Sepultura released their latest album "Nation" through roadrunner records this February hot on the heels of Soulfly’s second album! This album is truly a very mediocre album in every sense!! The old-Sep aggression and fury is gone and there is this nu-metal sound, with a very subdued type of aggression replacing it. If u love bands like Machine Head then "Nation" is definitely your fix. So in order to enjoy this album you’ll have to change mindsets {which I couldn’t!} or you’ll end up cursing the band and also suffer 45 minutes of sheer misery. Sepultura have drifted away from their thrash roots for good with this album, and thus first track "Sepulnation" attempts desperately to inspire the feeling of unity among sep freaks. But I think their attempt of initiating a congregation of the sep-maniacs will fail as they’re fast depleting! The band has forged further with the "against" sound losing more heat and ferocity which reely comes as a disappointment to me! Third song "Border Wars" I much better, in fact good only but is too short-lived! "One Man Army" {a song which should be dedicated to Ozzy} has some clean singing which reminded me of STP {eeekkks!!!} which is truly a crappy song though the groove has some chances of getting to you. God – what’s happened to Sepultura you will be thinking right now – the attempted diversity is a bit too much to digest! No matter how large Derrick Green may become or even how loud he may shout, he will never be able to fit into Max’s shoes!! The drumming is also very lame to say, and could’ve been at least 10 times faster and better too {bare minimum double bas thunder from Igor}. And the electronica used at the end of "One Man Amy" sux too. The music on "Vox Populi" is very groovy and foot-thumpable. " The Ways of Faith" another one with clean vocals reminded me of Metallica’s crappy sound on Re-load. Almost all the tracks see the band indulging heavily into some Brazilian/South American sounds – I guess the effect of finally recording in Brazil fully after a helluva long time! "Uma Cura" is a nice song with tribal drumming reflecting some of the still prevalent "roots" vibe. Marihno of Pavilhao9, another Brazilian band helps out with the bass duties on that one. Green reely put his lungs into the singing but as far as charisma goes still falls a foot or two short of the master! The songs are boring in the sense that they have a very repetitive song structure and you can actually predict with fair accuracy places when the tempo will vary. A few songs down the line "Tribe to a Nation" is much pacier and will certainly rouse some headbanging though it incorporates some rapping by Dr.Israel!! "Human Cause" has Hatebreeder singer joining in which is one of the few gems on this album. A typical thrash and fast number but it’s too short again{under a minute!}. The band quickly reverts back to the slower mode with "Reject" another groovy track with some sprinkling of double bass hammering. Last song "Valtio" has friends Apocalyptica playing a symphonic piece which is good with violins, pianos and acoustic guitars giving it a very doomy and in fact depressing atmosphere which I guess will aptly be indicative of your emotions now! Overall a very dismal performance by such a great band, which is now on the downslide, moving very fast! Just goes on to prove that the loss of a crucial element can truly wreck a band. I think Sepultura have to rethink their strategy if they wish world dominance once again and have to come up with thrash masterpieces like before! But if they move this way they might get new audiences but I guess that wouldn’t deserve to be called Sepultura again. The only option is reconciliation, which will save this sinking ship and bring Sep outta its own grave these guys are digging!! Whatever, listen to it if you’re a Sep freako like me!! UP THE IRONS!