Band:	Sepultura
Album:	Dante XXI
Style:	Alternative metal, Groove thrash metal
Release date:	March 17, 2006
A review by:	Deadsoulman

01. Lost (Intro)
02. Dark Wood Of Error
03. Convicted In Life
04. City Of Dis
05. False
06. Fighting On
07. Limbo (Intro)
08. Ostia
09. Buried Words
10. Nuclear Seven
11. Repeating The Horror
12. Eunoé (Intro)
13. Crown And Miter
14. Primium Mobile (Intro)
15. Still Flame

Sepultura is a band I've always been fond of. I like all their albums with Max Cavalera (yes, even Chaos A.D. and Roots), I think Derrick Greene is one hell of a good singer, I think Against is an excellent hardcore album. Nation was disappointing but has a couple of good songs and I've not heard enough of Roorback to have an opinion. That leads me to say that I've always respected Sepultura. They've been courageous enough to sack their former icon frontman, to hire this unknown guy with a hardcore background and to keep going as if nothing ever happened. But above all I respect them for having evolved. A lot of bands, when they change their leader, get stuck in pathetic attempts to revive old memories and only manage to rip off themselves. They become a shadow of a band. Sepultura took the opposite direction. They turned to hardcore first then thrashcore and followed this path against all odds and despite attracting only contempt and sniggering from most metalheads. This is an attitude I highly respect.

This intro was useful in order to explain my state of mind when I heard this Dante XXI. I wasn't expecting a bad album. I was actually expecting something decent. What I heard totally surprised me. No, don't expect them to play pure thrash again (this time is long gone, get over it now), the music is hardcore-influenced but still has thrash structures and riffs. The production is far more thrash than all they've done since 1998. It is cleaner and also darker than the rest of their Greene-era albums.

The albums opens on the catchy intro "Dark Wood Of Error" that soon leads to the single "Convicted In Life", a groovy track full of mid-tempos with an awesome chorus. First good point, Greene's voice is aggressive and furious, without this reserve he seemed to have on Nation. "City Of Dis" shows less hardcore influences than the previous song and is actually a bit more representative of the album. If you enjoy groove thrash this album is for you, seriously. "Fighting On" and "Nuclear Seven" are two other pure thrash songs that bring us ten years back. The guitar playing is particularly catchy on these two songs, just as on the rest of the album. They riff as if their life depended on it.

I can say whatever I want, all you need is listen to Dante XXI and realize that it is full of amazing riffs and great, memorable songs. Unlike on all Sep's albums since Chaos A.D., there is absolutely no filler here. Good thing they understood that you better record eleven top-notch songs rather than 15 with half of it made of uninteresting tracks. They obviously have put a lot of thought and efforts in this record. They even managed to be surprising and innovative: who would have expected this outstanding violin passage right in the middle of "Ostia"? This song is absolutely amazing of catchiness, of talent, of mastery. One of the best the band ever wrote.

I know a lot of you are probably thinking that this album is not worth your time, that I am just a fan who can't see one of his favourite bands has gone wrong. Don't make this mistake. This album is very different from the rest of their discography. It IS thrash. So do yourself a favour, give them a chance and try one of the songs listed below. I assure you will be pleasantly surprised. This is a very strong album, the Sepultura album I had been waiting for so long.

Highlights: OSTIA, Convicted In Life, City Of Dis, Fighting On, Nuclear Seven