Customer Reviews

Arise

5 star:		(61)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

SEPULTURA - Arise
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This album, along with `Far Beyond Driven', `South of Heaven, and `Master of Puppets' are what caused my transformation into the metal-head I am today. I am forever indebted to this CD.

This is a Thrash Masterpiece.... Max's Voice, while still growing at this point, was still one of the most vicious metal singers of the day. His guitar work, as well as the work of Andreas was amazing... precisely fast with aggressive riffs and amazing (and even sometimes innovative) solos... Paulo Jr. plays with such a sense of urgency and provides an excellent backing to the guitars. And last, but certainly not least is Max's Brother Igor. Ideally from a musical perspective Max should have been playing in the shadow of his brother, not the other way around. Igor's drumming is furious yet still implementing his `tribal' vibe (Not as much as he would expand on this for future albums)

Arise is easily on the best Thrash Metal Albums to see the light of day... The 4-Piece Brazilian Metal heads would continue to make 2 more incredible tribal influenced metal albums... but the pure thrash aggression of this album was never equaled in their future works.

Favorite Songs: C.I.U, Arise, and Dead Embryonic Cells
-5 Stars


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My first year of grad school I rented a room in a 3-bedroom apartment on West 121st Street in Manhattan. My apartment mates were Bob, an aspiring playwright, and Naomi, an aspiring architect. We were by no means close - like orangutans we led solitary existences and crossed paths mainly at large feeding patches. Bob and I got on well enough, stopping to chat on those occasions when we encountered one another. Naomi was a more difficult animal - she didn't like to meet face to face, but rather preferred to leave me notes with little reminders about household chores it was my turn to do. Her notes were always signed N. as though she were a character straight out of some 19th century Russian novel. Plastered to the refrigerator, the bathroom mirror and even my bedroom door, N.'s little missives never failed to get under my skin and more often than not, I ignored them and returned to my lair to blast some death metal. Believe me I had some great death metal just waiting to be heard on such occasions - Obituary's The End Complete and Entombed's Left Hand Path leap immediately to mind. But even more compelling than those classics was Sepultura's Arise, a 42-minute slab of pure aural aggression. Max Cavalera's brutally precise riffing and wolf-like growl were enough to put that little N. beast and her petty desires out of my mind for awhile, that's for sure.

Sepultura's world on Arise is an unforgettable one - it is heavy, bleak and beautiful all at once. If you've ever driven the New Jersey Turnpike on a rainy afternoon and said to yourself, `damn, those factories are strangely beautiful', you know exactly what I'm talking about. If you're still clueless, imagine the sort of music that might go along with the song titles, "Dead Embryonic Cells", "Desperate Cry", "Altered State", and "Under Siege (Regnum Irae)". This is metal with an appeal that crosses international boundaries. I seem to recall once seeing the word "Sepultura" carved into a desk in a classroom atop a windswept hill on the campus of the University of Antananarivo in Madagascar. A pretty wide sphere of influence for the boys from Brazil, wouldn't you say? One word of warning - you may not want to listen to the lyrics closely if you like to sleep well at night. Max's lyrics are a lot more unsettling today than they were when this album came out 11 years ago. For example, on the first track, "Arise", he warns of a "terrorist confrontation waiting for the end" and "cities fall(ing) in ruin". Then, on the classic "Dead Embryonic Cells", Max rails against "tribal violence everywhere, life in the age of terrorism". Let's hope that's as prescient as Max gets as there's a lot of other disturbing stuff on here that we can only hope never happens.

Did I tell you that I really hated N.'s notes? Trust me, I got around to the chores eventually - I'm not that inconsiderate. Of course, I could have retaliated by leaving notes for N. when she fell behind in her chores, but decided that would be a bit unfair since as far as I could tell, N. didn't have her own copy of Arise to take solace in. No reason to put her through the stress of encountering notes signed J. if the poor dear had nothing to help her cope with them.

I know, annoying notes are not a big deal in the grand scheme of things. You probably have more to worry about than some recent Yale grad and her inordinate fondness for post-its. But, I'm telling you, Arise is the sort of album that can help you forget your minor worries, whatever they are, at least for awhile. Along with the groundbreaking Roots, Arise is one of Sepultura's two best releases and did time as my favorite album back in the early 90s. I listened to it again today and it still blows me away. If you dare to call yourself a metal fan, I expect to find Arise in your album collection the next time I look through it.

1989's "Beneath the Remains" may have broken this Brazilian quartet through to the mainstream, but "Arise" was equally as important, influential, and great. And this 1991 album may (more-or-less) pick up where Sepultura left off two years ago, but Max's vocals on here are less death metal-ish than they were on "Beneath the Remains."

"Arise" is a true thrash metal masterpiece and it is also considered by most people (me included) to be Sepultura's last "pure thrash" disc. It is a complete tour de force for lead guitarist Andreas Kisser; his fingers must be worn down to the bone by the time he's done playing any one of these songs.

Even though "Arise" is "all killer, no filler," I will give a description of my favorite tracks, in case you're new to the band. The title track has blindingly fast guitar work and pounding drums, and "Dead Embryonic Cells" is the popular (and controversially named) lead single which has fiery, chugging riffs and thumping drums. "Desperate Cry" has many different parts to it, including several tempo changes and an acoustic intro. After the "Tarzan-esque" intro, "Altered State" turns to heavy churning, cascading, almost grinding riffs. A nice, long guitar solo is included, here, as well. "Under Siege" is mid-paced, with chug and churn guitars and an acoustic intro, but the next two tracks ("Meaningless Movements" and "Infected Voice") are straight-up, full speed ahead thrashers. Finally, "Orgasmatron" is a catchy Motorhead cover, and a nice homage to a Sepultura influence.

