SEPULTURA - BENEATH THE REMAINS 12" Vinyl LP Album

- Metal Muza smuggles Brazil's fiercest thrash onto Polish wax, 1990 and proud
POLAND Release, on Polskie Nagrania Metal Muza

Album Front cover Photo of SEPULTURA - BENEATH THE REMAINS https://vinyl-records.nl/

Black, scarred void with a huge orange SEPULTURA logo; a molten skull-collage blooms with roses, bone and a snarling jaw, trailing smoke to the corner. The title runs vertically on the right like a warning stamp.

Poland's Muza/Metal Muza pressing of Sepultura's "Beneath the Remains" drops a Brazilian riot onto very un-Brazilian vinyl. It's the band's third studio album, first released 7 April 1989 — and their first for Roadrunner Records. They cut it in the back half of December 1988 at Nas Nuvens Studio in Rio. I still grin at the idea: state-distributed wax carrying "Inner Self" into grey stairwells and borrowed turntables.

Sepultura - "Beneath the Remains": Metal Muza Imports a Riot (Poland LP)

Album Description:

Poland, 1990. The spine says SX 2932. The label says Muza, and the little “Metal Muza” corner-mark is basically a wink: yes, this is the loud stuff. A state label pressing Sepultura on vinyl still feels like a glitch in the system — the good kind.

I don’t romanticize it too much. It’s a licensed Roadrunner album, moved through the proper channels, stamped into Polish wax and sent out into a world of kiosks, record counters, and borrowed turntables. Still… imagine being a kid clutching this thing on a grey afternoon, knowing you’ve got Brazil in your bag and trouble in your headphones.

Needle down and “Inner Self” doesn’t politely “introduce” anything. It lunges. The guitars don’t shimmer; they saw. The drums don’t “support”; they drive nails. And Max sounds like he’s spitting consonants through clenched teeth — not theatrical, just determined.

The funny part is how international the making of it already was. In December 1988 the band recorded in Rio de Janeiro at Nas Nuvens with Scott Burns, then the mixes got finished at Morrisound in Tampa in January 1989. You can hear that tug-of-war: Brazilian heat and street-grit, but with that sharper, more disciplined bite that Burns brought to late-80s extreme metal. Not glossy. Just clearer — like someone cleaned the blood off the knife.

Tracks like “Mass Hypnosis”, “Slaves of Pain”, the title cut, “Primitive Future” — they don’t need a lecture about politics to land. They’re already about pressure: bodies, control, fear, the way crowds move when the lights go out. In Poland, of all places, that mood didn’t need translation. It just needed volume.

And here’s my bias: this is the Sepultura record I trust most. Before the bigger budgets, before the “legacy” packaging, before everyone had a hot take and a ranking. This one just shows up and starts swinging. If that bothers the polite people, fine — let them be bothered.

References

Music Genre:

Thrash Metal 

Album Production Information:

The album: "SEPULTURA - Beneath the Remains " was produced by: Monte Conner, Scott Burns, Sepultura

  • Monte Conner – Senior Vice President of A&R, Roadrunner Records

    The Roadrunner A&R lifer who helped sign Sepultura, Type O Negative and Slipknot - and never apologized for the noise.

    Monte Conner is the longtime Roadrunner A&R boss who helped turn underground metal into a global export. From the late 1980s into the early 1990s I watched him bet on outsiders like Sepultura, Death, Deicide and Obituary, then steer Roadrunner's 90s boom with Type O Negative, Life of Agony and Machine Head. By the late 1990s and through the 2000s he was still swinging, helping break Slipknot (and later Stone Sour), plus newer waves like Trivium and Gojira. He stayed in that chair until 2012, then took his metal-radar to Nuclear Blast. And yes, he did it without polishing the edges for polite company. If you ever wondered who kept the label's compass pointing at "dangerous," it was usually him.

    Monte Conner Wiki
  • Scott Burns – Record producer, sound engineer

    Morrisound's behind-the-glass troublemaker who taught extreme metal how to sound lethal on purpose.

