Roots is the sixth studio album by Brazilian heavy metal band Sepultura. It was released in Europe on and in the U.S. three weeks later on March 12 by Roadrunner Records. It is the band's last studio album to feature founder and vocalist/rhythm guitarist Max Cavalera, who left in late 1996 at the conclusion of a run of European dates in support of the album.
Following the shift to slower tempos and Latin-tinged rhythms on Chaos A.D., Roots delves further into Brazilian musical textures and features significant contributions from iconic Brazilian musician Carlinhos Brown, who guided and arranged the sections throughout the album that feature ensemble percussion playing. Both in sound and overall aesthetic, Roots is a conscious nod to Brazil's marginalized indigenous population and cultures. The song "Itsári" features a Xavante chant that re-appears on the song "Born Stubborn" and serves as a loose thematic thread for the album, which showcases the band's increased affinity for experimentation and collaboration.
"Lookaway" features guest appearances by Korn vocalist Jonathan Davis, then-Korn drummer David Silveria, House of Pain/Limp Bizkit turntablist DJ Lethal, and Faith No More/Mr. Bungle vocalist Mike Patton. Riff-wise, Roots also draws influence from the then-surging nu metal movement, specifically Korn (whose first two albums were also produced by Roots producer Ross Robinson) and Deftones. After leaving the band, Max Cavalera continued pursuing the nu metal and "world" stylings of Roots with his band Soulfly.
Roots has received critical acclaim as a seminal work in Sepultura's discography. It has proven commercially successful, selling over two million copies worldwide, and remains Sepultura's highest-charting album, peaking at 27 on the Billboard 200.
Initial inspiration and recording
Roots is the product of a concerted effort on the band's part to embrace its Brazilian heritage, including indigenous sounds that were unfamiliar to the Sepultura's members up to that point. The album reflects Sepultura's heightened focus on the music, culture, politics, and history of their native country. The overarching concept was inspired by the film At Play in the Fields of the Lord (particularly the scene in which Tom Berenger's character parachutes into an Amazonian village populated by the Niaruna people</blockquote>University of Iowa anthropology professor Laura Graham explained the role of music in Xavante culture to PopMatters in 2016:
<blockquote>For them, music functions as a medium for entering into other realms—whether they be other dimensions of existence or other cultures. Well before they had any contact with white people, part of their culture has always entailed that men engage the spirit world, especially through music. This happens in their dreams. Not all, but most of their music is inspired—you could say "composed", although they say received—in their dreams through encounters with other worlds. When people come and visit the community from the outside, one of the things the Xavante ask them to do is sing them a song. Music is this medium for entering into relations with others—others meaning spiritual beings or, for example, white society or other cultures. The Xavante want to be known and they want their culture to be known. They want their music to be known because they think it's beautiful and view it as a contribution to humanity. It's like, "We have something beautiful to contribute to humanity—and, by the way, here we are suffering. We want people to know who we are and that we exist." And so when they got this proposal from a musical group that wanted to come jam and share music with them, they loved it.
Meeting the Xavante was by several accounts a life-changing experience that has continued to resonate with the members of Sepultura ever since.
Musical style
Roots represents a significant shift in direction for Sepultura. On several levels, the album reflects a concerted effort on the band's part to embrace its Brazilian heritage, with a heightened focus on Brazilian culture that is strikingly apparent in the music. Roots was also inspired by Korn's self-titled debut, with its heavily down-tuned guitars.
Roots is a groove metal and nu metal album that incorporates thrash metal, world music, tribal music, In a 1996 MTV Europe clip, Max Cavalera explained the meaning behind the song as: "Don't give in. What you believe is for life, even if people try all the time to change you. The song is about 'don't let the bastards grind you down. "Itsári" ("Roots" in the Xavante language) features a Xavante healing ceremony chant. "Ambush" is "a tribute to murdered South American rain-forest activist Chico Mendes". Dana also came up with the concept for the video for the song, featuring Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu experts the Gracie family.
Critical reception
American newspapers like The New Times, the Daily News and the Los Angeles Times reviewed the Brazilian band: "The mixture of the dense metal of Sepultura and the Brazilian music has a intoxicating effect", wrote a Los Angeles Times reviewer.
Specialized heavy metal critics also reviewed the album positively. Martin Popoff, author of the book The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal, ranked Roots as the 11th best metal record of all time. "This is a spectacular metal and futurist hardcore LP", wrote Popoff, "a masterpiece, accomplished by a band with an enormous heart and an even larger intellect". Kerrang! magazine awarded Roots second place in the list of "100 records that you have to hear before dying". Rolling Stone Brasil named it the 57th best Brazilian music album. Rolling Stone contributor Jon Wiederhorn gave the album three stars out of five and said, "Sepultura play a violent game of sonic overload... the band uses its catharsis as a creative force, funneling torrents of noise into a tunnel of hate" and called the album "a refreshing step forward in a genre full of bands that are creatively bankrupt." Looking back on the album 20 years later, PopMatters contributor Saby Reyes-Kulkarni described Roots as "inarguably one of the most radical [stylistic] departures from convention in heavy metal history," an album that "blew the doors open on our perceptions of metal and so-called 'world music,'" adding that "we haven't heard anything quite like it since." In April 2005, Decibel inducted Roots into the Decibel Magazine Hall of Fame, becoming the third album overall to receive a coveted spot in their Hall of Fame.
