Musical Style and Influences
The inspiration for Sepultura's new musical direction was twofold. One was the desire to further experiment with the music of Brazil, especially the percussive type played by Salvador, Bahia samba reggae group Olodum. Another innovation Roots brought was the inspiration taken from the sound of Deftones and Korn - especially the latter's debut, with its heavily down-tuned guitars.
The style of Roots incorporates elements of death metal, nu metal thrash metal and hardcore punk.
The band incorporated these elements into almost all songs in the album, and one of them ("Itsári") was actually recorded with members of the Xavante Indians at their ancestral home. Meeting the Xavante Indians meant a lot to Sepultura. Igor says that the band identified a lot with the natives: "In a certain way, I think that we, as a band, had a lot of things in common with the Xavante Indians. We also lived on the edge of society, and our music and lifestyle is a long way from being assimilated and respected by that society." A spokesman of the tribe declared: "We had seen pictures of Sepultura and we knew that they were different, with their long hair and many tattoos. We also knew that they had been discriminated, like we were. Because of that we were very curious about them." Some songs also include participation ("Ratamahatta", "Dictatorshit" and "Endangered Species") and co-writing ("Ratamahatta") from Carlinhos Brown, a popular Brazilian musician. The political theme and influence of hardcore punk on the album are further reflected in the topic of "Dictatorshit", namely the 1964 Brazilian coup d'état. The lyrics to "Attitude" were co-written by Dana Wells, Max Cavalera's stepson, whose death (in part) lead to the events which caused Max to leave the band. Dana also came up with the concept for the video for the song, featuring Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu experts the Gracie family.
Long-time friend Mike Patton (of Faith No More) and Jonathan Davis (of Korn) provided lyrics and vocals on the song "Lookaway". The last words in the song "Cut-Throat" are "Enslavement, Pathetic, Ignorant, Corporations". This spells EPIC, the record company with which Sepultura had some trouble during their previous album, Chaos A.D.
Read more about this topic: Roots (Sepultura album)
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