Chaos A.D. (album)

Infobox Album | Name = Chaos A.D.
Type = studio
Artist = Sepultura


Released = September 2, 1993
Recorded = 1992-1993 at Rockfield Studios and Chepstow Castle, South Wales, United Kingdom
Genre = Thrash metal, groove metal
Length = 1:09:32
Label = Roadrunner
Producer = Andy Wallace
Reviews =
*"Allmusic" Rating|4.5|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:41220rnar489~T1 link]
* "Q" Rating|3|5 [http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=1019546 link]
*"Rolling Stone" Rating|4|5 [http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/sepultura/albums/album/121519/review/5943454/chaos_ad link]
Last album = "Third World Posse"
(1992)
This album = "Chaos A.D."
(1993)
Next album = "Refuse/Resist"
(1994)

"Chaos A.D." is the fifth studio album by Brazilian thrash metal band Sepultura, released in 1993 through Roadrunner Records. It won silver and gold certifications throughout Europe and the USA, and was considered their first step into the metal mainstream.

Production

The band considered a number of producers, including avant-garde jazz composer John Zorn and Al Jourgensen of industrial metal pioneers Ministry. They settled with Andy Wallace, who had previously mixed "Arise". Sepultura wanted isolation, and for that Andy Wallace suggested Rockfield Studios, located in South Wales. [Lemos 1993, page 42.]

"Kaiowas" was recorded live among the ruins of the medieval castle of Chepstow. It was an entirely acoustic track, with Andreas Kisser and Max Cavalera on the guitars and brother-drummer Igor Cavalera and bassist Paulo Jr. handling the percussion duties. When they recorded "Kaiowas", the quartet never even considered playing the track live, because they thought it would be too difficult to recreate the drumming on stage. They changed their minds after seeing a video of the American band Neurosis: "We saw in that live video that the Neurosis guys put down their guitars and everybody started to play the drums on stage", lead guitarrist Andreas remembers. "We decided to try the same thing. We rehearsed it once and it was wonderful. We haven't stopped playing the song live since."

During "Chaos A.D"'s sessions, Sepultura recorded a number of B-sides: "The Hunt", from New Model Army, "Policia", from Titãs, "Inhuman Nature", from the American hardcore punk band Final Conflict and "Crucificados pelo Sistema", from Brazilians Ratos de Porão. Igor was a New Model Army fan and he convinced the other band members to include "The Hunt" on the record. Paulo joked that the money of the LP would go straight to new dentures for Justin Sullivan, the toothless singer of New Model Army.Barcinski & Gomes 1999, page 131.]

Musical style

Out of the boredom of playing the "Arise" songs for two years straight and the threat of musically stagnating, Sepultura pushed the envelope on "Chaos A.D." [Barcinski & Gomes 1999, page 123.] The first track, "Refuse/Resist", revealed the band's new musical direction: slower, with more emphasis on groove than speed.Lemos 1993, page 43.] The song starts with the heartbeat of Max's then unborn first son, Zyon,cite album-notes|title= Chaos A.D.|albumlink= Chaos A.D. (album)|bandname= Sepultura|year= 1993|notestitle= Refuse/Resist|url=|first= Max|last=Cavalera|pages=p. 2|format=CD booklet|publisher= Roadrunner Records|location= New York, NY] followed by some Afro-Brazilian drumming reminescent of Salvador, Bahia samba-reggae group Olodum.Barcinski & Gomes 1999, page 131.] About the track's introductory guitar riff, Max acknowledged that it "could have been created by a death metal band."cite web |url=http://sepultura.be/index.php?name=Sections&req=viewarticle&artid=24&page=1|title= Sepultura|author= Haagsma, Robert|date= 1993|publisher= [http://www.aardschok.com Aardschok] / [http://www.metalhammer.co.uk Metal Hammer] |accessdate= 2008-05-03 Archived at [http://www.sepultura.be Sepultura.be] ]

