Arise (album)
Encyclopedia
Arise is the fourth studio album by Brazilian heavy metal
band Sepultura
, released in 1991 through Roadrunner Records
. Upon its release, the album received top reviews from heavy metal
magazines such as Rock Hard
, Kerrang!
and Metal Forces
. Arise is considered Sepultura's finest hour among longtime fans.
While the music on Arise was mostly in the same death
/thrash
style as their previous album, Beneath the Remains
, it was clear that the Sepultura sound was acquiring an experimental edge. The album presented their first incursions with groove metal
, industrial music
, hardcore punk
and Latin percussion
.
The tour (1990–1992) that supported the album was the group's longest at that time, totalling 220 shows in 39 different countries. During this trek, the album went gold in Indonesia
—the band's first music industry certification
. By the tour's end, Arise had achieved platinum sales worldwide.
, to work on the album. Scott Burns
reprised his role as producer
and engineer
, and now with a major advantage: Sepultura were at his home base, Morrisound
, a studio properly equipped to record their music style. Their label Roadrunner granted a $40,000 budget, which helped explain the album's improved production values. That allowed Igor and Burns, for example, to spend a whole week just testing the drum kit
's tunings
and experimenting with microphone practice
.
stated that Arise "took a lot of the same direction" as their previous LP
, Beneath the Remains, it was clear that their music had somehow changed. Sepultura's usual breakneck pace became toned down a bit; drummer Igor Cavalera
started using groove-laden rhythms; while the Max Cavalera
/Kisser guitar duo still retained the standard tuning
on their guitars. According to metal
specialist Don Kaye, the album "represented the band taking their initial death/thrash sound to its logical conclusion.". The album was also responsible for the development of the groove metal
genre which is clearly evident on most of the tracks particularly, Dead Embryonic Cells.
Arise also found the band opening up to non-metal influences. Bands such as Godflesh
, The Young Gods
and Ministry
were already part of Sepultura's listening habits, and slight touches of industrial music
can be traced through the use of samples
and sound effects. A trademark of a later phase—Latin percussion and "tribal" drumming—made its first appearance on the song "Altered State". The band's old love for hardcore punk is evident on "Subtraction" and "Desperate Cry".
lers Obituary
and Sadus
. That was the start of the longest promotional tour of Sepultura's career, a worldwide affair that would span two full years. In January 1991 they were invited to play for at the Brazil
ian music festival Rock in Rio 2
where their performance was watched by a 70,000-strong crowd.
Before heading out of Brazil on a mid-1991 European tour, Sepultura performed one more concert in São Paulo
, the country's largest city. It took place at Praça Charles Miller (in front of Estádio do Pacaembu
), on May 11. Local military police
expected 10,000 to attend. 30,000 showed up instead, making crowd management nearly impossible. Six people were hurt, 18 were arrested and one was shot dead. A week before, a young man was stabbed to death at a Ramones
concert in São Paulo, during a brawl between headbangers and skinheads. These events were followed by a huge mainstream media backlash throughout the country against rock music
.
Sepultura's three-month tour with thrash metal groups Sacred Reich
and Heathen
was a critical success. For the first time they appeared on the cover of best-selling British
heavy metal magazine Kerrang!
and major pop
weeklies
such as Melody Maker
and NME
published long feature articles on the group. While in Spain Sepultura recorded their Under Siege
video, which included their Barcelona
concert and interview footage with all four members of the band. After Europe, they toured North America with grindcore
pioneers Napalm Death
, New York City
hardcore punk group Sick of It All
and Sacred Reich. Sepultura wrapped up the year doing a brief German
tour with NWOBHM legends Mötorhead and Florida
death metal
group Morbid Angel
in December.
Sepultura then managed to secure a slot in two of the most sought after rock
tours of 1992. One was done with ex-Black Sabbath
singer Ozzy Osbourne
, who was promoting his multi-platinum solo album No More Tears
while the second tour was with industrial metal
stalwarts Ministry and influential noise rock
unit Helmet
. Both of these American acts had just released the most successful records of their careers - namely Psalm 69
and Meantime.
