Blood-Rooted

Rarities album, by their very definition, are never going to win any end-of-year polls, or rate in "The top 100 albums of all time" any time soon. If the songs were so good, wouldn't they have been released on an album proper, in the first place? These kind of albums are always a mixed bag, sometimes coming off as cheap cash-ins, laden with useless live tracks, and remixes which don't really need to be heard, such as Motorhead compilations. No matter how rare it is, it always seems to be just blatant cash-grabbing. However, there is the other type of compilation where care is taken in it's creation, with genuinely rare tracks, which are collated together for the sake of completeness, with no stone left unturned, and without polluting it with filler tracks from the archives, like Megadeth's Hidden Treasures, before they filled with tracks which are already readily available. These kind of albums are usually reserved for the Grindcore genre, with bands such as ANb and Nasum doing so in recent years, where the short song format lends itself to the inclusion of of loads of different releases in one set.

Procreation (Of The Wicked) kicks things off with a bang, with it's sludgy riffing and raging vocals. It reminded me of Celtic Frost during the Monotheist tour, where they played all their songs slower and heavier than usual. Policia is also a great tune. Simplistic hardcore which blazes along. This is REAL hardcore metal, none of this haircut nonsense that persists today, fantastic, why couldn't they do more of this on Roots? The other 2 hardcore covers, Inhuman Nature and Crucificados Pelo Sistema, are good but sort of whizz by. Policia is by far the best of the 3, and a real classic.

War must be the darkest take on a Bob Marley tune ever, it's slow and brooding. It could definitely fit on Roots no problem, it has all the elements synomynous with Roots, but also has something different about it, which raises above the trudgery of those filler tracks which take up the bulk of the album. I think this would be fantastic live to hear, as it peaks and troughes, with more highs and lows and buildups in between than any other roots song. An atmospheric triumph.

Symptom of the Universe is great. It is a real epic, far more spread out than most Sepultura songs, but it's certainly a classic. It's more riff-centred than War, the other real epic, but the acoustic interlude is nice and fun (Something not usually associated with Sepultura). I would like to have seen War, and Symptom released on an album proper, they're certainly good enough, but can understand why they would be reluctant to put covers on a full-length.

Mine and Lookaway are two of the strangest songs Sepultura ever wrote, Mine is not a bad song but Lookaway is still quite bloody terrible, even in remixed form. Dusted and Roots Bloody Roots are good in their demo forms, you can still see that there's work to be done, especially Roots, but all the basic ingredients are there. Drug Me is another throw-away punk cover. It's good, but like the other ones, it tends to whizz by without a chance to absorb it.

Then, we comes to the live tracks. I personally like the intro to Refuse/Resist, it's very well done, and reminds somehow of something off of Pink Floyd's The Wall. The song bursts in to life and sounds great, if not much faster (Especially BTR, which sounds positively Death Metal and unbelievable!). It certainly doesn't have the sheen of the studio version, this is warts and all, crowd noises, mistakes and echoes thrown in. This certainly wasn't cleaned up in the studio afterwards. It all seems to be held together by some really flimsy glue, as if it could come apart any second now. The drums are more enthusiastic than the the studio, you can tell Iggor/Igor is putting his heart into this, and he is a fucking MACHINE, but they tend to be a bit too loud for my liking at times. They don't overpower, but they could be turned a touch. Nonethless, the mix is certainly great, and one of the best live mixes I've heard in a long time.

The only complaints I have about the live tracks is that 6 of them are from Chaos AD, with only a medley of BTR/Escape From The Void seeing anything else get a look in. Chaos AD IS my favourite Sepultura album, and I appreciate that this was recorded on the Chaos AD tour, but I would like to have seen something off of Arise or something else off of Schizophrenia or, maybe, something off of MV/BD. I cannot fault the choices of song from Chaos AD though, the electric Kaiowas is amazing, putting a whole new spin on the song. I imagine it would be amazing to hear this song live, a great experience definitely. The only song I could fault is maybe Clenched Fist, as personally I would've preferred Territory, but that's my own opinion. The only other fault is the fact that they only included part of the set, they've taken the first 7/8 songs of the set, unedited, with the speeches and everything, and then just cut the rest. I'm not a fan of including SOME of a live set, why not do the whole thing? I can appreciate why they would include these, Sepultura were a completely different, far angrier beast live than in record, and this documents it perfectly. But now they've released Under A Pale Grey Sky, it seems a bit pointless.

And that's the thing that bugs me about this. Sepultura released another B-Sides/Rarities album entitled "The Roots of Sepultura" about 2/3 years before this, and an album the year before Blood Rooted entitled "B-Sides" which was near identical, bar a single edit and some other live tracks. What was the need for this release then? I believe this is the best of the three releases, but why did they even bother trying to release this, if it was all released the year before? This is more concise and detailed than B-Sides, and rarer than The Roots of Sepultura, as most of that was released (A year after it's original release!) as bonus tracks on the re-issue campaign. The only thing these release do is confuse people, and put them off, unless they're absolute completists who need EVERYTHING, in which case, most of the stuff which was on "B-Sides" and not here was just that, B-Sides to singles that they probably be better off buying instead.

In conclusion, this album is definitely a mixed bag. It takes elements of both good and bad rarities releases. All the stuff on here is rare (mostly) but comes sprinkled with demos and remixes which aren't exactly essential listening, but interesting nonetheless. It all smells vaguely of cash-in, because most of this stuff was release a year or 2 before on a similar compilation, and there had already been a rarities compilation before that. Nonetheless, the live material is a good insight into how Sepultura were far better in a live setting, but the gig is incomplete, and the demos do show raw forms of the songs, but there's no great differences, bar production quality and the odd riff which was fine-tuned later on.

