SEPULTURA
The Mediator Between Head And Hands Must Be The Heart
Nuclear Blast (2013)
Rating: 5/10
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One of heavy music’s most recognisable acts, Sepultura return with their 13th album, The Mediator Between Head And Hands Must Be The Heart. The new album follows a string of progressive extremities based largely on philosophical principles that arguably began with 2006’s Dante XXI. Additionally, the new album marks the debut of drummer Eloy Casagrande.
With Sepultura’s assorted history, it’s nearly impossible to predict what the Brazilian band might come up with shy of the fact that it’ll be aggressive and heavy in some way. The Mediator delivers heartily on both those fronts in an overall sense, adding slightly more groove into the mix while sacrificing anything overtly memorable.
What’s hard to take about this album is the fact that it’s probably Sepultura’s heaviest offering since before 1993’s Chaos AD (although 2011’s Kairos had its moments as well). Unfortunately, most of what we get here is heavy, not varied, and it just kind of all jumbles together. Case in point is the album’s opening trio of songs, ‘Trauma Of War’, ‘The Vatican’ and ‘Impending Doom’. While all are technically impressive and dynamic, they all just kind of wander aimlessly through a maze of buzzsaw guitars, screams, and pounding rhythms. In some ways, they even follow similar formats and, in my opinion, it just feels lacklustre right from the start. ‘Tsunami’ and ‘Obsessed’ follow the same breakneck pattern, leaving the listener feeling pummeled but not ready to hit the repeat button.
That’s not to say that there aren’t some great songs here though. As someone whose favourite Sepultura albums come from Chaos AD to Nation (2001), I particularly dig a few songs here that feature that heavy groove that vocalist Derrick Green fits so well into. ‘The Bliss Of Ignorants’ is probably the best of these with Casagrande’s constant motion, the dissonant guitars, hints of tribal rhythms, and overall catchiness, capping itself off with Green doing more than just senselessly screaming his head off.
‘Obsessed’ is another such moment, showing a side of the band that is more than just pure aggression. The guitars are groovier here but also oddly circular, reminding me a great deal of the Against album (1998). It’s these songs as well as ‘Manipulation Of Tragedy’ and ‘The Age Of The Atheist’ that most likely have ignited the comparison to Chaos AD, but these are just a small portion of the album.
Overall, this is an average album at best in Sepultura’s catalogue. I enjoyed the reintegration of some tribal elements and some more groove-oriented songs, but much like its predecessors, Kairos and A-Lex (2009), a lot of this is just ramped up angst and at this point in Sepultura’s career I feel like they have more to offer than a “wall of sound”.
Mark Fisher