A remastered version of Arise was released by Roadrunner in 1997, with added notes by music critic Don Kaye and four bonus tracks: a cover version
of Motörhead's "Orgasmatron
", a rough mix of "Desperate Cry" and two previously unreleased songs. A previously unavailable photo shoot
from the Arise period was also included in the expanded CD booklet.
s Sérgio Sá Leitão pointed out Sepultura's increasing compositional skills, drawing attention to how the band's occasional use of restraint benefited their songs as a whole.
The international pop press also took notice of Brazil's premiere metal group. Top British weeklies such as the Melody Maker and NME wrote lengthy articles on the band, praising them. A Melody Maker journalist wrote: "Sepultura is [...] a Brazilian metal band which seems to be in the verge of getting big - maybe even bigger than Slayer
, their only true rival." Genre-specific magazines also reacted positively to the group. Germany's Thrash elected Sepultura the best band in the world, defeating major contenders Metallica
and Slayer. Sepultura were also prominently featured on the biggest metal publications of the time, such as Kerrang!
, Rock Hard
and Metal Forces
.
Arise was the first Sepultura record to enter the Billboard charts, at number 119. It was also the first to gain a music certification
—Arise went gold
in 1992 for selling 25,000 copies in Indonesia
. By 1993, the album had sold 1 million units around the globe. In 2001, it won a second certification: silver in the United Kingdom, for selling in excess of 60,000 copies.
Throughout the years, Arise has been continuously praised by the music press, not only as a landmark release of Sepultura's career, but of extreme metal in general. In November 1996, Q
magazine stated that "Arise remains their thrash high water mark, sounding like an angry man throwing tools at a urinal
while reading the Book of Revelation
s." Allmusic contributor Eduardo Rivadavia considered Arise as "a classic of the death metal genre." The album also appeared in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die
(2006), edited by writer Robert Dimery.
" single
. Tracks 11–13 are only available on the 1997 remastered re-release.
– producer
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
band Sepultura
Sepultura
Sepultura is a Brazilian heavy metal band from Belo Horizonte, formed in 1984. The band was a major force in the death metal, thrash metal and ultimately groove metal realms during the late 1980s and early 1990s, with their later experiments melding nu metal, hardcore punk and industrial.Sepultura...
, released in 1991 through Roadrunner Records
Roadrunner Records
Roadrunner Records is an American record label that concentrates primarily on heavy metal bands. It is currently a subsidiary of Warner Music Group.-History:...
. Upon its release, the album received top reviews from heavy metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
magazines such as Rock Hard
Rock Hard (magazine)
Rock Hard is a heavy metal magazine originally released in Germany. It was founded in 1983 by Holger Stratmann and is dedicated to all styles of rock and heavy metal. The magazine has independent offspring with the same name in France, Greece, Italy and Spain....
, Kerrang!
Kerrang!
Kerrang! is a UK-based magazine devoted to rock music published by Bauer Media Group. It was first published on June 6, 1981 as a one-off supplement in the Sounds newspaper...
and Metal Forces
Metal Forces
The British publication Metal Forces emerged during 1983 and aided greatly in the promotion of metal and rock genre music. The magazine was well known for its coverage of unsigned bands through its Demolition feature and championed the likes of Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, HellsBelles, Overkill,...
. Arise is considered Sepultura's finest hour among longtime fans.
While the music on Arise was mostly in the same death
Death metal
Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal. It typically employs heavily distorted guitars, tremolo picking, deep growling vocals, blast beat drumming, minor keys or atonality, and complex song structures with multiple tempo changes....
/thrash
Thrash metal
Thrash metal is a subgenre of heavy metal that is characterized usually by its fast tempo and aggression. Songs of the genre typically use fast percussive and low-register guitar riffs, overlaid with shredding-style lead work...
style as their previous album, Beneath the Remains
Beneath the Remains
Beneath the Remains is the third studio album by Brazilian heavy metal band Sepultura, released in 1989. It was their first release through Roadrunner Records.-Overview:...
