Sepultura – Roots: When Rhythm Rewrites the Riff

Released: February 20, 1996

Sepultura had already loosened its ties to thrash on Chaos A.D., but Roots goes further than slowing the tempos. It asks whether Brazilian identity can change the way Sepultura writes metal, right down to the placement of a riff and the swing of a beat. The songs provide the answer long before the guest instruments are counted.

“Roots Bloody Roots” builds its main figure from a blunt, down-tuned pulse broken by short gaps. Igor Cavalera sets a broad kick-and-snare beat beneath it, then uses his toms to widen the transitions. Paulo Jr.’s bass merges with the low guitar tone, leaving much of the movement to the drums and the spaces inside the riff. Max Cavalera clips his lines into chant-sized phrases and lets the final words hang. The song gets everything it needs from a small amount of material.

“Attitude” begins with berimbau. Its bent metallic pulse establishes the rhythm before the full band enters, and the guitars use the same spring and pause. “Breed Apart” brings the instrument back, then turns its clipped bounce into a low-string pattern. In both songs, the berimbau determines where the guitar notes land and how long the silences last. It changes the writing itself.

“Ratamahatta” takes that exchange further. Carlinhos Brown’s voice and percussion lead the song through Portuguese chants, crowd responses, and stacked drum patterns. The guitar enters in short blocks, drops away, and returns after the rhythm underneath it has shifted. The lyrics name Zé do Caixão, Zumbi, and Lampião, bringing Brazilian history and popular culture into the song through the names themselves. Max’s short phrases work especially well here because every repeated word becomes another piece of percussion.

After Andreas Kisser’s acoustic “Jasco,” the album spends nearly five minutes with the Xavante chanting, percussion, and acoustic guitar of “Itsári.” “Born Stubborn” had already placed the same chant inside a full-band arrangement. Hearing it again without distorted guitars changes how that earlier section registers. The voices and percussion now set the pace, and the band follows their scale instead of forcing them into a standard metal structure. Nearly five minutes is enough to change the pacing of the album’s entire second half.

“Lookaway” shows that Roots still has some loose edges. Jonathan Davis and Mike Patton break their vocals into whispers, gasps, and barked fragments while DJ Lethal scratches over a crawling guitar loop. The rhythm is boxed into place, leaving the guest voices to shape most of the song. Its studio-built unease suits the record, although the Brazilian connection becomes less distinct once the exchange between guitar and percussion disappears.

Some repetitions also run longer than their ideas. “Straighthate” and “Endangered Species” remain on their low figures while Igor shifts the accents and Max changes his vocal attack. The guitars give them little new information as they move along. The extra room helps while the surrounding percussion keeps changing. Once those changes settle, the songs begin to sit in place.

Ross Robinson’s production and Andy Wallace’s mix keep the guitars and bass in a coarse, low mass. Max’s voice sits close, with breaths and rough edges left intact, while the berimbau, hand drums, and Igor’s toms retain their individual attack. Each percussion tone remains clear enough to redirect the beat. The record sounds crowded, but the rhythmic details are rarely lost inside it.

So, can Brazilian identity change the way Sepultura writes metal? Yes. Roots puts it inside the songwriting. Brazilian rhythms decide where riffs stop, how grooves turn, and when the metal framework gives way to another kind of performance. A few patterns run too long, but the central idea remains clear: Sepultura learned to write from rhythm outward. Even the barest guitar passages are organized around that Brazilian rhythmic sense.

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