Roots is a strange one. I can understand why people would be pissed off at Sepultura for steering away from thrash and going into this super down-tuned, groovy territory. But, you gotta give it to Max for getting a hold of a musical vision and just completely committing to it. It is easy to dismiss Roots as “MaX hEaRd KoRn AnD WAs liKe – lEt’S jUsT Do ThiS LOL”, because after his time in Sepultura, Max continued entirely in this vein with Soulfly. This is what he wanted to do. Ya’ll thrash nerds are just going to have to live with that.
But, my embracing of such a fact does not mean that I think Roots is the best thing ever recorded. It’s something of a kick in the dick that if you watch live or video footage of the band playing this kind of super-heavy music with Brazilian percussive instrumentation over the top of it, then you realise just how well this stuff can work. However, that doesn’t translate super well onto the record. Tracks are a hit and miss mish-mash of intense grooves or bad nu-metal, and the vocals are much in the same vein.
Roots is an awkward record for an awkward time for metal in general, but it is well worth checking out from an historical standpoint.