(In this post TheMadIsraeli reviews the 2012 debut album by a Brazilian four-piece based in The Netherlands who call themselves Seita.)

Let’s talk about Sepultura for a minute…

A lot of people will talk about the Big Four, the underrated Testament, or the technical wizardry of Watchtower and Annihilator, but for me the height of thrash metal was the early Sepultura catalogue before Chaos A.D. Thrash took a pretty huge turn in the late 80’s and early 90’s, where if it wasn’t going the way of groove metal it was pushing the speed limit: How fast can you go, how heavy can you be while doing it, and how absolutely visceral an effect can you produce? For me in many ways, Sepultura defined what I ultimately loved about thrash metal. The frantic sense of panic, the speed, the technicality that could be gotten away with at those high speeds — Sepultura not only had all that in the bag, they also had an astute sense of songwriting.

Their know-how of when, in the midst of their slower numbers, to ambush listeners with an orgasmic adrenaline rush of fury out of nowhere was unrivaled at the time (I present “Desperate Cry” as evidence of this), and quite frankly in my book still is. This is the kind of thrash I like. It’s focused on absolutely blistering speed, a healthy dose of technicality that is yet pointed and focused, with an emphasis on savagery. My other thrash tastes reflect this in the music of bands such as Sodom, Kreator, early early Slayer (pre-Reign in Blood and post-Show No Mercy), Devastation, Exhorder, you get the idea. Continue reading »