“Roots Bloody Roots” by Sepultura

"Roots Bloody Roots" kicks the door in on Roots, the Brazilian metal band Sepultura's sixth studio album, and went out as its lead single in February 1996. It's a battle cry built on tribal thunder: Igor Cavalera's drums pound like a war council, Max Cavalera and Andreas Kisser grind down-tuned riffs into the dirt, Paulo Jr. rumbles underneath, and Max roars words he wrote himself. Ross Robinson produced it with the band, and Andy Wallace mixed it with Steve Sisco.

The video matched the music, setting the band down in a catacomb and then out in the street, backed by a whole troupe of tribal drummers. It became Sepultura's best-known song and a fixture of their encores, and Max kept hauling it out with Soulfly and Cavalera Conspiracy after he left. In 2021 Revolver's Eli Enis ranked it among metal's greatest album openers.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.