A-Lex

A-Lex is the eleventh studio album by the Brazilian metal band Sepultura. It was released on 23 January 2009 by independent German record label SPV Records. This is the first album featuring drummer Jean Dolabella, since the departure of Igor Cavalera in 2006.[1]

A-Lex
Studio album by
Sepultura
ReleasedJanuary 23, 2009 (2009-01-23)
RecordedSão Paulo, Brazil at Trama Studios, in 2008
Genre
Length54:19
LabelSPV
ProducerStanley Soares
Sepultura
Sepultura chronology
The Best of Sepultura
(2006)		 A-Lex
(2009)		 Kairos
(2011)

This is the second concept album released by Sepultura, following 2006's Dante XXI which was based on Dante Alighieri's The Divine Comedy. A-Lex is based on the 1962 novel A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess, which was adapted into a film version by Stanley Kubrick in 1971.

Album information

The album was recorded in São Paulo at Trama Studios and mixed at Mega Studios during 2008, since February through the process of composition[2] until August when the band finished the mixing process and revealed the track listing and album title.

Andreas Kisser stated about the influences obtained from Burgess work:

We will write our soundtrack for this story and Burgess' life will be an inspiration also to write the music, lyrics and for the artwork.[3]

The title is a pun on the main character from the novel, Alex, and the Latin for "without law":[4] a (without) + lex (law); presumably referring to how Alex and his companions behaved.

A-Lex is available in three versions: a deluxe digipak with an embossed cover, a regular jewel case and on a vinyl gate-fold LP. On January 16, 2009, the album was released for exclusive listening on last.fm.[5]

Music videos

Two music videos have been made for the album. The first, "We've Lost You!", was filmed in São Paulo, Brazil, and was released in February 2009. A video for "What I Do!" was released in May 2009. Sepultura performed on the A-Lex World Tour 2009 in Europe and North America.

Reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
About.com[6]
AllMusic[7]
Blistering(7.5/10)[8]
Glide Magazine[9]
Metal Underground[10]
MetalSucks(3/5)[11]
Record Collector[12]
Rock Sound(8/10)[13]

A-Lex received positive reviews. New drummer Jean Dolabella, who replaced Igor Cavalera, was well received by fans and media. AllMusic gave A-Lex 4 stars out of 5 and called it a "vicious, loud sledgehammer of an album".[7] Alternative Press (p. 108) gave it 3.5 stars out of 5 and said, "A-Lex deftly fuses the band's many stylistic phases, from the thrash and death metal that launched their career to later explorations of punk, hardcore, groove metal and even tribal rhythms."[14] Record Collector (p. 103) gave it 3 stars out of 5 and said, "Much closer to a live, hardcore punk sound than the refined digital crunch of their previous records... As ever with Sepultura, Kisser's slick riffage and the visceral drums are the point."

A-Lex sold 5,000 copies in its first week of release in Brazil[15] and 1,600 in its first week of release in the United States.[16] It was considered by the Brazilian edition of Rolling Stone as one of the Top 25 Brazilian albums of 2012.[17]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Sepultura except "Ludwig Van", based on Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, and "Paradox", co-written by Lucas Kater, who won a contest hosted by Sepultura to include lyrics written by a fan to be included in a song on the album.

No.TitleLength
1."A-Lex I"1:53
2."Moloko Mesto"2:09
3."Filthy Rot"2:45
4."We've Lost You!"4:13
5."What I Do!"2:01
6."A-Lex II"2:18
7."The Treatment"3:23
8."Metamorphosis"3:01
9."Sadistic Values"6:50
10."Forceful Behavior"2:27
11."Conform"1:54
12."A-Lex III"2:03
13."The Experiment"3:28
14."Strike"3:40
15."Enough Said"1:36
16."Ludwig Van"5:29
17."A-Lex IV"2:46
18."Paradox"2:15

Chart performance
Year Chart Position
2009 MRC 30 Charts (Germany) 1
Austria 53[18]
France 150[19][20]
Germany 82
Netherlands 106
Switzerland 68[21]
UK Rock and Metal Charts 22
US Top Independent Albums 48[22]

Personnel

References
  1. "Sepultura: New Album Details Revealed". Blabbermouth. 2008-08-08. Archived from the original on 11 August 2008. Retrieved 2008-08-08.
  2. "Sepultura Starts Writing New Album". sepultura.uol.com.br. 2008-02-10. Archived from the original on 2009-12-23. Retrieved 2008-08-08.
  3. "Sepultura: Santo André Concert Footage, Photos Available". Blabbermouth. 2008-04-02. Archived from the original on 2008-10-17. Retrieved 2008-08-08.
  4. "SEPULTURA: Entire New Album Available For Streaming". Blabbermouth. 2009-01-16. Archived from the original on 2012-09-17. Retrieved 2009-01-20.
  5. "A-Lex – Sepultura – Listen and discover music at". Last.fm. 2009-02-11. Retrieved 2011-09-15.
  6. Bowar, Chad. "Sepultura - A-Lex Review". About.com. Retrieved on 2011-06-28.
  7. Henderson, Alex. A-Lex at AllMusic. Retrieved 2011-06-28.
  8. Gehlke, David E. "Review: Sepultura - A-Lex" Archived 2009-05-29 at the Wayback Machine. Blistering. Retrieved on 2011-06-28.
  9. Lange, Bob (2009-01-15). "Sepultura: A-Lex". Glide Magazine. Retrieved on 2011-06-28.
  10. heavytothebone2 (2009-01-28)."Sepultura - "A-Lex" CD Review". Metal Underground. Retrieved on 2011-06-28.
  11. O'Hagar, Sammy (2009-01-13). "A-LEX: A MIXED BAG FOR THE FIRST POST-CAVALERA SEPULTURA ALBUM". MetalSucks. Retrieved on 2011-06-28.
  12. McIver, Joel. "A-Lex - Sepultura". Record Collector. Retrieved on 2011-06-28.
  13. Sandler, Darren. "Sepultura - A-Lex - Reviews". Rock Sound. Archived from the original on 2009-01-31. Retrieved 2012-12-03.
  14. "Sepultura - A-Lex CD Album". CD Universe. 2009-01-27. Retrieved 2011-09-15.
  15. "BLABBERMOUTH.NET - SEPULTURA's 'A-Lex': First-Week Brazilian Sales Revealed". Roadrunnerrecords.com. Archived from the original on 2009-01-31. Retrieved 2011-09-15.
  16. "BLABBERMOUTH.NET - SEPULTURA: 'A-Lex' First-Week Sales Revealed". Roadrunnerrecords.com. Archived from the original on 2009-02-11. Retrieved 2011-09-15.
  17. "25 melhores discos nacionais de 2009". Rolling Stone Brazil (in Portuguese). Spring. 2009. Retrieved 11 October 2014.
  18. Steffen Hung (1998-10-18). "Austria Top 40 - Hitparade Österreich". austriancharts.at. Retrieved 2011-09-15.
  19. Archived December 23, 2009, at Archive.today
  20. Archived December 23, 2009, at Archive.today
  21. Steffen Hung. "Die Offizielle Schweizer Hitparade und Music Community". Hitparade.ch. Retrieved 2011-09-15.
  22. "A-Lex – Sepultura(2009)".
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