, it was clear that the Sepultura sound was acquiring an experimental edge. The album presented their first incursions with groove metal
Groove metal
Groove metal is a subgenre of heavy metal. It was often used to describe Pantera and Exhorder.- Characteristics and origins :Pantera's Cowboys from Hell album from 1990 was described as "groundbreaking" and "blueprint-defining" for the groove metal genre...
, industrial music
Industrial music
Industrial music is a style of experimental music that draws on transgressive and provocative themes. The term was coined in the mid-1970s with the founding of Industrial Records by the band Throbbing Gristle, and the creation of the slogan "industrial music for industrial people". In general, the...
, hardcore punk
Hardcore punk
Hardcore punk is an underground music genre that originated in the late 1970s, following the mainstream success of punk rock. Hardcore is generally faster, thicker, and heavier than earlier punk rock. The origin of the term "hardcore punk" is uncertain. The Vancouver-based band D.O.A...
and Latin percussion
Latin percussion
The term Latin percussion refers to any number of a large family of musical percussion instruments used in Latin music, which in turn is a very loosely related group of musical styles, mainly from the Latin American region, and ultimately having roots or influences in African tribal...
.
The tour (1990–1992) that supported the album was the group's longest at that time, totalling 220 shows in 39 different countries. During this trek, the album went gold in Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
—the band's first music industry certification
Music recording sales certification
Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,...
. By the tour's end, Arise had achieved platinum sales worldwide.
Production
In August 1990, the band travelled to FloridaFlorida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, to work on the album. Scott Burns
Scott Burns (producer)
Scott Burns is an American computer engineer and an ex-music producer of death metal music, resident at Morrisound Recording studio in Tampa, Florida in late 1980s and 1990s.-Biography:...
reprised his role as producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
and engineer
Audio engineering
An audio engineer, also called audio technician, audio technologist or sound technician, is a specialist in a skilled trade that deals with the use of machinery and equipment for the recording, mixing and reproduction of sounds. The field draws on many artistic and vocational areas, including...
, and now with a major advantage: Sepultura were at his home base, Morrisound
Morrisound Recording
Morrisound Recording is an audio recording facility in Temple Terrace, Florida, owned and operated by brothers Jim and Tom Morris. Since its opening in 1981, Morrisound has been responsible for the popularization of genres such as heavy metal and death metal, but of course caters to every genre of...
, a studio properly equipped to record their music style. Their label Roadrunner granted a $40,000 budget, which helped explain the album's improved production values. That allowed Igor and Burns, for example, to spend a whole week just testing the drum kit
Drum kit
A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
's tunings
Drum set tuning
- Drum Set Tuning :Drum set tuning is the process of tensioning drumheads on a drum to produce a pleasing drum tone. A drummer tunes the drums using a drum key, a small, square socket-wrench that fits over the tension rods....
and experimenting with microphone practice
Microphone practice
There exist a number of well-developed microphone techniques used for miking musical, film, or voice sources. Choice of technique depends on a number of factors, including:...
.
Musical style
Although lead guitarist Andreas KisserAndreas Kisser
Andreas Rudolf Kisser is the lead guitarist for the metal band Sepultura as well as the rock supergroup HAIL!-Biography:...
stated that Arise "took a lot of the same direction" as their previous LP
LP album
The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...
, Beneath the Remains, it was clear that their music had somehow changed. Sepultura's usual breakneck pace became toned down a bit; drummer Igor Cavalera
Igor Cavalera
Igor Graziano Cavalera is a Brazilian musician. He is best known as the former drummer for Brazilian heavy metal band Sepultura.-Biography:...
started using groove-laden rhythms; while the Max Cavalera
Max Cavalera
Massimiliano Antonio "Max" Cavalera is a Brazilian singer, guitarist, and songwriter. He was the lead singer and rhythm guitarist for the heavy metal band Sepultura, before forming Soulfly in the late 1990s...
