Sepultura - Kairos

Because of my age and the point in time that I got into metal, my first Sepultura album was A-Lex. And I think that’s the reason why I don’t find the post-Cavalera Sepultura as atrocious as most others seem to. But now that I’ve heard the Cavalera era of Sepultura, I have become aware that those are Sepultura’s best albums. But that doesn’t mean I can’t stand the newer Sepultura. I still listen to A-Lex and I enjoy it too, especially Moloko Mesto, probably the heaviest thrash metal song ever created. Here’s the thing with Kairos, it’s not amazing by itself, but it’s AMAZING compared to all the other post-Cavalera Sepultura records. For most thrash metal fans, this isn’t easily enjoyable. There is one group that could easily find this album to be amazing, and that is the group that has been looking for a SLOWER thrash metal record. I know how weird and impossible putting the words “slow” and “thrash metal” into the same sentence seems, but Sepultura make it possible with Kairos.

The really tall black guy that replaced Max Cavalera as the front man has an extremely rough yell that sounds like the monster from your childhood nightmares. That’s why I like this guy’s vocals, the smooth, yet dirty sound his yells have. And although his vocals have a very powerful and angry sound, that angry sound is monotonous. There isn’t much diversity in his vocals at all; at first, his yells sound completely enraged and emotional, but they quickly turn really bland after not changing at all. That’s why I don’t like this guy’s vocals. But fortunately, the tastelessness of his vocals doesn’t act as an obstruction.

This album is pretty mediocre, but it’s not generic in the slightest sense. For those of you that want a headbanging thrash metal album that has a lot of Pantera-influenced grooves and heavy downbeats, Kairos is something you need to hear. My favorite headbanging track is Just One Fix, which is probably also my favorite song off the album. The guitar solos aren’t anything more than just basic thrash-style shredding, although the solo in Just One Fix is actually really cool and shows the guitarist’s experience and skills. But other than that, this album is one of those that starts out awesome and then goes dry because it doesn’t change.

It seems that Sepultura hasn’t lost their ability to play crushing shows (I will find out for myself on the 13^th of this month). But it’s obvious enough that they’ve run out of the rich creative juices and that they’re now simply just throwing out any cut n’ dry guitar riff they can come up with, make it long, put vocals on top, and throw in some shredding solos. This is one of those bands that are trying to create something that they don’t have the materials for. It’s like building a house out of plywood; it works, it stands up on its own, but it’s very weak and can be knocked down easily. It looks like Sepultura has officially run out of hardwood and is down to making albums with the leftover scraps. I would give this album a rating of 14/20.