Diversity was the key to "Chaos A.D.", revealed Max Cavalera. "Biotech is Godzilla" was "pure hardcore", according to the elder Cavalera.cite web |url=http://sepultura.be/index.php?name=Sections&req=viewarticle&artid=24&page=1|title= Sepultura|author= Haagsma, Robert|date= 1993|publisher= [http://www.aardschok.com Aardschok] / [http://www.metalhammer.co.uk Metal Hammer] |accessdate= 2008-09-19 Archived at [http://www.sepultura.be Sepultura.be] ] "Nomad", with its characteristically slow riffs, was described Max as the answer by lead guitarrist Andreas Kisser to Metallica's "Sad But True".Barcinski & Gomes 1999, page 128.] The album also featured Sepultura's first all-acoustic incursion, "Kaiowas". "It's like a mixture of Led Zeppelin, Sonic Youth and Olodum", said Max of that particular song.Lemos 1993, page 43.]

Themes

The lyrics of "Refuse/Resist" mention "tanks on the streets, confronting police, bleeding the plebs."cite album-notes|title= Chaos A.D.|albumlink= Chaos A.D. (album)|bandname= Sepultura|year= 1993|notestitle= Refuse/Resist|url=|first= Max|last=Cavalera|pages=p. 2|format=CD booklet|publisher= Roadrunner Records|location= New York, NY] The song's chorus ("Refuse! Resist!") was similar to a protest march slogan,Barcinski & Gomes 1999, page 126.] and the cover of this song's single depicted a South Korean student rushing at Seoul's riot police contingent while holding a petrol bomb.cite album-notes|title= Refuse/Resist|albumlink= Refuse/Resist|bandname= Sepultura|year= 1994|notestitle=|url=|first=|last=|pages=p. 2|format=CD booklet|publisher= Roadrunner Records|location= New York, NY] The next song, "Territory", dealt with the conflict between the Palestinian and Israeli peoples.Barcinski & Gomes 1999, page 126.] "Slave New World" - with its lyrics co-written by Biohazard bassist Evan SeinfeldBarcinski & Gomes 1999, page 128.] - was a protest against censorship.cite video|people= Mayhew, Parris (Director)|year= 1995|date= June 27|url=|title= Sepultura: Third World Chaos|medium = motion picture|location = United States of America|publisher= Roadrunner Records]

Massacres were a major part of "Chaos A.D."'s overall theme. "Amen" tackled with the massacre of David Koresh's followers in Waco, Texas. "Manifest" had a faux-radio report of the Carandiru massacre,Barcinski & Gomes 1999, page 128.] and "Kaiowas" was made in honor of a Brazilian Indian tribe that committed collective suicide in protest against the government that wanted to drive them off the land of their ancestors. [cite album-notes|title= Chaos A.D.|albumlink= Chaos A.D. (album)|bandname= Sepultura|year= 1993|notestitle=|url=|first=|last=|pages=p. 6|format=CD booklet|publisher= Roadrunner Records|location= New York, NY] "Nomad", written by Andreas, talked about people expelled from their homelands.Barcinski & Gomes 1999, page 128.]

On "Chaos A.D.", Sepultura honored one of their biggest idols, Jello Biafra. Max had called Biafra asking him to contribute to the album with a song about the growing neo-Nazi movement. "I asked for something like 'Nazi Punks Fuck Off - Part 2'", Remembers Max, referring to the anti-nazi song "Nazi Punks Fuck Off" by the Dead Kennedys. But Biafra wasn't interested in recycling old ideas and he suggested a song called "Biotech is Godzilla", that he had written during his visit to Eco '92, a world conference about ecology organized in Rio de Janeiro. "Jello spent ten minutes explaining me his crazy theories", said Max to Anamaria G. of "Bizz" magazine, "he said that George Bush had sent a group of scientists to Brazil to test germs and bacteria on human beings and use them as guinea pigs. The lyrics claim that biotechnology created AIDS. But they don't say that technology is bad, just that it's in the wrong hands."

Reception

"Professional reviews":
*"Entertainment Weekly" (11/26/93, p.67) - "Sepultura will separate casual headbangers from rabid addicts fast....even nonmetalheads will be impressed by the variety in [Chaos A.D.] : they're not averse to slowing things down." - Rating: B+

*"Q" magazine (12/93, p.122) - " [Chaos A.D.] should mark a milestone in [Sepultura's] career...they've succeeded in capturing their live aggression with a resonance and immediacy that evaded earlier efforts."