    Scott Burns is the behind-the-glass architect of the late-80s/early-90s Florida death-metal explosion, the Morrisound guy who made brutal sound huge without sanding off the teeth. From 1987 to 1997 he was everywhere: engineering Death ("Leprosy" 1988) then producing "Spiritual Healing" (1990), forging Obituary's "Slowly We Rot" (1989) and "Cause of Death" (1990), and giving Sepultura its leap on "Beneath the Remains" (1989) and "Arise" (1991). Add Cannibal Corpse, Deicide, Suffocation and Napalm Death, and you've basically got the soundtrack to my misspent youth. He later bailed to computer engineering, popping back in for the odd session - because sanity is optional.

    Scott Burns Wiki

    • Sound/Recording Engineer(s): Scott Burns, Antoine Midani.

    Mixed by Scott Burns, Tom Morris, Max Cavalera at Morrisound Recording, Tampa, Florida, January 1989

    Mastered by Mike Fuller at Fuller Sound, Miami, Florida

  • Michael "Mike" Fuller – Mastering engineer

    Founder of Fullersound (est. 1986) and the guy who made loud records feel like a physical object, not a spreadsheet.

    Michael "Mike" Fuller is the mastering engineer who taught records to hit hard without turning into a fizzy mess. He started in 1975 at QCA Recording in Cincinnati doing vinyl quality control (because someone had to), then moved into mixing and lacquer-cutting, and by 1978 he was mastering at Miami’s Criteria. In 1986 he founded Fullersound, staying tied to Criteria until the 1999 move to Miami Lakes, then opening a new room in Davie in 2009. His metal fingerprints run from 1987’s Toxik to Sepultura’s 1989–1991 leap ("Beneath the Remains", "Arise"), through Suffocation in 1995, and into the 2000s with acts like Yngwie Malmsteen. I hear his work as low-end authority, not studio perfume.

    Michael "Mike" Fuller profile

    • This album was recorded at: Nas Nuvens Studio, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 15 till 28 December 1988

    Front Album cover : "Nightmare in Red" by Michael R. Whelan

  • Michael Whelan – Illustrator, painter

    The imaginative-realist legend whose nightmares ended up on Sepultura and Obituary sleeves, because reality clearly wasn’t intense enough.

    Michael Whelan is the painter-illustrator who made metal look like it crawled out of a fever dream and demanded shelf space. I clock his band era in the late 1980s through mid-1990s: Sepultura used his "Nightmare in Red" for "Beneath the Remains" (1989), then he delivered originals for "Arise" (1991) and "Roots" (1996), while Obituary's "Cause of Death" (1990) wore his nightmares like a badge. He'd already ruled sci-fi/fantasy covers since the 1970s, stacking up 15 Hugo Awards, and later landing in the Science Fiction Hall of Fame (2009) because, shockingly, talent gets noticed. By the mid-1990s he pivoted toward gallery fine art, but the metal sleeves still feel like they breathe. Proof that brains and brutality can share a canvas.

    Michael Whelan Wiki

    • Album back cover photography: Wesley H. Raffan

    Design Deborah Lauren

    Record Label & Catalognr:

    Polskie Nagrania Metal Muza SX 2932

    Media Format:

    12" Vinyl Stereo Gramophone Record
    Total Album (Cover+Record) weight: 230 gram  

    Year & Country:

    1989 Made in Poland
    Personnel/Band Members and Musicians on: SEPULTURA - Beneath the Remains (Poland)
      Band-members, Musicians and Performers Band-members, Musicians and Performers
    • Vocals, Rhythm Guitar – Max Cavalera
    • Max Cavalera – Singer, guitarist (Sepultura)

      The voice that turned "Refuse/Resist" into a riot chant, then built a whole second career out of refusing to slow down.

