Sepultura - Revolusongs

Speaking of "Bullet the Blue Sky," Sepultura recorded the song for their 2002 covers EP Revolusongs, which came out in Brazil and Japan, as well as on the limited edition digipak of Roorback. The Derrick Green era of Sepultura has generally underperformed, so it's unsurprising that its highlight is a cover. As "Bullet" shows, Green is a more talented vocalist than Max Cavalera. However, the band badly misses Cavalera's guitar interaction with Andreas Kisser. As the main riff-writer now, Kisser just isn't cutting it.

Bullet the Blue Sky (U2)
Bullet the Blue Sky (Sepultura)

However, he tears into The Edge's riffs with amazing ferocity. What were once textures are now flagellations. Igor Cavalera's drumming is a tour de force of tasty fills and tribal accents. Green roars with conviction that challenges Bono's. He's an American in a Brazilian band covering an Irish band indicting the US involvement in the Salvadoran Civil War; I'm not sure if that's interesting, or indicative of how diluted Sepultura have become. This cover, though, is concentrated fury. Finally, the rage of "Bullet" has a sound to match.

Revolusongs is my favorite recording by Green-era Sepultura, mainly because its song selection is so interesting. It has metal (Hellhammer, Exodus), but it also has Devo and Public Enemy (the latter of which features bad-ass rapping in Portuguese). Most intriguing is the trio of "Bullet the Blue Sky," Massive Attack's "Angel," and Jane's Addiction's "Mountain Song." These songs are quite similar - heavy, bass-driven, psychedelic blues with common lineage in Led Zeppelin's "When the Levee Breaks." Sepultura were onto something with this vibe; too bad they didn't pursue it further.