/Kisser guitar duo still retained the standard tuning
Guitar tunings
Guitar tunings almost always refers to the pitch of the open string, though some tunings may only realistically be attained by the use of a capo on an unmodified instrument....
on their guitars. According to metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
specialist Don Kaye, the album "represented the band taking their initial death/thrash sound to its logical conclusion.". The album was also responsible for the development of the groove metal
Groove metal
Groove metal is a subgenre of heavy metal. It was often used to describe Pantera and Exhorder.- Characteristics and origins :Pantera's Cowboys from Hell album from 1990 was described as "groundbreaking" and "blueprint-defining" for the groove metal genre...
genre which is clearly evident on most of the tracks particularly, Dead Embryonic Cells.
Arise also found the band opening up to non-metal influences. Bands such as Godflesh
Godflesh
Godflesh are an English industrial metal band from Birmingham, England. Originally known as Fall of Because, they formed in 1988 by Justin K. Broadrick and G.C. Green and disbanded in 2002. Godflesh's innovative music is widely regarded as a foundational influence on industrial metal and post-metal...
, The Young Gods
The Young Gods
The Young Gods are a Swiss post-industrial band. The band's lineup has generally consisted of a vocalist, a sampler operator and a drummer. Their instrumentation often includes sampled electric guitars, drums, keyboards, and other samples. The lyrics are depicted in English, French and...
and Ministry
Ministry (band)
Ministry is an American industrial metal band founded by lead singer Al Jourgensen in 1981. Originally a synthpop outfit, Ministry changed its style to industrial metal in the late 1980s. Ministry found mainstream success in the early 1990s with its most successful album Psalm 69: The Way to...
were already part of Sepultura's listening habits, and slight touches of industrial music
Industrial music
Industrial music is a style of experimental music that draws on transgressive and provocative themes. The term was coined in the mid-1970s with the founding of Industrial Records by the band Throbbing Gristle, and the creation of the slogan "industrial music for industrial people". In general, the...
can be traced through the use of samples
Sampling (music)
In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a different sound recording of a song or piece. Sampling was originally developed by experimental musicians working with musique concrète and electroacoustic music, who physically...
and sound effects. A trademark of a later phase—Latin percussion and "tribal" drumming—made its first appearance on the song "Altered State". The band's old love for hardcore punk is evident on "Subtraction" and "Desperate Cry".
Touring and promotion
Just one day after finishing the recording of Arise, the band embarked on a small headlining tour with extreme metalExtreme metal
Extreme metal is a loosely defined umbrella term for a number of related heavy metal music subgenres that have developed since the early 1980s. The term usually refers to a more abrasive, harsher, underground, non-commercialized style or sound nearly always associated with genres like black metal,...
lers Obituary
Obituary (band)
Obituary is an American death metal band formed in 1984 in Tampa, Florida under the name Executioner, then changed the name's spelling to Xecutioner, and later changed their name to Obituary in 1988. The band comprises vocalist John Tardy, drummer Donald Tardy, guitarists Trevor Peres and Ralph...
and Sadus
Sadus
Sadus is an American thrash metal trio from Antioch, California.-History:Sadus was formed in 1984 in Antioch, California. While their very first efforts were influenced by early thrash metal bands, such as Slayer or Death, the band would later develop its own musical style by adding complicated...
. That was the start of the longest promotional tour of Sepultura's career, a worldwide affair that would span two full years. In January 1991 they were invited to play for at the Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
ian music festival Rock in Rio 2
Rock in Rio
Rock in Rio is a series of music festivals held in three cities: Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, Lisbon in Portugal and Madrid in Spain.Four incarnations of the festival were in Rio de Janeiro, in 1985, 1991, 2001 and 2011, four in Lisbon, in 2004, 2006, 2008 and 2010, and two in Madrid in 2008 and 2010....
where their performance was watched by a 70,000-strong crowd.