      Max Cavalera is the gravel-throated singer and rhythm guitarist who dragged Sepultura from Belo Horizonte basements to the global thrash front line. From 1984 to 1996 I watched him steer the band from raw chaos into the career-defining run of "Beneath the Remains" (1989), "Arise" (1991), "Chaos A.D." (1993) and "Roots" (1996), where his bark and down-tuned churn felt like a protest march with amplifiers. He side-stepped into Nailbomb in 1994-1995, then launched Soulfly in 1997 and has kept digging that riff quarry ever since. Since 2007 he has reunited with Igor in Cavalera Conspiracy, and he still pops up in projects like Killer Be Killed. Subtle? No. Effective? Annoyingly, yes.

      Max Cavalera Wiki
    • Drums – Igor Cavalera
    • Igor Cavalera – Drummer (Sepultura)

      Co-founded Sepultura, then later spelled his name "Iggor" like that fixes anything - and somehow it worked.

      Igor Cavalera is the drummer who co-built Sepultura into a global weapon, and he never played like a polite employee. From 1984 to June 2006 I heard him turn thrash into a stampede, then sharpen it on 'Beneath the Remains' (1989) and 'Arise' (1991) before the tribal grind of 'Chaos A.D.' (1993) and 'Roots' (1996). He detoured into Nailbomb in 1994, and after the split he reunited with Max in Cavalera Conspiracy (2007-present). He later showed up with Strife (2012), the noise duo Pet Brick (2018-), and even drummed with Soulwax in 2017, because metal apparently wasn't busy enough. From 2006 he also went by 'Iggor' and moonlit as half of DJ duo Mixhell. The groove is still the same: relentless, stubborn, and loud.

      Igor Cavalera Wiki
    • Lead Guitar – Andreas Kisser
    • Andreas Kisser – Lead guitarist, backing vocalist (Sepultura)

      Joined Sepultura in 1987 and basically re-tuned their whole future without making a fuss about it.

      Andreas Kisser is the lead guitarist who walked into Sepultura in 1987, plugged in, and quietly made the band smarter and sharper without asking anyone's permission. From 1987 to today he's been on every major era: the thrash leap of "Schizophrenia" (1987), the Scott Burns-cut brutality of "Beneath the Remains" (1989) and "Arise" (1991), and beyond. He even fronted Sepultura at Monsters of Rock (Donington) in 1996 when Max had to step away - a promotion you don't get from HR. In 1994 he piled onto Nailbomb's "Point Blank" for extra shrapnel, then spent 1995-1996 trading demos with Jason Newsted and Tom Hunting. Since 2012 he's also swung with De La Tierra, proving riffs speak fluent Spanish too.

      Andreas Kisser Wiki
    • Bass – Paulo Jr.
    • Paulo Jr. – Bass guitarist (Sepultura)

      Sepultura's longest-serving low-end anchor since 1984, plus side missions with The Unabomber Files (2009-) and Cultura Tres (2019-).

      Paulo Jr. is the long-haul bassist of Sepultura, the quiet engine who has kept the low end moving since 1984. I first clocked him as the constant onstage while the band sprinted from Belo Horizonte chaos into world-class thrash; he is widely credited as first appearing on Sepultura records with "Chaos A.D." (1993), after the early years where Andreas Kisser handled many studio bass parts. From 1984 through the farewell-era years, he stayed the anchor beside whoever was holding the mic. Outside the mothership he formed The Unabomber Files (2009-) and, since 2019, has toured and recorded with Cultura Tres. Not flashy, just stubbornly there - like my shelves.

