The history of Sepultura is a tragedy worthy of a Shakespearean play. Formed in Brazil, the band had to overcome incredible hurdles to be taken seriously in the west, succeeding through sheer force of will and talent. "Roots" to this day remains one of the most ferocious metal albums ever recorded, a testament to the phenomenal musical talents that the band members had in the mid-90s.

Unfortunately, everything went awry. Internal bickering and fighting led to the band being split in two, with frontman and arguably the brains of the outfit, Max Cavalera eventually leaving in order to form Soulfly. Undeterred, the remnants of the band decided to press on. After all, what possible damage could be dealt to the band and its credibility with just one less member? Surely, it wouldn't hurt, right? Sadly no, and most of the band's post-Max output has been pedestrian at best, and really terrible at the worst.

"Dante XXI" is the band's latest attempt to make amends, and it's receiving all the usual hype that it's a "return to form", "a new classic", and the like. Predictably and depressingly enough, it's all a load of crap, because while this album is suitably fast and intense, it's also pretty bland. The band, and in particular ring-in vocalist Derrick Green, have once again mistaken intensity and volume for quality, the result being an album that is largely without interesting riffs, decent lyrics, or indeed anything that you can't get from some local unknown teenage metal band. For an album that is supposedly a concept album about Dante's "Inferno", some of the lyrics here are pretty stupid and superficial.

Chief amongst the complaints is the way that the sound has been touched up and overproduced beyond all recognition. Plastered all over the album are various tacky sounding interludes full of cello, violin, and piano. In the old days, the band were able to muster atmosphere using only guitars, and the inclusion of the classical instruments here, rather than making the music sound deep and mysterious, makes it sound cheap and tacky. Not present are the Brazilian influences that made so much of their earlier work notable, and the absence of one of the main things that made this band interesting is sort of like reforming The Beatles with only Ringo Starr in attendance. It might be Sepultura in name, but it sure doesn't sound like it.

Sure, I'll give it to the band that this is probably their best album since "Roots", but that's still not really good enough. There are no technical problems with the performances here, all of the guitarwork is good, and the drumming in particular is fantastic as it always is. But the material that they have to work with is absolute crap, and even a fantastic performance can't save them from that.