Sepultura-A-Lex

SPV
2009



Twenty-five years into the game and Sepultura are still forging ahead. During that time span they have certainly gone through their share of line-up changes. They have also gone through numerous musical approaches with mostly positive results. The new release is based around “A Clockwork Orange” by Anthony Burgess. That's the novel, not Stanley Kubrick’s film). The album consists of 18 songs with a whopping running time of over 60 minutes. Each song is a only couple of minutes long. In many ways the songs feel more like chapters and the structure is often loose at best. They reached out and pulled in elements of thrash, hardcore and a few brief tribal type rhythms. So basically it's comprised of styles that they have done in the past. Yet the arrangements are ferocious and focused enough to really have an impact. Despite the sometimes rough feel, "A-Lex" undoubtedly works as a whole. There is much to take in due to the amount of songs and different styles, but all of the parts are important. They tend to sacrifice melodies for aggression and that does limit them. Still they certainly keep everything rolling along except for a few slightly dull moments towards the middle of the album. Cavalera-less Sepultura may be, but that doesn't take aways from the fact that this album still caries on the dark, heavy and intriguing style of music that this band has come to be known for.