Sepultura – Quadra (Review)

Legendary Brazilian metal band Sepultura return with their fifteenth album.

In my humble opinion 2017’s Machine Messiah was the band’s best album since the iconic Roots, and it’s a release I’m still really enjoying now. With Quadra the band continue their upward ascent with another album of sterling quality, one that promises to have every bit of longevity that its predecessor had.

According to the band Quadra is divided into four parts; a heavier thrashier part; a more rhythmic, percussive part; a more experimental part; and a more melodic part. What this means in practice is that although certain songs definitely fall more fully into each of these quarters, and as you move forward through the tracks you can hear the journey that the album takes you on, we actually get a good variety of different influences popping up across the full album.

Quadra finds the band unleashing a contemporary version of the thrash metal that they originally made their name with all those many years ago. They’re never lost these roots, of course, but on their latest release they revisit them more consciously than they have done in some time. Being Sepultura, however, the band mix this together with lots of tools and tricks they have learned elsewhere over their storied career, which includes tribal, orchestral, choral, melodic, and hardcore influences. This results in engrossing, engaging songs that provide the listener with a wealth of catchy, memorable, anthemic, and emotive content.

The band’s mix of thrash metal and progressive aspects sounds absolutely on fire on Quadra, and Sepultura have done well to sound as passionate on recording as they clearly are. Most bands even half this many decades into existence would be content to just lifelessly rehash old glories, but not Sepultura; learning from the past to push into the future, Sepultura’s latest album is a comprehensive treat for any metal fan.

Multifaceted, enjoyable, and hugely impressive, Quadra is essential listening.