*"Melody Maker" (10/23/93, p.33) - " [Chaos A.D. is a] genuine expression of outrage...Sepultura are not in the business of splatter soundtracks or documentary gore-fests--they write protest songs."

*"NME" (10/23/93, p.37) - "Chaos AD may be the term for the boiling point rage against state corruption and persecution, but [Sepultura] leave the sickening negativity and chronic egoism to others."

Track listing

tracklist
writing_credits =
lyrics_credits =
music_credits =
title1 = Refuse/Resist
note1 = Max Cavalera, Sepultura
length1 = 3:20
title2 = Territory
note2 = Andreas Kisser, Sepultura
length2 = 4:47
title3 = Slave New World
note3 = Cavalera, Evan Seinfeld, Sepultura
length3 = 2:55
title4 = Amen
note4 = Cavalera, Sepultura
length4 = 4:27
title5 = Kaiowas
note5 = Sepultura
length5 = 3:43
title6 = Propaganda
note6 = Cavalera, Sepultura
length6 = 3:33
title7 = Biotech Is Godzilla
note7 = Jello Biafra, Sepultura
length7 = 1:52
title8 = Nomad
note8 = Kisser, Sepultura
length8 = 4:59
title9 = We Who Are Not as Others
note9 = Cavalera, Sepultura
length9 = 3:42
title10 = Manifest
note10 = Cavalera, Sepultura
length10 = 4:49
title11 = The Hunt
note11 = Justin Sullivan, Robert Heaton, New Model Army
length11 = 3:59
title12 = Clenched Fist
note12 = Cavalera, Sepultura
length12 = 4:58
title13 = Chaos B.C.
note13 = Sepultura, Roy Mayorga
length13 = 5:12
title14 = Kaiowas (Tribal Jam)
note14 = Sepultura
length14 = 3:47
title15 = Territory (Live)
note15 = Cavalera, Sepultura
length15 = 4:48
title16 = Amen/Inner Self (Live)
note16 = Cavalera, Kisser, Sepultura
length16 = 8:42

"Track 13 through 16 are bonus tracks included on the American 1996 re-release. The original release contained a hidden track (laughter outtakes from "We Who Are Not as Others") after "Clenched Fist"."

ingles

*"Territory" was released in 1993 with "Policia" (Titãs) and "Biotech Is Godzilla".
*"Refuse/Resist" was released in 1994 with "Crucificados Pelo Sistema" (Ratos de Porão), "Inhuman Nature" (Final Conflict), "Drug Me" (Dead Kennedys), "Dead Embryonic Cells (Live)", "Desperate Cry (Live)", "Orgasmatron (Live)" (Motörhead).
*"Slave New World" was released in 1994 with "Crucificados Pelo Sistema" (Ratos de Porão), "Drug Me" (Dead Kennedys),"Orgasmatron (Live)" (Motörhead).

Chart performance

Album - Billboard (North America)

Album - Music recording sales certifications

Credits

*Max Cavalera - Vocals, 4-string guitar, acoustic guitar
*Igor Cavalera - drums, Percussion
*Andreas Kisser - Lead guitar, 12-strings viola, acoustic guitar
*Paulo Jr. - Bass
*Silvio Bibika - Studio roadie
*Simon Dawson - Assistant engineer
*Alex Newport - Guitar sound/feedback advisor
*Dave Somers - Assistant engineer
*Andy Wallace - Producer
*Michael Whelan - cover artwork ('Cacophony')

*Recorded at Rockfield Studios, South Wales, UK (though the liner notes incorrectly state "South Wales, England")
*"Kaiowas" recorded at Chepstow Castle, Wales, UK
*Mixed at The Wool Hall Recording Studios, Bath, England

Notes

References

* Barcinski, André & Gomes, Silvio (1999). "Sepultura: Toda a História". São Paulo: Ed. 34. ISBN 85-7326156-0
* Lemos, Anamaria (1993). "Caos Desencanado". Bizz, 98: 40-45.
* Sepultura (1993). "Chaos A.D". [CD] . New York, NY: Roadrunner Records.