Before heading out of Brazil on a mid-1991 European tour, Sepultura performed one more concert in São Paulo
São Paulo
São Paulo is the largest city in Brazil, the largest city in the southern hemisphere and South America, and the world's seventh largest city by population. The metropolis is anchor to the São Paulo metropolitan area, ranked as the second-most populous metropolitan area in the Americas and among...
, the country's largest city. It took place at Praça Charles Miller (in front of Estádio do Pacaembu
Estádio do Pacaembu
Estádio do Pacaembu , as it is usually called, is a football stadium in São Paulo, located on Praça Charles Miller, no nº - in Pacaembu neighborhood. Its official name is Estádio Municipal Paulo Machado de Carvalho and it is owned by the Municipal Prefecture of São Paulo...
), on May 11. Local military police
Military police
Military police are police organisations connected with, or part of, the military of a state. The word can have different meanings in different countries, and may refer to:...
expected 10,000 to attend. 30,000 showed up instead, making crowd management nearly impossible. Six people were hurt, 18 were arrested and one was shot dead. A week before, a young man was stabbed to death at a Ramones
Ramones
The Ramones were an American rock band that formed in the New York City neighborhood of Forest Hills, Queens, in 1974. They are often cited as the first punk rock group...
concert in São Paulo, during a brawl between headbangers and skinheads. These events were followed by a huge mainstream media backlash throughout the country against rock music
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
.
Sepultura's three-month tour with thrash metal groups Sacred Reich
Sacred Reich
Sacred Reich is a Phoenix, Arizona-based thrash metal band that formed in 1985. Singer/songwriter Phil Rind's interest was in socially conscious and political speed metal. After several records on Metal Blade Records, they signed to Hollywood Records for a short stint, but later returned to Metal...
and Heathen
Heathen (band)
Heathen is an American thrash metal band originating from the Bay Area San Francisco, founded in 1984 by guitarist Lee Altus and drummer Carl Sacco...
was a critical success. For the first time they appeared on the cover of best-selling British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
heavy metal magazine Kerrang!
Kerrang!
Kerrang! is a UK-based magazine devoted to rock music published by Bauer Media Group. It was first published on June 6, 1981 as a one-off supplement in the Sounds newspaper...
and major pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
weeklies
Weekly newspaper
A weekly newspaper is a general-news publication that is published on newsprint once or twice a week.Such newspapers tend to have smaller circulations than daily newspapers, and are usually based in less-populous communities or small, defined areas within large cities; often, they may cover a...
such as Melody Maker
Melody Maker
Melody Maker, published in the United Kingdom, was, according to its publisher IPC Media, the world's oldest weekly music newspaper. It was founded in 1926 as a magazine targeted at musicians; in 2000 it was merged into "long-standing rival" New Musical Express.-1950s–1960s:Originally the Melody...
and NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
published long feature articles on the group. While in Spain Sepultura recorded their Under Siege
Under Siege (Live in Barcelona)
Under Siege is the first live home video by Brazilian thrash metal band Sepultura, released in 1991. It was recorded during their mid-1991 European Arise tour and proeminently features songs from the said album...
video, which included their Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
concert and interview footage with all four members of the band. After Europe, they toured North America with grindcore
Grindcore
Grindcore is an extreme genre of music that started in the early- to mid-1980s. It draws inspiration from some of the most abrasive music genres – including death metal, industrial music, noise and the more extreme varieties of hardcore punk....
pioneers Napalm Death
Napalm Death
Napalm Death are a death metal band formed in Birmingham, England in 1981. While none of its original members remain in the group, the lineup of vocalist Mark "Barney" Greenway, bassist Shane Embury, guitarist Mitch Harris and drummer Danny Herrera has remained consistent for most of the band's ...
