Sepultura – Against (1998)

May 15, 2023

1998 was a bad year if you were a die-hard fan of the old Sepultura stuff. In Against, Sepulutra released Roots MK2, but this time with a new vocalist. Disheartened fans may have flocked to Max’s new project Soulfly, only to find Roots MK3 featuring Fred Durst and the guy from Deftones lol. If you were a thrash head in 1998, things were tough.

Changing up tack and returning with a new vocalist in the excellent Derrick Green, one can commend Sepultura for marching on after the loss of chief member Max Cavalera, but also it must have been so jarring for such a large majority of the band’s fans. Calls for the band to split or rename themeselves are not unfounded and without merit, but we must always respect the artist’s final decision, whether we like it or not, and Sepultura’s decision was to continue without Max.

If you were expecting a move away from the Roots sound due to the new vocalist then you were however very much mistaken. On Against, many nu metal tropes are present, with some tracks coming dangerously close to sounding like Coal Chamber in parts, which is, well, not great. On other tracks this flow more nicely, for example the tribal elements the band tried to mix in on Chaos A.D. and Roots work much better here. The nu metal elements too just work a bit better here than they did on Roots, but that improvement is balanced out by the lack of Max.

Derrick brings his A-game, but unfortunately Against will always been an awkward transitional record for the group. It was an interesting time for all involved, but they really tried their best, I think.