Sepultura – Dante XXI (2006)

March 18, 2024

Dante XXI is the best Sepultura album chronologically in quite some time. There seems to be a fire underneath Dante XXI that has been absent for far too long, despite the band’s best efforts in the interim period. With the metal world crawling out the grip of nu / alternative fads and into some whole other bullshit (metalcore I’m looking at you), Sepultura forged ahead with their own unique sound. The production for Dante XXI, shared between the band and several engineers / producers, is absolutely fucking fantastic. Easily one of the clearest and most well-balanced production jobs I’ve heard in a while (which makes it even more baffling as to a. why there was a 2021 remaster in the first place and b. why said remaster sucks so fucking badly). The drumming on this record in particular is worthy of note. Cavalera shines here, and its worth listening to just for following along with his fills, accents and other interesting personal touches. Really great, just avoid the remaster and go for the original.