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Class 6(66)
Sepultura: Beneath the remains
23/07/10 || InquisitorGeneralis
Introduction
“Beneath the Remains” is a landmark album in the history of metal. It’s influence can be seen in several genres: thrash, death, groove, metalcore, deathcore, groovecore, death/thrash, Bert/Ernie, nachocore… you name it, “Beneath the Remains” influenced it. I even heard through the grapevine that Bach and Beethoven built a time machine, came to 1989, listened to “Beneath the Remains”, did a bunch of coke, double-team fucked Cyndie Lauper, and then went back in time and wrote the greatest pieces of music ever put together by human beings. That’s how influential this record is. It’s fast, heavy, groovy, sounds great, and just plain fucken rules. I don’t care about Sepultura before this and I certainly (besides “Arise”) don’t give a fuck about Sepultura after this. All I know is that “Beneath the Remains” is close to being a perfect metal record and deserves a spot in ours, or any, Classic6(66) section.
Songwriting
10. While ‘Arise’ or ‘Penis A.D’ seem to get the most credit for well-written songs, for me “Beneath the Remains” has probably my top four or five Sepultura cuts. In those reviews my fellow reviewers Smallballz and Habacock make strong cases for those records. However, “Chaos A.D.” just bores me after a few songs and while I love “Arise”, it does not have the punch and raw heaviness of “Beneath the Remains”.
The moment I heard “Mass hypnosis” I knew this was the Sep record for me: the fast, heavy guitars and pounding drums sounded great and the breakdown/solo in the middle of the track is still one of my absolute favorites by any band. “Inner self” would be considered the band’s signature song if it was not for the popularity of “Chaos AD” and “Roots” years later. Both of those albums pale in comparison to “Beneath the Remains”. Such is life, the ignorant masses praise the obvious while it is up to us trve blve metalnerds to worship the good stuff. The breakdown sections on here have set a standard for tempo changes that bands are still ripping off today. Remember that South Park where everytime they tried a new plot, The Simpson’s did it? . Well, that’s the way I feel about “Beneath the Remains” when I listen to new shit. Massive breakdown? Killer dual-solo? Hyper-speed thrash? Sepultura did it.
Production
8. Compared to previous Sepultura albums, “Beneath the Remains” sounds like God Himself came down from heaven and sat behind the mixing board. By our current standards, it sounds pretty good but not perfect. Hence, the score is high, but not max… no pun intended. I have a remastered version so maybe it sounds a tad better than the original? Who knows, who cares. Next category!
Guitars
10 Max and Andreas bring their A-Game on “Beneath the Remains”. If you are looking for the origins of the now massively overused two-man melodic death metal, this is where to start. Listen to the breakdowns in “Slaves of pain” and “Sarcastic existence” and you will see that these two maníacos were perfecting heavy, metal, but still melodic guitars six years before the Swedes in Gothenburg got into the business. The riffs, the solos, the shredding: it all is killer on “Beneath the Remains” and this should be mentioned along with records like “Heartwork” and “Slaughter of the Soul” when it comes to albums that pioneer the introduction of melody into extreme metal.
Drums
10. Igor’s performance on here is one of my favorites in any metal genre. The thrashes with impressive speed, his foot work is solid, and he lays down some impressive grooves all over this bitch. Stand out dominating moments include the breakdown and solo of “Mass hypnosis”, the iconic beginning to “Inner self”, all of fucken “Lobotomy”, and the super-groovy middle of “Slaves of pain”.
Bass
9. Paulo Jr. does a nice job providing a solid bass-backbone to the craziness the rest of the band unleashes on this record. And that’s all I have to say about that.
Vocals
9. On “Beneath the Remains” Max found the perfect middle ground between the more death-like growls he shit out on the first two Sep records and the more hardcore chants that he shits out today. His Brazilian accent definitely gives the vocals a distinct sound to boot. Overall, this is a great performance and one that should not be forgotten or overlooked no matter how shitty Max sounds today.
Lyrics
10. Why a perfect score you ask?
Here is a perfect short and sweet metal chorus…
Life ends
Feeling death
Slaves… of pain!!!
Ever felt pissed at this shithole we call “Earth”?
I won’t change my way
It has to be this way
I live my life for myself
Forget your filthy ways
Blame and lies, contradictions arise
And finally, these are just plain metal as fuck…
Now I’ll live my life with indifference
I’ve tortured without remorse
I’ve slaughtered without fear
In summary, the lyrics are on here are ace all the way though. There is no stupid satanic shit: just observations on a world and society that have gone to complete shit.
Logo
5 Just the band’s name in big letters… weak-sauce deluxe compared the old logo before this. Oh well, at least the band stayed fucken awesome for bit longer than the logo did.
Cover
10. Read fellow staffer Habakuk’s thoughts on the cover in our Top 10 Album Covers list for an ace description of this awesome. Fire, skull, blood…who knows what the fuck is going on but it is damn cool if you ask me.
Booklet
7. I have the remastered edition. Nothing too amazing but nothing stupid or horrible either. Next.
Overall and ending rant
“Beneath the Remains” could be the perfect 80’s thrash/death metal album. From the musicianship to the song quality to the production, it has no flaws. On this record Sepultura is a well-oiled machine that pumps out one outstanding, tight track after another. Pick any popular, well-done metal record from the last twenty years (except for some stupid drone/noise piece of shit) and I bet I could find something in there that Sepultura already did on “Beneath the Remains”. Whatever the band does now might divide critics and fans but no one can deny that for a brief period of time Sepultura was the arguably the best metal band in the world. And this record, my dominating friends, is the band’s masterpiece.
- Information
- Released: 1989
- Label: Roadrunner
- Website: http://sepultura.uol.com
- Band
- Max Cavalera: vocals, guitars
- Andreas Kisser: lead guitars, bass
- Paulo Jr.: bass
- Igor Cavalera: drums
- Tracklist
- 01. Beneath the Remains
- 02. Inner Self
- 03. Stronger Than Hate
- 04. Mass Hypnosis
- 05. Sarcastic Existence
- 06. Slaves of Pain
- 07. Lobotomy
- 08. Hungry
- 09. Primitive Future