      Paulo Jr. Wiki
    • Synthesizer – Henrique (Portugal)
    Complete Track-listing of the album "SEPULTURA - Beneath the Remains (Poland)"

    The detailed tracklist of this record "SEPULTURA - Beneath the Remains (Poland)" is:

      Track-listing Side One:
    1. Beneath The Remains 5:11
    2. Inner Self 5:07
    3. Stronger Than Hate 5:50
    4. Mass Hypnosis 4:22
      Track-listing Side Two:
    1. Sarcastic Existence 4:43
    2. Slaves Of Pain 4:00
    3. Lobotomy 4:55
    4. Hungry 4:28
    5. Primitive Future

    Sepultura: Brazil's Metal Pioneers Tackling Social Issues and Pushing Boundaries in Music Since 1984

    Thumbnail of SEPULTURA - Arise (1991 Netherlands) album front cover
    SEPULTURA - Arise

    Arise is the fourth studio album by Brazilian thrash metal band Sepultura, released in 1991 through RoadRace Records. Upon its release, the album received top reviews from heavy metal magazines such as Rock Hard, Kerrang! and Metal Forces

    Arise (1991 Netherlands) 12" Vinyl LP
    Thumbnail of SEPULTURA - Arise ( 1992 The Netherlands )     album front cover
    SEPULTURA - Arise

    This Maxi-Single contains three tracks. The track "Arise" was recorded during the European "Arise" tour on 31st May 1991. The tracks "Inner Self" and "Troops Of Doom" have not been previously released.

    Arise ( 1992 The Netherlands ) 12" Maxi
    Thumbnail of SEPULTURA - Beneath The Remains ( 1989 Poland )   album front cover
    SEPULTURA - Beneath The Remains ( Two International Versions )   12" Vinyl LP

    "Beneath the Remains" , which is the third studio album and major label debut by Brazilian thrash metal band Sepultura, released on 7 April 1989. It was recorded during the second half of December 1988 at Nas Nuvens Studio in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)

    "Beneath the Remains" Dutch (Netherlands) Release "Beneath the Remains" Polish Release
    Thumbnail of Sepultura - Mass Hypnosis Promo Karregat Eindhoven Chicago album front cover
    Sepultura - Mass Hypnosis

    The album features two separate live sets. The A-side throws listeners into the mosh pit at Chicago on November 18th, 1989. This was likely during Sepultura's "Beneath the Remains" tour

    Mass Hypnosis Promo Karregat Eindhoven Chicago 12" Vinyl LP
    Thumbnail of SEPULTURA - Morbid Visions (1987 Germany) album front cover
    SEPULTURA - Morbid Visions

      "Morbid Visions" is the debut full-length studio album by Brazilian heavy metal band Sepultura, released  1986. It is also the last official album with Jairo Guetz. as guitarist

    Morbid Visions (1987 Germany) 12" Vinyl LP
    Thumbnail of SEPULTURA - Roots (1996, Netherlands) album front cover
    SEPULTURA - Roots

    This album Roots is the sixth studio album by Brazilian Thrash metal band Sepultura. It was the band's last studio album to feature founding member and vocalist Max Cavalera.

    Roots (1996, Netherlands) 12" Vinyl LP
    Thumbnail of SEPULTURA - Schizophrenia (Two Versions) album front cover
    SEPULTURA - Schizophrenia (Two Versions) 12" Vinyl LP

    It is the first album of Sepultura with Andreas Kisser. This album marks a real change for the band as it shows they can write more elaborated material than the raw Death Metal of their debut.

    Schizophrenia German Release Schizophrenia Netherlands Release
    Thumbnail of SEPULTURA - Slave New World , Orange Vinyl album front cover
    SEPULTURA - Slave New World

    This Orange Colour Vinyl and Extended Play record if "Slave New World" by the Brazilia Thrash Metal band Sepultura. Sepultura covers three songs from the bands: Ratos de Porão, Dead Kennedys and Motörhead.

    Slave New World , Orange Vinyl 10" EP
    Thumbnail of SEPULTURA - Under Siege (Regnum Irae) album front cover
    SEPULTURA - Under Siege (Regnum Irae)

    Sepultura's "Under Siege (Regnum Irae)," a 12" Vinyl Maxi-Single released in 1991 in Holland, holds a distinct place. This release, a powerful manifestation of the band's musical prowess

    Under Siege (Regnum Irae) 12" Maxi Single