Sepultura - Roots (Metal Matters) [2LP]

Sepultura's Roots dug deep into Brazilian soil and came back with one of the heaviest records of 1996, reissued here as a 140 gram 2LP set.

The band's sixth studio album saw them team with producer Ross Robinson and push away from thrash into something rawer and more rhythmic. They travelled to Mato Grosso to spend time with the Xavante people, whose voices appear on the record, and brought percussionist Carlinhos Brown into the sessions. It was also the last Sepultura album to feature Max Cavalera, who left the band later that year, which gives it an extra charge in hindsight.

The sound is all down-tuned guitars and bruising grooves, with Igor Cavalera's tribal drumming driving the album as much as any riff. "Roots Bloody Roots" kicks things off with one of the most recognisable riffs in metal, "Attitude" opens with the twang of a berimbau before the floor drops out, and "Ratamahatta" turns Brazilian percussion into a frantic, Portuguese-language street party.

Few metal records have aged with this much muscle. Its influence runs straight through the nu metal and groove bands that followed, yet it still sounds like nothing else, rooted in a time and place the band were proud to claim. Play it loud and let the drums do the talking.