Sepultura - Morbid Visions/Bestial Devastation

A must have to any thrash metal fan!!!

Agree with other reviewers, the early Sepultura was very influenced by Slayer, Bathory and Celtic Frost. Their primitive sound and the production delivers a thrash/black metal with attitude. I prefer the raw and primitive sound of this album for this type of music is welcome. December 30, 2006

Sepultura's roots!

"Morbid Visions/Bestial Devastation" is where it all began for Sepultura. This album is actually a combination of Sepultura's first ep and first record. Sepultura almost didn't get discovered in fact. A record promoter (I don't know his name) was listening to a large hand full of demos from Brazilian metal bands and according to him almost all of them were really lack luster and run-the-mill. At least until he heard Sepultura's EP "Bestial Devastation" and something caught his eye. Thank the metal gods he didn't pass this band up. Sepultura would be band that would forever influence the world of heavy metal and have one of the most loyal fan bases for the next 10 years.

Granted "Morbid Visions/Bestial Devastation" is far from Sepultura's best, however it was the beginning of something great. Moreover, the tracks "Troops of Doom" and "Necromancer" are Sep classics. Although the album heavily took from a Celtic Frost record, plus it is very easy to hear a huge Slayer influence in the record as well. But one has to over look this because the band members were only 18 years old at the time of the album recording. They also had a hard time speaking and writing English as well. They wrote their own music but used a lot of Celtic Frost's lyrics. "Morbid Visions" is by far the most death metal sounding record that Sepultura has recorded. Max's growls and Igor's fast paced drumbeats are quintessential death metal sound. Although there is also strong thrash feel as well. Max has stated that Slayer's early materia was very influential to Sepultura at that time. Now I won't go so far as stating that Sepultura invented death metal but this is a very early recording of that style of music. There were not too many bands to my knowledge that sounded like Sepultura at that time. In fact "Morbid Visions" and especially their second album "Schizophrenia" showed some the first combinations of death and thrash metal.

This album is Sepultura's roots, it laid the ground work for what was to be one of the heaviest, and intense metal bands to ever come. It wouldn't be for at least another 5 or 6 years until with the help of Andres Kisser, Max and the boys would create that true signature Sepultura sound we all know and love in the blazing release of "Arise". I think that is what make most of Sepultura's albums so good is that one can hear their sound evolving with each album they produce. "Morbid Visions/Bestial Devastation" will forever be Sepultura's roots.
August 16, 2006

The root of all evil!

Whats there to say about this that hasnt been said about Show No Mercy and Kill Em' All? This is rough, no frills pure thrash metal thats kicks you in the face as soon as you press play. Sure, production is lousy, but so what, this is an unadulterated rollercoaster through Hell!

While all the songs are good, my favorites are Necromancer, Troops of Doom (which sounds alot like the Slayer song "the Antichrist), and Morbid Visions.

If your a Max-era Sepultura fan, this is a must, but if your new to Sepultura, I suggest Arise instead. August 4, 2006

for hardcore Sepultura completists only

not that this is a horrible album, because it isn't. but when you compare this album to Schizophrenia, or Beneath The Remains, you can definitely tell that Morbid Visions was merely just an album made by a bunch of rebellious Brazilian kids on a tight budget. the sound quality of the recordings are below average, and back in '86 they were pretty much just emulating their influences - Venom, Slayer, Celtic Frost - especially since they barely spoke any English. its somewhat amusing when you compare this album to say Roots for example. it sounds like 2 completely different bands. although they actually still play one or two songs from this album in their live set - Necromancer and Troops Of Doom... the bottom line is, if you enjoy generic non-American mid 80's death metal, then you might enjoy this. but for the hardcore Sepultura fanatics and completists this album can only be appreciated for its historical and nostalgic qualities. July 6, 2006

Got to start somewhere right?

I listened to this only a couple times...It's hoorible. However, they were inexperianced, didnt have a lot of money and couldnt speak a lot of english at the time, so I dont hold it against them...if you;re a diehard fan, pick it up....if not, then pass....get Chaos AD instead March 16, 2006

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