, New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
hardcore punk group Sick of It All
Sick of It All
Sick of It All is an American hardcore punk band from Queens, New York. Formed in 1986, the band consisted of brothers Lou Koller on vocals and Pete Koller on lead guitar, Rich Cipriano on bass, and Armand Majidi on drums. There have been only two member changes since their inception, with Max...
and Sacred Reich. Sepultura wrapped up the year doing a brief German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
tour with NWOBHM legends Mötorhead and Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
death metal
Death metal
Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal. It typically employs heavily distorted guitars, tremolo picking, deep growling vocals, blast beat drumming, minor keys or atonality, and complex song structures with multiple tempo changes....
group Morbid Angel
Morbid Angel
Morbid Angel is an American death metal band based in Tampa, Florida. UK music magazine Terrorizer ranked one Morbid Angel album in its “Top 40 greatest death metal albums”, with their 1989 debut Altars of Madness appearing at number 1...
in December.
Sepultura then managed to secure a slot in two of the most sought after rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
tours of 1992. One was done with ex-Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath are an English heavy metal band, formed in Aston, Birmingham in 1969 by Ozzy Osbourne , Tony Iommi , Geezer Butler , and Bill Ward . The band has since experienced multiple line-up changes, with Tony Iommi the only constant presence in the band through the years. A total of 22...
singer Ozzy Osbourne
Ozzy Osbourne
John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne is an English vocalist, whose musical career has spanned over 40 years. Osbourne rose to prominence as lead singer of the pioneering English heavy metal band Black Sabbath, whose radically different, intentionally dark, harder sound helped spawn the heavy metal...
, who was promoting his multi-platinum solo album No More Tears
No More Tears
- 2002 Reissue :- Personnel :Musicians* Ozzy Osbourne – vocals* Zakk Wylde – guitar* Bob Daisley – bass* Randy Castillo – drums* John Sinclair – keyboards, pianoAdditional personnel* Mike Inez – inspiration, musical direction...
while the second tour was with industrial metal
Industrial metal
Industrial metal is a musical genre that draws from industrial music and many different types of heavy metal, using repeating metal guitar riffs, sampling, synthesizer or sequencer lines, and distorted vocals. Founding industrial metal acts include Ministry, Godflesh, and KMFDM.Industrial metal's...
stalwarts Ministry and influential noise rock
Noise rock
Noise rock describes a style of post-punk rock music that became prominent in the 1980s. Noise rock makes use of the traditional instrumentation and iconography of rock, but incorporates atonality and especially dissonance, and also frequently discards usual songwriting conventions.-Style:Noise...
unit Helmet
Helmet (band)
Helmet is an alternative metal band from New York City formed in 1989. Founded by vocalist and lead guitarist Page Hamilton, Helmet has had numerous lineup changes, and Hamilton has been the only constant member....
. Both of these American acts had just released the most successful records of their careers - namely Psalm 69
Psalm 69: The Way to Succeed and the Way to Suck Eggs
-Samples:Samples.N.W.O.*"All right! It's all right!" - Apocalypse Now*"What we are looking at is good and evil, right and wrong." "A new world order!" "We're not about to make that same mistake twice." "God bless America! [crowd cheering]" "Wait...watch and learn." "I believe in freedom." -...
and Meantime.
A remastered version of Arise was released by Roadrunner in 1997, with added notes by music critic Don Kaye and four bonus tracks: a cover version
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
of Motörhead's "Orgasmatron
Orgasmatron (song)
"Orgasmatron" is the title song of British metal band Motörhead's 1986 album of the same name. One of Motörhead's heaviest songs, "Orgasmatron" is a dark apocalyptic tale of turmoil and pain mixed with religious and political themes...
", a rough mix of "Desperate Cry" and two previously unreleased songs. A previously unavailable photo shoot
Photo shoot
A photo shoot is generally used in the fashion industry, whereby a model poses for a photographer at a studio where multiple photos are taken to find the best ones for the required brief...
from the Arise period was also included in the expanded CD booklet.
