in the Māori language, but Youtube commenters compared them. de Jong found it strange seeing how similar they were despite being years apart and not knowing what Sepultura had done.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Keith Kahn-Harris analyzed the album's influence for its 25th anniversary in 2021. He found it important for expanding the boundaries of metal into other kinds of music in the world, but considered the album's sound to cross the line from raw into half-baked at times, particularly in its integration of Brazilian music. He states "In folk metal today you find a much more seamless melding of metal and its musical others. Korpiklaani and Finntroll are not jam bands, they are effortlessly slick and do not question their entitlement to evoke their mythic ancestors. Orphaned Land and Melechesh are not incorporating Middle Eastern influences into their music, it is their music. Even bands that owe a lot musically to Sepultura, such as Alien Weaponry, sound much more comfortable in their own skin." Kahn-Harris also argued that while Roots was influential on nu-metal, it didn't entirely fit due to its influence from 80s anarcho-punk. He concluded that Roots "doesn't really map out as much new musical territory as was claimed at the time", but was nonetheless still very enjoyable.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Track listing

Template:Track listing The first vinyl pressing of Roots only contained 15 tracks, omitting "Canyon Jam" due to its length. Recent vinyl reissues also omit this track, instead containing a selection of outtakes, demos and live tracks.

The Roots of Sepultura

The Roots of Sepultura is a double-disc album by Sepultura, released in November 1996. The second disc contains a collection of unreleased tracks, B-sides, alternate mixes, and live recordings.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> This release differs from Roots and the 2005 25th Anniversary Roots album as the B-sides disc has a different series of tracks. This album includes covers of tracks by Motörhead, Dead Kennedys, Os Mutantes and Ratos de Porão and also includes tracks from their first live home video, Under Siege (Live in Barcelona).

Track listing

Personnel

Sepultura

• Max Cavalera – lead vocals, 4 and 6-string rhythm guitar, berimbau
• Andreas Kisser – lead guitar, backing vocals, sitar
• Paulo Jr. – bass, timbau grandé
• Igor Cavalera – drums, percussion, timbau, djembe

Additional personnel

• Jairo Guedz - lead guitar (on "Necromancer")
• Mike Patton – vocals (on "Lookaway")
• David Silveria – drums (on "Ratamahatta")
• Carlinhos Brown – vocals, percussion, berimbau, timbau, wood drums, lataria, xequere, surdos (on "Ratamahatta")
• Jonathan Davis – vocals (on "Lookaway")
• DJ Lethal – turntables (on "Lookaway")
• Xavante people – percussion, chanting (on "Itsári")

Recording

• Recorded at Indigo Ranch, Malibu, California
• Produced by Ross Robinson and Sepultura
• Engineered by Chuck Johnson
• Additional engineering by Richard Kaplan
• Second engineered by Rob Agnello
• Mixed by Andy Wallace at Soundtrack Studios, New York City
• Mix engineered by Steve Sisco
• Mastered by George Marino at Sterling Sound, New York City

Charts

Weekly charts

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Chart (1996)	Peak position
Europe (European Top 100 Albums)<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>	2
Italian Albums (Musica e Dischi)<ref>Template:Cite web Set "Tipo" on "Album". Then, in the "Artista" field, search "Sepultura".</ref>	18
Spanish Albums (AFYVE)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>	18

Chart (2024)	Peak position
Hungarian Physical Albums (MAHASZ)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	13

Year-end charts

Chart (1996)	Peak Position
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	35
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	66
Europe (European Top 100 Albums)<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>	45
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	73

Further reading

• Barcinski, André & Gomes, Silvio (1999). Sepultura: Toda a História. São Paulo: Ed. 34. Template:ISBN
• Sepultura (1996). Roots [CD]. New York, NY: Roadrunner Records. The 25th Anniversary Series (2-CD Reissue, 2005).
• Template:Cite book
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