Roorback in Bloomington, MN

Losing a lead singer can be incredibly disruptive for a band. Some bands will bounce back --
AC/DC
, for example, sounded better than ever when they hired
Brian Johnson
after
Bon Scott
's untimely death -- while others will suffer a creative decline.
Sepultura
experienced a major loss when former lead singer
Max Cavalera
left to form
Soulfly
in 1996, but thankfully,
Derrick Green
proved to be a highly capable replacement. If 1998's mildly uneven
Against
--
's first album with
Green
-- found the band struggling with the transition,
was filling
Cavalera
's shoes much more confidently on 2001's
Nation
. And if there are still any lingering doubts about the
/
match, 2003's excellent
Roorback
should put them to rest for good.
is passionate and focused throughout the album -- he has no problem going that extra mile -- and the writing is consistently strong. Unrest and political corruption are recurring themes on
; American singer
and his Brazilian colleagues spare no anger on incendiary tracks like
"Mind War,"
"Apes of God,"
and the crushing opener,
"Come Back Alive"
(which is about surviving the horrors of wartime combat). The songs that
wrote for
paint a consistently bleak and troubling picture of the world -- one that is only reinforced by an unlikely remake of
U2
's
"Bullet the Blue Sky"
appended to the album.
successfully give
's gem a ferocious
alternative metal
makeover, and
Bono
's dark lyrics are right at home on this politically charged CD. When
came out during the summer of 2003,
had been together for 19 years -- and this compelling disc finds them very much on top of their game after almost two decades in the
metal
field. [Upon its initial release,
included the
Revolusongs
EP, which included several covers, among them
"Bullet the Blue Sky,"
Jane's Addiction
"Mountain Song,"
and
Massive Attack
"Angel."
] ~ Alex Henderson