Reception
Arise garnered praise from a wide variety of sources. By the time of its release, major Brazilian newspapers were already aware of the band's existence, and advance copies sent to them were generally met with positive reviews. Artur G. Couto Duarte, writing for O Estado de Minas, described Sepultura's soundscapes as "stories describing barren worlds where disease, hunger, torture and death reign supreme". Folha de S. PauloFolha de S. Paulo
Folha de S. Paulo, known simply as Folha , is a Brazilian daily newspaper founded and continuously published in São Paulo since 19 February 1921. Owned by the Frias de Oliveira family since 1962, it has Brazil's largest circulation since 1986. Alongside O Globo and O Estado de S...
s Sérgio Sá Leitão pointed out Sepultura's increasing compositional skills, drawing attention to how the band's occasional use of restraint benefited their songs as a whole.
The international pop press also took notice of Brazil's premiere metal group. Top British weeklies such as the Melody Maker and NME wrote lengthy articles on the band, praising them. A Melody Maker journalist wrote: "Sepultura is [...] a Brazilian metal band which seems to be in the verge of getting big - maybe even bigger than Slayer
Slayer
Slayer is an American thrash metal band formed in Huntington Park, California, in 1981 by guitarists Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King. Slayer rose to fame with their 1986 release, Reign in Blood, and is credited as one of the "Big Four" thrash metal acts, along with Metallica, Megadeth and...
, their only true rival." Genre-specific magazines also reacted positively to the group. Germany's Thrash elected Sepultura the best band in the world, defeating major contenders Metallica
Metallica
Metallica is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1981 when James Hetfield responded to an advertisement that drummer Lars Ulrich had posted in a local newspaper. The current line-up features long-time lead guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo ...
and Slayer. Sepultura were also prominently featured on the biggest metal publications of the time, such as Kerrang!
Kerrang!
Kerrang! is a UK-based magazine devoted to rock music published by Bauer Media Group. It was first published on June 6, 1981 as a one-off supplement in the Sounds newspaper...
, Rock Hard
Rock Hard (magazine)
Rock Hard is a heavy metal magazine originally released in Germany. It was founded in 1983 by Holger Stratmann and is dedicated to all styles of rock and heavy metal. The magazine has independent offspring with the same name in France, Greece, Italy and Spain....
and Metal Forces
Metal Forces
The British publication Metal Forces emerged during 1983 and aided greatly in the promotion of metal and rock genre music. The magazine was well known for its coverage of unsigned bands through its Demolition feature and championed the likes of Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, HellsBelles, Overkill,...
.
Arise was the first Sepultura record to enter the Billboard charts, at number 119. It was also the first to gain a music certification
Music recording sales certification
Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,...
—Arise went gold
Music recording sales certification
Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,...
in 1992 for selling 25,000 copies in Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
. By 1993, the album had sold 1 million units around the globe. In 2001, it won a second certification: silver in the United Kingdom, for selling in excess of 60,000 copies.
Throughout the years, Arise has been continuously praised by the music press, not only as a landmark release of Sepultura's career, but of extreme metal in general. In November 1996, Q
Q (magazine)
Q is a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom.Founders Mark Ellen and David Hepworth were dismayed by the music press of the time, which they felt was ignoring a generation of older music buyers who were buying CDs — then still a new technology...
magazine stated that "Arise remains their thrash high water mark, sounding like an angry man throwing tools at a urinal
Urinal
A urinal is a specialized toilet for urinating into. It has the form of a container or simply a wall, with drainage and automatic or manual flushing....
while reading the Book of Revelation
Book of Revelation
The Book of Revelation is the final book of the New Testament. The title came into usage from the first word of the book in Koine Greek: apokalupsis, meaning "unveiling" or "revelation"...
s." Allmusic contributor Eduardo Rivadavia considered Arise as "a classic of the death metal genre." The album also appeared in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die
1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die
1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die is a musical reference book edited by Robert Dimery, first published in 2005. The most recent edition consists of a list of albums released between 1955 and 2010, part of a series from Quintessence Editions Ltd...