Legacy
Speaking to Kerrang! in 2008, Max Cavalera looked back on Roots:
<blockquote>Roots came from a blurry dream I had about going to the rainforest. Wine may have been involved. In the end, when we actually went into the forest to record, it was unbelievable. The whole album was a huge personal journey for me, and as a Brazilian, it felt as an incredible achievement. Everyone was inspired and Igor was at the top of his game. The percussion was crazy and we worked with so many great musicians, in the end coming out with a 15-minutes drum jam that someone likened to a crazy Brazilian Pink Floyd. When we took the album to Roadrunner they loved it except for the title. They thought it would sound like a Bob Marley tribute album. We explained it to them, and thankfully they got it.</blockquote>
As for the Xavantes, both their leader at the time of the band's visit (Cipassé) and Pappiani agree that Roots helped the tribe gain some visibility, to the point that people would actually identify them as Xavantes instead of just calling them "indigenous people". Pappiani noticed an increase in people's interest for information on the tribe and their music.</blockquote>
Brazilian UFC fighter Alex Pereira uses the song 'Itsári' as his signature walkout music before his fights. Commentators have noted the connection between the song and Pereira's indigenous heritage.
Keith Kahn-Harris analyzed the album's influence for its 25th anniversary in 2021. He found it important for expanding the boundaries of metal into other kinds of music in the world, but considered the album's sound to cross the line from raw into half-baked at times, particularly in its integration of Brazilian music. He states "In folk metal today you find a much more seamless melding of metal and its musical others. Korpiklaani and Finntroll are not jam bands, they are effortlessly slick and do not question their entitlement to evoke their mythic ancestors. Orphaned Land and Melechesh are not incorporating Middle Eastern influences into their music, it is their music. Even bands that owe a lot musically to Sepultura, such as Alien Weaponry, sound much more comfortable in their own skin." Kahn-Harris also argued that while Roots was influential on nu-metal, it didn't entirely fit due to its influence from 80s anarcho-punk. He concluded that Roots "doesn't really map out as much new musical territory as was claimed at the time", but was nonetheless still very enjoyable. That same year, the staff of Revolver included the album in their list of the "20 Essential Nu-Metal Albums".
In 2025, Rae Lemeshow-Barooshian of Loudwire included the album in her list of "the top 50 nu-metal albums of all time", ranking it eighteenth.
Track listing
The first vinyl pressing of Roots only contained 15 tracks, omitting "Canyon Jam" due to its length. Recent vinyl reissues also omit this track, instead containing a selection of outtakes, demos and live tracks.
The Roots of Sepultura
The Roots of Sepultura is a double-disc album by Sepultura, released in November 1996. The second disc contains a collection of unreleased tracks, B-sides, alternate mixes, and live recordings. This release differs from Roots and the 2005 25th Anniversary Roots album as the B-sides disc has a different series of tracks. This album includes covers of tracks by Motörhead, Dead Kennedys, Os Mutantes and Ratos de Porão and also includes tracks from their first live home video, Under Siege (Live in Barcelona).
;Track listing
Personnel
;Sepultura
- Max Cavalera – lead vocals, 4 and 6-string rhythm guitar, berimbau
- Andreas Kisser – lead guitar, backing vocals, sitar
- Paulo Jr. – bass, timbau grandé
- Igor Cavalera – drums, percussion, timbau, djembe
;Additional personnel
- Jairo Guedz - lead guitar (on "Necromancer")
- Mike Patton – vocals (on "Lookaway")
- David Silveria – drums (on "Ratamahatta")
- Carlinhos Brown – vocals, percussion, berimbau, timbau, wood drums, lataria, xequere, surdos (on "Ratamahatta")
- Jonathan Davis – vocals (on "Lookaway")
- DJ Lethal – turntables (on "Lookaway")
- Xavante people – percussion, chanting (on "Itsári")
;Recording
- Recorded at Indigo Ranch, Malibu, California
- Produced by Ross Robinson and Sepultura
- Engineered by Chuck Johnson
- Additional engineering by Richard Kaplan
- Second engineered by Rob Agnello
- Mixed by Andy Wallace at Soundtrack Studios, New York City
- Mix engineered by Steve Sisco
- Mastered by George Marino at Sterling Sound, New York City
Charts
Weekly charts
{|class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;"
|-
!Chart (1996)
!Peak<br>position
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
!scope="row"|Czech Albums (IFPI)
| 4
|-
|-
!scope="row"|Danish Albums (Hitlisten)
| 34
|-
|-
!scope="row"|Europe (European Top 100 Albums)
| 2
|-
|-
!scope="row"|France Albums (SNEP)
| 4
|-
|-
!scope="row"|Irish Albums (IRMA)
| 5
|-
!scope="row"|Italian Albums (Musica e Dischi)
| 5
|-
|-
|-
!scope="row"|Portuguese Albums (AFP)
| 8
|-
|-
!scope="row"|Spanish Albums (AFYVE)
| 18
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|}
{|class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;"
|-
!Chart (2024)
!Peak<br>position
|-
! scope="row"| Hungarian Physical Albums (MAHASZ)
| 13
|-
|}
Year-end charts
{|class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;"
|-
!Chart (1996)
!Peak<br>Position
|-
!scope="row"| Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)
| 35
|-
!scope="row"| Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)
| 66
|-
!scope="row"| Europe (European Top 100 Albums)
| 45
|-
!scope="row"| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)
| 73
|}
Certifications
References
Further reading
- Barcinski, André & Gomes, Silvio (1999). Sepultura: Toda a História. São Paulo: Ed. 34.
- Sepultura (1996). Roots [CD]. New York, NY: Roadrunner Records. The 25th Anniversary Series (2-CD Reissue, 2005).
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