If you are a completist, this is essential. There is so much here which should be heard by every manic Chaos AD fan. If you weren't impressed by Chaos AD or Roots, then don't buy this, you won't have a look in with old stuff. If you are looking to delve further and investigate Sepultura lesser-known songs, this is by far the best and most complete, as you'll have most of the stuff from The Roots of Sepultura on the re-issued albums.

If you are Roadrunner, get your act together. What needs to be done here is that you collate all the odds-and-ends from this, B-Sides, the Re-issues and The Roots of Sepultura and put them onto two discs, whilst giving the live concert on this album a full release on a third disc, either video or audio, becuase I'd love to hear it in full, then you give it some half-arsed name like "Endangered Species" or something, and then include a proper booklet, instead of pictures which are, admittedly, cool, but I'd rather have an interview or Bio or SOMETHING. Get it sorted.

When Blood-Rooted was released, Max Cavalera had already left the band.
It came out in a time when Sepultura fans were unsure about the future of the band and this was believed to be their latest release ever. Obviously, Roadrunner was more then eager to release it as it could be their last chance to make money out of Sepultura. There was a lot of protest from Max, mainly because he would not receive any money this compilation would generate. Since most of the songs were written by him, most people would consider it normal that the other band members would give a share. They didn�t, and thus the relationship between Max and the other members plummeted even further. As you have figured out by now, this compilation album has a history to it, not just something they released because they wanted to buy a new house (so to speak). Because of this, and simply because it�s an awesome album, it�s a must have for all fans of Sepultura.

When I first heard Blood-Rooted, I couldn�t believe it had only cost me �9. The first song is an awesome cover of Celtic Frost�s �Procreation of the Wicked�. I actually think this cover is better than the original song, mainly because Cavalera�s vocals make this song more pleasant to listen to. Then again I�m not that big a fan of Celtic Frost, so this is only a subjective conclusion. �Inhuman Nature� is a cover of hardcore punk band Final Conflict. I have never heard them, but I can tell you that this song could easily be a track for Chaos AD. Andreas� guitar sound awesome on this track, with a nice solo and an amazing overall tone. Maybe they could have released this track as a bonus for Chaos AD. Next song is �Policia�. They played this cover a lot, and Max still does occasionally with Soulfly. It�s a great moshing track, though I like the live version a lot more. Fans of hardcore punk will surely enjoy it.

Three more covers follow, most notably of Black Sabbath (Symptom of the Universe) and Bob Marley (War). They are decent, but I like the original versions more. Next is a collaboration with avant-garde legend Mike Patton, called �Mine�. As you would expect of anything that Patton is involved with, it�s weird. Fans of the guy will surely want the song for their collection. I don�t really like it that much, as it ventures into the realms of nu metal at some moments. For some reason it reminds me of the Soulfly song �Jumpdafuckup�. But if you like Patton (like me), it's still an interesting listen.

A couple of demos and remixes, as well as a Dead Kennedy�s cover (Drug Me) follow. They�re not that interesting to me, although it�s nice to hear the original version of �Roots Bloody Roots�. �Lookaway� was remixed by Master Vibe (don�t ask ..). I don�t mind remixes of songs, but this one is just plain bad. You can skip this song without missing out on anything.

The second part of the cd is something every Sepultura fan should hear. Seven live tracks performed at the peak of the Brazilian band�s fame. Sure, some people might state that Chaos AD was a sellout album, but I still like it. Almost all of the songs are from Chaos AD, with only �Beneath The Remains/Escape to the Void� reminding of Sepultura�s pure thrash era. Overall these are awesome performances, as you could expect from this legendary band. Max makes himself look like an idiot, though, between some songs. I think he�s a great musician, but maybe saying �fuck� a lot less while playing live would earn him even more respect. I quote: �This next song, goes out to the fucking, some stupid assholes in the press, or people that are fucking, they don't have the balls to say stuff into our face, but they do in our fucking back [...]� Yeah, Cavalera is a great guy, but sometimes nobody knows what the hell he�s talking about. Oh well.

So, if you like Chaos AD-era Sepultura, get this thing! If you only like their pure thrash stuff, you should probably first give it a listen before buying, but I�m sure a lot of you people will enjoy it as well. The live tracks are amazing, and most of the covers are memorable too. Perhaps the remix was superfluous, but I�m sure some people might like it. With over one hour of material, Blood-Rooted is probably one of the best compilation albums ever.

This is a totally underrated collection due to it coming out in the "numetal" era of the bands career but don't let the connection to Roots fool you. This CD is packed with megaloads of pure metal and bizarre live tracks and covers! Only a few of the NuSep show up (being better ones at that) showing the band at their violent prime.

The strong parts you ask? The brutal Celtic Front (Procreation of the Wicked) and Black Sabbath (Symptom of the Universe) covers. The blistering hardcore of the Dead Kennedy's (Drug Me) and covers by Bob Marley and Ratos De Parao! The originals that kill are the live "Biotech is Godzilla" and the armed "Beneath the Remains/Escape to the Void". Even new stuff like "Refuse/Resist" and "Kaiowas" sounds fucking heavy.

This is a must own for the Sep fan and I endorse it heartily.