(2006), edited by writer Robert Dimery.
Track listing
Track 10 was both a bonus track for the Brazilian release and a b-side of the "Dead Embryonic CellsDead Embryonic Cells
"Dead Embryonic Cells" is Sepultura's second single, as well as the second of three to be released from the album Arise. A music video for the song was produced and can be found on the VHS release Third World Chaos, which itself was released on DVD as part of Chaos DVD...
" single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
. Tracks 11–13 are only available on the 1997 remastered re-release.
Chart performance
Album - Billboard (North America)| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1991 | The Billboard 200 | 119 |
Credits
SepulturaSepultura
Sepultura is a Brazilian heavy metal band from Belo Horizonte, formed in 1984. The band was a major force in the death metal, thrash metal and ultimately groove metal realms during the late 1980s and early 1990s, with their later experiments melding nu metal, hardcore punk and industrial.Sepultura...
– producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
- Max CavaleraMax CavaleraMassimiliano Antonio "Max" Cavalera is a Brazilian singer, guitarist, and songwriter. He was the lead singer and rhythm guitarist for the heavy metal band Sepultura, before forming Soulfly in the late 1990s...
- vocalsSingingSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
, rhythm guitarRhythm guitarRhythm guitar is a technique and rôle that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with singers or other instruments; and to provide all or part of the harmony, ie. the chords, where a chord is a group of notes played together... - Andreas KisserAndreas KisserAndreas Rudolf Kisser is the lead guitarist for the metal band Sepultura as well as the rock supergroup HAIL!-Biography:...
- lead guitarLead guitarLead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure... - Paulo Jr.Paulo Jr.Paulo Jr. is the bassist and the only remaining original member of the Brazilian heavy metal band Sepultura.-Life and work:...
- bass guitarBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick.... - Igor CavaleraIgor CavaleraIgor Graziano Cavalera is a Brazilian musician. He is best known as the former drummer for Brazilian heavy metal band Sepultura.-Biography:...
- drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
, percussionPercussion instrumentA percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...
- Scott BurnsScott Burns (producer)Scott Burns is an American computer engineer and an ex-music producer of death metal music, resident at Morrisound Recording studio in Tampa, Florida in late 1980s and 1990s.-Biography:...
– producer, engineerAudio engineeringAn audio engineer, also called audio technician, audio technologist or sound technician, is a specialist in a skilled trade that deals with the use of machinery and equipment for the recording, mixing and reproduction of sounds. The field draws on many artistic and vocational areas, including...
, lyrical and translation assistance - Andy WallaceAndy Wallace (producer)Andy Wallace is a Grammy Award-winning music studio engineer with a long track record of successful productions, beginning with the 1986 production of the Run-DMC/Aerosmith collaboration on "Walk This Way" with Rick Rubin...
– mixingAudio mixing (recorded music)In audio recording, audio mixing is the process by which multiple recorded sounds are combined into one or more channels, most commonly two-channel stereo. In the process, the source signals' level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated and effects such as reverb may... - Fletcher McLean – assistant engineer, lyrical and translation assistance
- Steve Sisco – assistant mix engineer
- Howie Weinberg – masteringAudio masteringMastering, a form of audio post-production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device ; the source from which all copies will be produced...
- Henrique Portugal – synthesizerSynthesizerA synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...
s - Kent Smith – sound effect creation
- Michael WhelanMichael WhelanMichael Whelan is an American artist of imaginative realism. For more than 30 years he worked as an illustrator specializing in science fiction and fantasy cover art...
– cover illustration ("Arise") - Tim Hubbard – photography
- Patricia Mooney – art direction
- Don Kaye – liner notes
- Carole Segal – photography
- Alex Solca – photography
- Shaun Clark – photography
- Rui Mendes – photography
- Bozo – tribal "S" logo