I'll always prefer the thrashier days of 'Arise' but 'Roots' is one hell of a clever record, going beyond the traditional metal grind and swatting away the death metal values to be suddenly a unique experience in tribal mayhem. This is futuristic, true 'new metal' as such, a whole new world of angry sounds, blastbeats and arrogance that blasts every competitor out of the water, raising the bar and the stakes, but remaining unrivalled. For me, Sepultura were always unfulfilling to my ears, their brand of Brazilian thrash never edgy enough to dislodge the more frantic bayings of the U.S. bands, but 'Roots' is a whole new board game, combining real tribal chantings with thunderous metal, this is native, urban chaos mixed with heavy rock grumblings, the band recognising the shift as the mid-'90s scene swayed away from the old school and towards a more commercial market, not that 'Roots' is a commercial record but this certainly has nods to bands such as Korn rather than Venom as previous records may have, 'Roots' making Metallica's late career output seemingly embarrassing by comparison. Main cut 'Roots Bloody Roots' is the band's tribal 'Raining Blood', a truly gargantuan earthquake of a track that has become an anthem, and yet 'Roots' was to be the last record with Max on vocals, the band pretty much disappearing down the pan and Max continuing his warfare with Soulfly.
Simply purchase 'Roots', no real point in pondering on the bands tribal evil, but I promise you that you won't be disappointed with such a mountain of a record. File alongside Machine Head 'Burn My Eyes' and Fear Factory's 'Soul Of A New Machine' for a shifting of the elements and see why Slayer got left behind.
8.5/10
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