Review: Sepulchral Feast

Various Artists
“Sepulchral Feast: “A Tribute to Sepultura””
(Century Media)

This little romp through Sepultura’s history by the legions of bands that have been influenced by the Brazilian powerhouse is mostly through a more straight ahead death metal approach.  A retrospective from the more popular time with Max Cavalera, gems from all the albums up through Roots get there time here.  Mostly unknowns to me, these bands present a series of highs and lows, often failing to give as much life to the song as Sepultura can, though occasionally offering great covers worthy of praise.  The bands that cover the Morbid Visions and Schizophrenia are generally poorer, and less familiar sounding.  The first six tracks are rather disappointing, almost completely devoid of any trace of Sepultura’’s influences or original sound. The change over begins with Defleshed’s “Beneath The Remains,” which was just fucking great; it was powerful, and contained enough of the original sound in to make a cover that actually lives up to the original. Another successful cover is Impious’ “Inner Self” sporting a supped up tempo and most of the quality you’d hope to find. The Crown managed to give some new life to “Arise,” and quality remains consistent for Exhumation’s “Territory” and Gooseflesh’s “Slave New World.” Slavestate follows with a spirited rendition of “Roots Bloody Roots.”  Gardenian’s take on “Cut Throat” was able to kept the winning streak up for Denial, who did a great job with “Ratamahatta.”