Max, Andreas, Igor, and Paulo Jr. would later make albums that were much more experimental and a lot less heavy than this album, but "Arise" is the sound of Sepultura at their pinnacle; here's where their thrash shines brightest. Like most Sep releases, "Arise" is a masterpiece and essential listening for all metalheads.

Right at the dropping hour of grunge, this tasty sonic assault emerged, and it was good. VERY good. Sepultura was about as heavy as it got back in 1991, other than the then laboring in (mostly) obscurity, fledgling death, black and grind scenes...

Heavy, brutal, raw, primal, aggressive, antisocial, tribal, throbbing and pounding... nothing else in 1991 sounded anything like this. And it's still extremely good today. Most death metal has easily surpassed this disc in terms of sheer brutality, but Sepultura ain't far behind. The throat on Max FAR eclipses most death grunters and croakers in brutal, as you could UNDERSTAND and FEAR him. That's how it's done RIGHT. Max had something intelligent and socially relevant to say (that didn't fully emerge until a bit later, on "Chaos A.D.") and he ROARED it!

The drumming and rhythm work has always been what made Sepultura for me... very tribal, and they GROOVE like mad, even when thrashing like lunatics. Much more rhythmic and catchy than most death metal, and just as heavy.

HIGHLY recommended.

Sepultura is the only respected foreign act to ever make it in the States. They are one of the most respected thrash metal acts. This album gives me goosebumps everytime I listen to it. The sheer power of the songs is enough to make you lose your concentration if you're listening to it while driving. If you're a thrash metal fan, BUY THIS ALBUM! Trust me, you won't skip a track and listen to all the cuts!

I like to think of this CD as Sepultura's Master of Puppets-it is the height of their old style before they begin to progress into newer and different styles. My favorite tracks are Arise, Dead Embryonic Cells, Desperate Cry, Altered State, Subtraction, and Orgasmatron. However, Murder has its moments, Infected voice has a really cool lick in the middle, and Meaningless Movements and the Intro are also pretty good. The only songs I really dont like are CIU and Under Seige. The Desperate Cry at the end is almost identical to the earlier one. Orgasmatron, originally by Motorhead, is probably the best Sepultura cover ever. The CDs musical aspect is very similar to Beneath the Remains, but rythym, notes, and time are more varied, and several songs have interesting sound effects as introductions. The overall sound quality of the CD is excellent, and the cover art is great. I highly recommend it.

Arise is one of the greatest thrash metal records ever made. Max screams insane lyrics while Andreas destroys your neighbours brains with heavy guitars riffs. Igor is one of the greatest drummers of all time. In my opinion, Arise was the best album from Sepultura. If you like thrash metal you will love Arise. Try Chaos A.D, too.

I bought this album for the cover (found out about Morbid Angel's Blessed Are The Sick the same way) At the time, '91, I was looking for fast aggressive music and when I picked up Sepultura's Arise and saw the cover I said to myself "This album looks like its going to kick my ass into the ground". And it did. Not just because the music is so brutal and well recorded, but because of the nature of the lyrics which are thoughtful, very political and VERY angry. They're worthy of any number of '80s era punk bands (not the limp pop mind candy of today) that put their frustration with the world and it's injustice to music. Max Cavalera's almost death metal like vocal delivery just ups the intensity. Arise is Sepultura's finest album if not their most musically sophisticated. This is before they got interested in tribal music, when Max, Igor, Andreas and Paulo wanted to just kick some major ass, thrash and vent. Quite simply, at the time they were probably the best metal band on the planet. Who knew that sunny Brazil could be such a hotbed for metal activity? It's a long way from The Girl From Ipanema to Infected Voice. The bonus tracks included in this release make a great album that much better. Buy it now.

With the 80's coming to an end and the 90's just beggining, many of the thrash bands like Metallica, Anthrax and Testament changed direction. The metal fan base was in anxious state: who would continue to hold the metal torch through the 90's? Albums like Metallica's Black album and Testament's Souls of black were meeting commercial appeal without retaining of the grit that made them what them famous in the first place.

Arise was released and exceeded every metal fans wildest dreams. Here was an album that could rival any album that Metallica had put out in the 80's and live up to expectations.
The boys from Sepultura knew they had to stick to their guns. They knew that change was good, but it was important to remember their roots. Having released an excellent an album two years earlier (Beneath the remains) the pressure and our boys from Brazil delivered!

Arise was a welcomed addition to every metal fan's music collection. Sepultura strays from the satan lyrics of past albums like Morbid Visions and MOVED ON to political issues. The ferocity remains, Sepultura know that they don't have to make a song heavy just for the sake of being heavy. Being skilled musicians, they know that songs need structure and a sens of melody. In the case of Arise their is a perfect ballance bewtween melody and agression.

Dead embyronic cells, desperate cry, all knock you down but let you hear the true genius at work. For example, the track Desperate cry has this interlude where things build up to a great solo, proving that a great solo doesn't have to be played fast or sqeal, it has to fit the mood of the song. Max Cavalera is a great axeman, and his brother Igor is a powerhouse behind the kit.

Sepultura's later albums would expreiment with more of a tribal sound with tin drums etc, but they would never match this master piece.

This is a great album. While Beneath the Remains is a tad bit primitive, and Roots is the beginning of their "new style", I find this album the best. The production is excellent, the lyrics meaningful, and the musicianship flawless. The album cover is superior also.