SEPULTURA - Beneath The Remains 12" LP Album Vinyl

- Blood, Concrete and Red Heat – The Night Brazil Took Thrash Hostage

Album Front cover Photo of SEPULTURA - Beneath The Remains 12" LP Album Vinyl https://vinyl-records.nl/

A stark black field frames a blazing red-orange skull crowned with roses and erupting light. The band name burns at the top in matching red, while the album title runs vertically at the right edge. The composition feels molten, the glow radiating like internal combustion against the void.

Prepare your earholes, amigos! Sepultura's 'Beneath The Remains' is about to unleash a sonic caipirinha – potent, raw, and guaranteed to leave you headbanging harder than a Carnaval parade. Forget delicate samba rhythms; this is Brazilian thrash metal at its finest, a furious cocktail of social unrest, political rage, and riffs sharper than a piranha's teeth. So grab your cerveja, crank the volume, and prepare to be devoured by the sheer ferocity of Sepultura's groundbreaking masterpiece.

SEPULTURA - Beneath The Remains: A Thrashing Cauldron of Primal Fury

Album Description:

Beneath The Remains (7 April 1989) is the moment Sepultura stops being “promising” and starts being unavoidable. It was their first release for Roadrunner, it cracked the UK Indie chart at No. 9, and it landed like a hot slab of Brazilian concrete on an international scene that still thought thrash only came with Northern Hemisphere accents.

You can hear the Rio nights in it. They recorded it at Nas Nuvens Studio in Rio de Janeiro in late December 1988, working weird hours, running on nerves and stubborn pride. Scott Burns flew in and helped bottle what they already had: speed, rage, and that Belo Horizonte grit that doesn’t ask permission. Then the tapes went back to Florida and got mixed at Morrisound in January 1989 - not “cleaned up,” just focused like a knife.

The sound? Dry heat and metal shavings. Riffs that scrape, then suddenly lock into place. Igor’s kit doesn’t “support” anything; it shoves the songs forward. Max barks like he’s arguing with the world and losing patience fast. Subtle? No. That’s the point.

“Inner Self” is the hook with teeth - tight, urgent, and still the one I use to test whether a system can handle sharp guitars without turning them into a fizzy soup. “Stronger Than Hate” feels like a sprint through smoke. “Mass Hypnosis” is the mid-album grind where the band sounds like it’s leaning into the amps, forcing more volume out of physics.

The politics aren’t a lecture; they’re baked into the mood. This is late-80s Brazil anxiety turned into motion: oppression, control, the sense that the air itself is tense. Sepultura doesn’t “address themes” here. They swing at them. And when they slow down, it’s only to make the next hit land harder.

Even the sleeve is part of the assault: Roadrunner pushed them toward Michael Whelan’s “Nightmare in Red,” and it fits - less cartoon horror, more fever-dream dread. I’ve stared at that cover more times than I’d admit in daylight, usually while pretending I’m “just checking the condition.” Sure.

Plenty of albums are fast. Plenty are angry. Beneath The Remains is the one that feels like it escaped the room and slammed the door behind it.

References

Beneath the Remains: A Deep Dive into Sepultura's Thrash Masterpieces

Album Track Review:

Some albums don’t need a “deep dive.” They need a warning label. Beneath the Remains is one of those. I don’t play it to “appreciate” anything. I play it when the room feels too calm and I want Brazil’s late-80s pressure cooker back in the air.

Inner Self: The first punch. No warm-up, no handshake. Max comes in like he’s already mid-argument, and Kisser’s riffs don’t shimmer—they scrape. This is the track I reach for when I’m testing a hi-fi and I want to know if it can handle sharp guitars without turning them into a fizzy blur.

Stronger Than Hate: This one doesn’t “inspire,” it shoves. The chorus hits like a crowd pushing forward, not a motivational poster. It’s the kind of song that makes you stand up without noticing you stood up. Annoying, honestly. Effective.

Mass Hypnosis: A grinding mid-album clamp. The riff keeps tightening, Igor keeps punching holes in the floor, and suddenly you’re nodding along like you’ve been hypnotized by sheer momentum. I’ve replayed this more than I pretend to, mostly because it sounds like the band is leaning into the amps and daring the speakers to complain.

Sarcastic Existence: The title says it all, and the music wears that sour grin. The riffs turn a little uglier, the mood gets a little more cracked, and Max sounds less like a frontman and more like a guy who’s done being polite. This is where the record stops being “fast” and starts being personal.

Slaves of Pain: Pure grind and grit. No perfume, no polish, just a tight, punishing run that makes you feel the album’s famous discipline. If you came here for melody, congratulations—you brought the wrong passport.

Primitive Future: Closing time. Not some neat little lesson, not a tidy bow—just that final shove out the door, like the album’s saying: “Good. Now go live with it.” I usually sit there for a second after it ends. Then I flip the record again, because apparently I enjoy suffering.

The funny thing is, I’ve heard cleaner thrash and “bigger” production, sure. But this set of songs still feels like it’s running hot—Rio sweat, Belo Horizonte bite, and that RoadRacer-era attitude that didn’t care if anyone was ready. It’s not comfort listening. That’s why it works.

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

  • Morrisound Recording Studio – Recording studio (Tampa, Florida)

    The Tampa room that basically industrialized death metal - because subtlety was never the point.

    Morrisound Recording Studio is the Tampa, Florida bunker that gave extreme metal a real, professional punch in the gut. Opened in 1981 by Jim and Tom Morris, it became the late-80s to mid-90s address I kept spotting in liner notes: Death (1988-1991), Obituary (1989-1992), Morbid Angel (1989-1993), Deicide (1990-1992), Cannibal Corpse (1990-1992) and a swarm of others. Even Sepultura leveled up here, mixing "Beneath the Remains" in early 1989 and tracking "Arise" in 1991. If you wanted drums to hit like a wrecking ball and guitars to saw through smoke, you booked Morrisound and stopped pretending. Yes, it is "just a studio" - and Tampa became a death-metal capital because of rooms like this.

    Morrisound Recording Studio Wiki

    •  

    Record Label & Catalognr:

    RoadRacer Records RO 9511 1

    Media Format:

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

    Year & Country:

    1989 Made in Holland
    Personnel/Band Members and Musicians on: SEPULTURA - Beneath the Remains
      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 "

    The detailed tracklist of this record "SEPULTURA - Beneath the Remains " 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