47. Sepultura - 'Quadra'

Another band I have a checkered past with. I have just never got them. Back in the day, I rather liked “Arise” and “Chaos AD”, but heretically I found “Roots” to be a lot of fuss about nothing. It felt, to me, to be a lot of testosterone fuelled male posturing and, in my eyes, Sepultura came to represent the toxic masculinity side of Metal that I personally find so repulsive.  

The moral of this story is that our perceptions can drift away from reality. “Quadra” is a mature and emotionally literate album. It sounds nothing like I was expecting it to. There is no chest beating homo-superiority bullshit to be found. Instead, it contains thoughtful and well-constructed modern Metal. Direct and powerful, but also full of emotion and pathos. There is an evident level of self-awareness, which combines impressively with the weight of the tracks. “Quadra” feels like a band comfortable in its own skins and not afraid to show their vulnerabilities. As said, so not what I expected but I have never been so happy to be proved wrong.