Quadra (album)

Last updated

Quadra
Septultura-quadra.jpg
Studio album by
ReleasedFebruary 7, 2020
RecordedAugust–October 2019
StudioFascination Street Studios, Örebro, Sweden
Genre
Length51:14
Label
Producer Jens Bogren
Sepultura chronology
Machine Messiah
(2017)
Quadra
(2020)
Sepulquarta
(2021)
Singles from Quadra
  1. "Isolation"
    Released: November 8, 2019
  2. "Last Time"
    Released: December 20, 2019
  3. "Means to an End"
    Released: February 7, 2020

Quadra is the fifteenth studio album by Brazilian heavy metal band Sepultura, released on February 7, 2020. [1] [2] It is a concept album based on numerology, the number four and its significance as depicted on Quadrivium. The band went to Sweden to work with producer Jens Bogren for the recording of Quadra.

Contents

The album is the band's most successful record since 1998's Against , charting in 17 countries and entering the top 20 in seven countries (eight, considering the UK Rock & Metal Albums Chart). It is also their most successful album in Germany and Switzerland to date, exceeding the chart positions of Roots (1996), with positions number five and number 13, respectively.

With Sepultura set to embark on a farewell tour in 2024–2025, and deciding against recording another album, Quadra will likely be the band's final studio album. [3] This is also the band's final studio album with drummer Eloy Casagrande before his departure from the band in 2024.

Concept

Guitarist Andreas Kisser explained that the concept of the album is based on Quadrivium, which are the four subjects, or arts (namely arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy), taught after teaching the trivium. The word is Latin, meaning four ways. The concept was discussed with the well known music photographer Marcos Hermes who was responsible for the picture of the album cover.

Based on this, the band divided the 12-track album into four sections of three songs each. The first being thrash metal songs, based on the classic Sepultura sound. The second section is inspired by the groove-percussion oriented sound the band explored in Roots . The third part has more progressive songs inspired by the track "Iceberg Dances" from Machine Messiah, but is not all instrumental tracks. Side four features slow-paced and melodic tracks, similar to the song "Machine Messiah". [4]

Quadra is also the Portuguese term for sports court. Kisser stated that "everyone grows up in a different Quadra, shaped by rules and definitions. We are all determined by these concepts, our relationships, our careers. Our whole lives." [1]

When Derrick Green was asked during an interview with BraveWords , "Which Sepultura album are you most proud of?", he replied, "Definitely Quadra. It's the latest album, and we really worked so hard on it. We have so many different elements from the past that have helped us get to here – where we are at right now. So, without a doubt in my mind, this is the strongest album that we've done together. And I'm extremely proud of it." [5]

Reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic 77/100 [6]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [7]
The Arts Desk Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [8]
Blabbermouth.net 9/10 [9]
Clash 7/10 [10]
Consequence of Sound B [11]
Exclaim! 8/10 [12]
Kerrang! 3/5 [13]
Metal Storm 8.0/10 [14]
Ultimate Guitar 8.7/10 [15]

Quadra received positive reviews. Thom Jurek of AllMusic wrote in a review: "Quadra is Sepultura's first album to actually stand on equal qualitative footing with their classic trilogy. It offers a series of tough, meaty, adventurous songs, that abundantly indulge raw power and emotion. Bogren's production and Sepultura's execution are in perfect balance. Further, Green delivers a career-defining performance here. It is the first Sepultura album in decades to measure favorably alongside the band's classic output". [7] Blabbermouth's Dom Lawson wrote that Quadra "plainly and loudly showcases the sound of a band at the height of their powers, both in terms of creativity and musicianship" and calls the album "one of their finest records yet". [9]

Metalriot.com chose Quadra as their number one album of 2020. Morgan Y. Evans wrote that the album ,"...is nothing short of a monument to a lifetime in metal, the determined triumph of a legacy name never saying die and following their trusted vision over popular opinion. Quadra works on every level. In a year filled with so much death even the band's name vibrates on some heavy karmic level, but "Isolation" especially resonates deeply in a time of so much social upheaval for justice reform." [16]

The website Collector's Room included Quadra on the top 50 Brazilian metal albums of all time. [17] Metal Hammer named it as the 30th best metal album of 2020. [18]

At the 2020 Metal Storm Awards, the album won a Metal Storm Award for Best Thrash Metal Album. [19]

Track listing

All lyrics are written by Derrick Green

Quadra track listing
No.TitleMusicLength
1."Isolation"4:56
2."Means to an End"
  • Kisser
  • Casagrande
4:39
3."Last Time"
  • Kisser
  • Casagrande
4:27
4."Capital Enslavement"
  • Kisser
  • Casagrande
3:40
5."Ali"
  • Kisser
  • Casagrande
4:12
6."Raging Void"
  • Kisser
  • Casagrande
3:57
7."Guardians of Earth"
  • Kisser
  • Casagrande
5:11
8."The Pentagram" (instrumental)
  • Kisser
  • Casagrande
5:20
9."Autem"
  • Kisser
  • Casagrande
4:06
10."Quadra" (instrumental)Kisser0:46
11."Agony of Defeat"
  • Kisser
  • Casagrande
5:51
12."Fear, Pain, Chaos, Suffering" (featuring Emmily Barreto)
  • Kisser
  • Casagrande
4:09
Total length:51:14
Alive in Brazil (digipak and earbook bonus disc)
No.TitleLyricsMusicLength
1."Choke" (from Against , 1998)Kisser3:46
2."Convicted in Life" (from Dante XXI , 2006)
  • Kisser
  • Green
  • Kisser
  • Green
  • Cavalera
3:31
3."Sepulnation" (from Nation , 2001)
  • Green
  • Cavalera
  • Kisser
  • Cavalera
4:41
4."Apes of God" (from Roorback , 2003)
  • Kisser
  • Green
  • Kisser
  • Cavalera
  • Green
3:22
5."Sepultura Under My Skin" (from Sepultura Under My Skin, 2015)
  • Kisser
  • Green
Kisser3:45
6."Manipulation of Tragedy" (from The Mediator... , 2013)
  • Green
  • Kisser
  • Kisser
  • Casagrande
4:19
7."The Vatican" (from The Mediator..., 2013)
  • Green
  • Kisser
  • Kisser
  • Casagrande
6:34
8."Cut-Throat" (from Roots , 1996) Max Cavalera Sepultura2:55
Total length:32:28

Personnel

Sepultura

Guests

Charts

Sales chart performance for Quadra
Chart (2020)Peak
position
Australian Digital Albums (ARIA) [20] 19
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria) [21] 17
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) [22] 59
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia) [23] 54
French Albums (SNEP) [24] 63
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) [25] 5
Hungarian Albums (MAHASZ) [26] 12
Japanese Albums (Oricon) [27] 225
Polish Albums (ZPAV) [28] 23
Portuguese Albums (AFP) [29] 11
Scottish Albums (OCC) [30] 31
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE) [31] 40
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade) [32] 13
UK Independent Albums (OCC) [33] 11
UK Rock & Metal Albums (OCC) [34] 5

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References

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