They’ve never been a conventional “metal” band, Sepultura. Hell, it’s 30 years since “Ratamahatta” knocked me sideways and sent me off listening to world music, because that’s what they did at their best: opened doors you didn’t even know were there.
And now, here they are, with what they say is their final new music before calling it a day, and even at the end, the envelope is being pushed until it almost tears.
That, in itself, says plenty. After more than four decades, 14 gold records, shows in over 80 countries and a farewell tour called “Celebrating Life Through Death”, Sepultura could have taken the easy option. They could have gone out with a victory lap, a live record, a nostalgic wave from the stage. Instead, with 23-year-old drummer Greyson Nekrutman now in the engine room, they have made “All Souls Rising”: four songs, no filler, no sentimentality, and absolutely no soft landing.
The title track starts like an attack and does not want to let up. Even by Sepultura standards, though, this is different. It sounds like a nightmare made flesh, violent, percussive, and claustrophobic, but with that restless curiosity that has always marked them out. In typical Seps fashion, the lyrical themes are not the usual metal fodder either. This is about a slave rebellion in Haiti in the 1700s, and it feels less like history being retold than history kicking the door in.
“Beyond The Dream” is perhaps even more interesting. It feels like they are getting every idea out at once, yet there is a quiet menace here too, an almost widescreen intent. Given this is being presented as their final recorded music, there is real poignancy in the chorus line about leaving it all behind, and Andreas Kisser’s solo is stunning: melodic, searching, and full of the kind of class that has underpinned this band for so long.
“Sacred Books” crushes, naturally. Derrick Green roars like he is trying to drag the walls down with him, but again there is an “anything goes” feel to it, as if the band knew the clock was ticking and decided to empty the tank. Then the piano comes in and unsettles everything, because of course it does. Sepultura never did like standing still.
“The Place” is the longest and arguably the most sprawling, using all the tricks: groove, atmosphere, tension, release, and that sense that chaos is being carefully controlled by people who know exactly what they are doing. At its heart, though, is a social conscience, with the song centred on a refugee trying to start a new life. That matters. Even at the end, Sepultura are still looking outwards.
And that is the thing about “All Souls Rising”. It does not feel like a farewell card. It feels like a band still alive with ideas, still angry, still searching, still refusing to behave. Yeah, OK, there’s the old line about leaving them wanting more and all that. But for a band to sound this good and then quit?
That would be a crime, frankly.
RATING 9/10
