Chaos A.D. (album)
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| Chaos A.D. | |||||
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| Studio album by Sepultura | |||||
| Released | October 1993 | ||||
| Recorded | 1992 Rockfield Studios and Chepstow Castle, South Wales, UK |
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| Genre | Thrash metal, groove metal | ||||
| Length | 69:32 | ||||
| Label | Roadrunner Records | ||||
| Producer | Andy Wallace | ||||
| Professional reviews | |||||
| Sepultura chronology | |||||
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Chaos A.D. is an album released in October 1993 by Sepultura through Roadrunner Records. It won silver and gold certifications throughout Europe and the USA, and was considered their first step into the metal mainstream.
Contents |
[edit] Production Values
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.[1]
"Kaiowas" was recorded live among the ruins of the medieval castle of Chepstow, and the echoes of the ruin gave the track a hypnotic quality.[citation needed]
It was an entirely acoustic track, with Andreas and Max on the guitars and Igor and Paulo on percussions. 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", 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."
[edit] Album information
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.[2] The first track, "Refuse/Resist", revealed the band's new musical direction: slower, with more emphasis on groove than speed.[3]
The album starts with a recording of Zyon's (Max's first son) heartbeat, followed by some Afro-Brazilian drumming. The lyrics mention "tanks on the streets, confronting police, bleeding the plebs." The chorus ("Refuse! Resist!") was similar to a protest march slogan. The next song, "Territory", was defined by Igor's drumming. It had been composed in a small studio in Santo Andre, São Paulo, near the Kisser family house. Andreas's lyrics dealt with the ever-present conflict between the Palestinian and Israeli peoples.[4]
"Slave New World" - with lyrics written by Max and Evan Seinfeld of Biohazard - had an intro and the dismal atmosphere of early Celtic Frost. Next up, "Amen", was Max's version of the Dead Kennedys lyrics, tackled - with Jello Biafra's typical black humor and ironic undertones – the massacre of David Koresh's followers in Waco, Texas.
Massacres were, in fact, a major part of Chaos A.D.'s overall theme. "Manifest" had a faux-radio report of the Carandiru massacre played over a heavy industrial-techno sound. And "Kaiowas" was made in honor of a Brazilian Indian tribe that had committed collective suicide in protest against the government that wanted to drive them off of the land of their ancestors.[5] "It's like a mixture of Led Zeppelin, Sonic Youth and Olodum", said Max of this particular song.[3]
The noise continued with "Propaganda" that had the most pessimistic lyrics ever written by Max: "Life teaches me you're always alone". "Clenched Fist" wasn't much more positive: "Pain makes me stronger / every day / the life is chaos / you gotta deal with it". In "We Who Are Not Others", Sepultura said a lot with little words: the lyrics were a repetition of a single line "We Who Are Not as Others". And "Nomad", written by Andreas, talked about people expelled from their homelands, and had a characteristically slow riff. Max described "Nomad" as Andreas' answer to Metallica's "Sad but True".
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 his old music 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."
| “ | Rio Summit, '92 Street people kidnapped Hid from view "To save the earth" Our rulers met Some had other Secret plans Mutations cooked in labs Moneymad experiments New food + medicine? New germs + accidents! Like Cubatão World's most polluted town Air melts your face Deformed children all around |
” |
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 huge New Model Army fan and he convinced the other band members to include "The Hunt" on the record. Paulo Jr. joked that the money of the LP would go straight to new dentures for Justin Sullivan, the toothless singer of New Model Army.[6]
According to an April 30th, 2002 Soundscan report, Chaos A.D. had sold 452,528 copies at that point.[7]
[edit] 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 (12/93, p.122) - 3 Stars - "[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."
- Allmusic - "Chaos A.D. was the record where everything came together for Sepultura, when they graduated from being an excellent, if derivative, band into one of metal's most unique voices."
[edit] Track listing
| # | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Refuse/Resist" | 3:20 |
| 2. | "Territory" | 4:47 |
| 3. | "Slave New World" | 2:55 |
| 4. | "Amen" | 4:27 |
| 5. | "Kaiowas" | 3:43 |
| 6. | "Propaganda" | 3:33 |
| 7. | "Biotech Is Godzilla" | 1:52 |
| 8. | "Nomad" | 4:59 |
| 9. | "We Who Are Not as Others" | 3:42 |
| 10. | "Manifest" | 4:49 |
| 11. | "The Hunt" | 3:59 |
| 12. | "Clenched Fist" | 4:58 |
| 13. | "Chaos B.C." | 5:12 |
| 14. | "Kaiowas (Live)" | 3:47 |
| 15. | "Territory (Live)" | 4:48 |
| 16. | "Amen/Inner Self (Live)" | 8:42 |
Track 13 through 16 are bonus tracks included on the american 1996 re-release.
[edit] Singles
- "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).
[edit] Chart performance
Album - Billboard (North America)
| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1993 | The Billboard 200 | 32[8] |
| 1993 | UK Album Chart | 11[9] |
Album - Music recording sales certifications
| Year | Country | Award | Number sold |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Belgium | Gold | 25,000 copies[10] |
| 1994 | Brasil | Gold | 100,000 copies[10] |
| 1994 | France | Silver | 50,000 copies[11] |
| 1994 | Indonesia | Gold | 25,000 copies[10] |
| 1994 | United Kingdom | Silver | 60,000 copies[12] |
| 1997 | Australia | Gold | 35,000 copies[13] |
| 2000 | United States | Gold | 500,000 copies[14] |
| 2002 | United Kingdom | Gold | 100,000 copies[12] |
| Unknown | Netherlands | Gold | 30,000 copies[15] |
[edit] Credits
- Silvio Bibika - Studio roadie
- Max Cavalera - Vocals, 4-string guitar, acoustic guitar
- Igor Cavalera - Drums, Percussion
- Andreas Kisser - Lead guitar, 12-strings viola, acoustic guitar
- Paulo Jr. - Bass
- 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
[edit] Notes
- ^ Lemos 1993, page 42.
- ^ Barcinski & Gomes 1999, page 123.
- ^ a b Lemos 1993, page 43.
- ^ Barcinski & Gomes 1999, page 126.
- ^ (1993) Album notes for Chaos A.D. by Sepultura, p. 6 [CD booklet]. New York, NY: Roadrunner Records.
- ^ Barcinski & Gomes 1999, page 131.
- ^ Metal/Hard Rock Album Sales In The US As Reported By SoundScan. BLABBERMOUTH.NET (2002-04-30). Retrieved on 2008-04-27.
- ^ Top Music Charts - Hot 100 - Billboard 200 - Music Genre Sales. Billboard Music Charts. Retrieved on 2008-04-27.
- ^ SEPULTURA: Discography: Career Albums. Rockdetector: The World's Biggest Rock Resource on the Web. Retrieved on 2008-05-24.
- ^ a b c Barcinski & Gomes 1999, page 143.
- ^ Les certifications Albums - Année 1994. Musique sur Disque en France (SNEP). Retrieved on 2008-05-22.
- ^ a b CERTIFIED AWARDS. THE BPI. Retrieved on 2008-05-03.
- ^ ARIA Charts - Accreditations - 1997 Albums. Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved on 2008-05-23.
- ^ GOLD AND PLATINUM - Searchable Database. RIAA. Retrieved on 2008-04-27.
- ^ Goud/Platina Muziek. nvpi. Retrieved on 2008-04-27.
[edit] 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.
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