Sepultura "Quadra" - Album Review

Sepultura
Quadra

How do you supersede a 30-year career that has irrevocably altered the tides of global metal while spawning 15 albums that put Brazil on the heavy music map? You simply do what Sepultura has always done — unleash the power of monumental thrash amplified by orchestral drama and the tribal tempos of the Amazon.

More than a “Means to an End,” the hyperbolic Quadra (from the Portuguese word for ‘sport court’) reverberates with vision-inducing venom, thanks to an enthusiastic delivery by the iconic band’s current roster.

A demon-throated throwback, Quadra finds new glory in the old school appeal of formative releases like Beneath the Remains (1989) and Arise (1991). Ripped from the mean streets of Belo Horizonte, the bellicose war drums of “Capital Enslavement” and dizzying favela architecture of “Last Time” keep the BPM burning high.

Further afield, the aggressive stance of “Ali,” stuttering malice of “Raging Void” and slashing ambition of “The Pentagram” confirm that vocalist Derrick Green and guitarist Andreas Kisser remain at the top of their virtuosic game.

Dissatisfied with watching history repeat itself, these magical death machine messiahs feel bound to keep blasting out “thrash metal anthems for a fucked-up age” and we’re lucky they succeed in doing so, season after season.

Best Track: “Ali”

By Christine Leonard

Nada Surf "Never Not Together" - Album Review

Nada Surf
Never Not Together

Rise and shine, 90s bred New York outfit Nada Surf’s newest album comes equipped with an indie-rock foam cycle that’ll wash your brain clean of any lingering debris. 

From the tangerine-hued opener “So Much Love” to the strummy escape of “Come Get Me” (a la Nirvana’s “Grandma Take Me Home”), guitarist/vocalist Matthew Caw bumps up the thermostat one motivational outburst at a time. 

A harmonic turnaround from the cold clarity of their previous release, You Know Who You Are (2016), Never Not Together gets up close and personal on the inward-looking “Live Learn & Forget” and the emotionally generous “Just Wait.” 

The struggle to let memories fade comes to a head on the cerebral “Something I Should Do” with its apostrophic observational advice. Hard-won lessons, such as “put your anger away,” “don’t need to be right, it’s overrated anyhow” and “don’t fear death” dominate the typically easy-breezy surf band’s lyrical lines. 

Buoyant rollers divulge the wisdom that has brought them to the brink and then allowed them to pull back from the edge. Collectively thumbing their zinc-smeared noses at the dark, Nada Surf point their boards towards the sun and paddle out to embrace the “Holy Math” of destiny. 

Best track: "Live Learn & Forget"

By Christine Leonard