sepultura's breakthrough album was the first one initially released on roadrunner records. with the international distribution and this killer album up their sleeve, sepultura gained a lot of recognition and many positive reviews especially in europe where the first records weren't recieved well. actually roadrunner wasn't really convinced of the sale potential when they signed the band and so the label granted a relatively small budget which even doubled in the process of recording. little did roadrunner know that "beneath the ashes" would become a thrash classic which sold over 600.000 copies and was listed among the top twenty thrash records of all time by u.k. metal magazine terrorizer.
concerning my personal taste i can only praise it with the same superlatives like the music press did. this album is pure gold from first to last tune. the musical development in all departments is remarkable. "schizophrenia" sounds like the band had yet to find themselves. instead of trying to sound like the big bands of the genre, "beneath the remains" shows a group of grown musicians with better understanding for each other and a clear idea of what their very own sound was going to be like. check out the whole thing here.
the re-press is, just like "schizophrenia", a detailed re-work of the european roadracer pressing from 1989. rhino chose a clear orange colour-way for "beneath the remains" and i can only congratulate to this decision. works quite well with the cover art by michael whelan. the artwork is famous because it wasn't originally planned for the album. the artwork by whelan the band actually chose was given to obituary's "cause of death" by the label. the printed insert for this re-press is one-sided with a blank back. i wonder if this was the case with the original pressing. couldn't find any pictures. rhino records. 2017.
