ALBUM REVIEW: SepulQuarta – Sepultura

After releasing their 15th studio album Quadra in February 2020, Brazilian metal forefathers SEPULTURA had their momentum halted by the pandemic. Refusing to stay stagnant and put the band on hold, they started a weekly livestream to engage with fans and talk to some of their closest fellow musicians. Without any intentions to do so, the SepulQuarta livestream event started to take form as a collection of tracks with special guests that were recorded live every Wednesday. 

As the album cover brilliantly represents, SepulQuarta is all about life out of death, art born out of nothing. Serving as a halfway house between a live album and a studio recording, this album is very unique in this regard due to the circumstances of its creation. As for the tracklist itself, it’s a mix of the band’s most iconic tracks, some slightly deeper cuts and one cover. The crucial part of this album’s appeal is its collection of guests featured on every single track that joined the band throughout the course of 2020. 

Whilst there isn’t anything necessarily game-changing here on these re-recorded versions, the guests do provide a reason to go back and celebrate the career of SEPULTURA to this point especially after the well-received release of Quadra. Some of the biggest thrills are provided by some A-list guest guitarists and vocalists, with the likes of Scott Ian, Matt Heafy and Devin Townsend breathing plenty of life into their spots. What works so well about the guests that are featured is that they feel at home on the tracks whilst adding some extra personality and distinctive flavour. 

SEPULTURA staple Ratamahatta features Brazilian drummers Joao Barone and Charles Gavin and serves as a perfect example of what the record is. With the band unable to play this track with multiple drummers live, they are able to do this here on a record with it still having a bit of that ‘live’ feel. Also featured on the record is a cover of the MOTÖRHEAD track Orgasmatron, featuring the bands long-serving lead guitarist Phil Campbell, which is a fun little diversion to close out the collection of tracks.

For SEPULTURA fans, this record should be seen as a moment of indulgence. Instead of staying quiet throughout the pandemic until they could tour their February 2020 release, they’ve come away with this snapshot of the year they’ve been through with something very positive to show for it. It is at its core a collection of songs from the band’s back catalogue that fits somewhere in between a live and studio album. It isn’t essential listening and it’s not going to have an impact in the way that some of their previous records, including Quadra, have had. 

On the other hand, in its own very unique way this is a record that could have only come out in the previous year. With the album’s creation being entirely unintentional, it symbolises coming together and has joy and fun right at its core. This makes SepulQuarta mean more than just an assortment of re-recorded songs, even if that is literally what it is. As mentioned, it isn’t going to be essential listening for every fan out there but that’s not what it’s aiming to be. It serves as a memory of this year in the band’s history as well as their relationship with the fans and friends they’ve met along the way, existing for no other reason than a love of playing and sharing music.

Rating: 8/10

SepulQuarta is set for release on August 13th via Nuclear Blast Records.

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