FROM THE CRYPTS - CELEBRATING PAST ALBUM RELEASES in the HISTORY of HARD ROCK & HEAVY METAL…
On November 10, 1986, Sepultura released their debut full-length studio album Morbid Visions via Cogumelo Records.
While later albums have a more political edge, Morbid Visions (along with the Bestial Devastation EP) is notable for "Satanic" themes. The band said many lyrics were fashioned after those of Venom and Celtic Frost (note the similarity of the album title to Morbid Tales).
Background:
The band recorded and mixed Morbid Visions over a seven day period in August, 1986, on 16 tracks at Estudio Vice Versa, Belo Horizonte, Brazil. The album was self produced by Sepultura with engineering, mixing and mastering duties held by Eduardo Santos and Ze Luiz. Morbid Visions contained Sepultura’s first hit, Troops of Doom, which gained the band some media attention. The band then decided to relocate to the larger city of São Paulo.
The production of the album is rather poor. In the liner notes of Roadrunner's reissue of the album (which includes the tracks from the EP Bestial Devastation), Max Cavalera admits that the band neglected to tune their guitars during the sessions. They (Sepultura) were only starting to learn English at this point, so they had to translate the lyrics word-for-word using a dictionary. All pre-1992 releases of Morbid Visions featured the first movement of Carl Orff's Carmina Burana (O Fortuna) as an unnamed introduction. This composition was left off the CD re-release, probably due to copyright issues. This would mark the last appearance of the group's original lead guitarist Jairo Guedz.
Critical Reception:
In a review of the Roadrunner Records reissue of Morbid Visions/Bestial Devastation for AllMusic, Eduardo Rivadavia stated;
“Although it's tempting to succumb to retroactive reevaluation, most critics agree that Sepultura's earliest efforts consisted of rather undercooked, unspectacular black metal, hardly foreshadowing their world-conquering output in the death metal field, just a few years ahead. Both 1985's Bestial Devastation EP and the band's first LP, 1986's Morbid Visions, were recorded with minimal time or money, and revealed a band of teenagers more preoccupied with shocking their parents than creating great music, and clearly still learning their craft. In fact, original lead guitarist Jairo T. was the only semi-decent musician of the bunch, but vocalist/guitarist Max Cavalera, drummer Igor Cavalera, and bassist Paulo Jr. nevertheless contributed a mighty spirited racket on blackened thrashers like Antichrist and Warriors of Death. Venom would have been proud. And yet Sepultura still showed early flashes of death metal inspiration on Crucifixion and Show Me the Wrath, even though Troops of Doom (later re-recorded) is the only obvious standout on hand. Thankfully, Roadrunner has conveniently reissued Morbid Visions and Bestial Devastation on one CD, lowering the price of admission for uncertain metalheads wishing to hear what all the fuss was about."
Note: The reviews shared here are for historical reference. The views and opinions expressed within are not always supported (in full or in part) by Into the Wells. — E.N. Wells
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