Dante XXI

Dante XXI is the tenth studio album by the Brazilian metal band Sepultura, released in 2006 through SPV Records. It is a concept album based on the three sections of Dante Alighieri's The Divine Comedy; Inferno (hell), Purgatorio (purgatory) and Paradiso (paradise). This is the last album to feature Igor Cavalera on drums.

Dante XXI
Studio album by
Sepultura
ReleasedMarch 14, 2006
Recorded2005
Genre
Length39:06
LabelSPV
ProducerAndré Moraes, Sepultura, Stanley Soares
Sepultura chronology
Live in São Paulo
(2005)		 Dante XXI
(2006)		 The Best of Sepultura
(2006)

Album information

Dante XXI was originally titled "Dante 05", but was changed when it became clear that the album would not be released by the end of 2005. The first single from the album was "Convicted in Life". A video for the song was released in 2006, and it won the MTV VMB Best Editing in a Video Award that year.[2] In January 2008 the band released a music video for the song "Ostia". The album artwork was done by Stephan Doitschinoff, whom the band commissioned to do 10 paintings based on the Divine Comedy.

Covers of Judas Priest's "Screaming for Vengeance" and Sick of It All's "Scratch the Surface" have been recorded as B-sides. "Screaming for Vengeance" was added as a Japanese bonus track, while "Scratch the Surface" is included on the SOIA tribute album Our Impact Will Be Felt. The Brazilian edition (Krako records), contains two bonus tracks: "Mindwar" (recorded live from Stanley Soares's mixing desk in Ehfurt/Germany, December 3, 2004 on tour with Motorhead) and "False" (demo recorded at High Five Studio São Paulo, during pre production for Dante XXI July 2005).

Initial ideas for the album included a symphonic metal album (like Metallica's S&M album), and a concept album based on the novel A Clockwork Orange, which was applied to their next studio album A-Lex.

Reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
About.com[1]
AllMusic[3]
Alternative Press[4]
Blabbermouth.net(7/10)[5]
Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles(8.5/10)[6]
Metal Storm(8.5/10)[7]
Stylus MagazineC−[8]

Many critics stated that it was the best Derrick Green-era Sepultura album thus far. Chad Bowar from About.com praised the album for its intensity and commented that it "brings the thrash at full blast". He also highlighted Green's vocal performance, as well as the album's overall concept.[1] AllMusic's Steve Huey noted that much of the elements that made Sepultura "stand out from the metal pack" are still present on this record, and that this was one of Sepultura's strongest releases with Green on vocals.[3]

Alternative Press reviewer Phil Freeman stated that with this album, Sepultura are "finally back at full strength", giving the listener "exactly what he hopes to get from pioneers in the art of skull-crushing".[4] In a mixed review for Stylus Magazine, Cosmo Lee said that the riffs were "unmemorable" and the songs lacked "tension and release". He also criticized the album's artwork, describing it as a "weak, mild-mannered font worthy of indie rock".[8]

Despite mostly positive reviews, sales of the album were disappointing and continued the decrease in sales of Sepultura's albums since Against, selling only 2,300 copies its first week of release in the US.[9] Dante XXI has sold 120,000+ copies worldwide as of January 2, 2008 and went Gold in Brazil and Cyprus (their first music industry certification outside of Brazil since Roots).[10]

According to Matthew Teutsch, a scholar of literature and popular culture, the album is "a modern-day soundtrack for Dante’s Divine Comedy" and allows an exploration of the poem "through an aesthetic rendering of twenty-first-century national (and international) issues".[11]

Track listing

All music is composed by Andreas Kisser, Derrick Green, Igor Cavalera, except where noted.

No.TitleLyricsLength
1."Lost (Intro)"(instrumental)0:59
2."Dark Wood of Error"Kisser2:18
3."Convicted in Life"Kisser, Green3:09
4."City of Dis"Green3:27
5."False"Kisser3:34
6."Fighting On"Green4:29
7."Limbo (Intro)"(instrumental)0:44
8."Ostia"Kisser3:07
9."Buried Words"Green2:35
10."Nuclear Seven"Kisser3:44
11."Repeating the Horror"Green3:11
12."Eunoé (Intro)"(instrumental)0:13
13."Crown and Miter" (Kisser, Green, Cavalera, Paulo Jr.)Green2:12
14."Primium Mobile (Intro)"(instrumental)0:29
15."Still Flame" (Kisser, André Moraes)Kisser4:51
Japanese/Korean bonus track
No.TitleLyricsMusicLength
16."Screaming for Vengeance" (Judas Priest cover)HalfordDowning, Tipton [12]3:31
Brazilian bonus tracks
No.TitleLyricsMusicLength
16."Mind War (Live)"Kisser, GreenKisser, Green, Cavalera, Paulo Jr.3:01
17."False (Demo)"KisserKisser, Green, Cavalera3:15
Our Impact Will Be Felt track
No.TitleLyricsMusicLength
11."Scratch The Surface" (Sick of It All cover)KollerKoller, Setari, Majidi2:35

Chart performance

Album - Billboard (North America)

Year Chart Position
2006 Top Independent Albums 45

Album - Music recording sales certifications

Year Country Award Number sold
2006 Cyprus Gold 5,000 copies[10]
2007 Brazil Gold 50,000 copies

Credits

Sepultura

Additional personnel

Horns

  • Luiz Garcia
  • Samuel Hamzem

Cellists

  • Fabio Presgrave
  • Bia Rebello

Crew

  • Guilherme Cersosimo
  • Estevam Romera
  • Rogerinho Motorhead
  • Pedro Verdone

Others

  • André Moraes - percussion, piano, programming, sitar, Fender Rhodes, horns arrangements, strings arrangements, introduction, minimoog, producer
  • Stephan Doitschinoff - paintings
  • Mauricio Cersosimo - pre-production
  • Susanne Kammer - design
  • Stanley Soares - producer, engineer, mixing

Assistants

  • Fragata
  • Helio Leite

References
  1. Bowar, Chad. "Sepultura - Dante XXI". About.com. Retrieved August 9, 2013.
  2. "Pitty faz a festa no VMB 2006 - Diversão e Cultura". Bonde.com.br. 29 September 2006. Retrieved 13 December 2011.
  3. Huey, Steve. "Sepultura: Dante XXI". AllMusic. Retrieved August 9, 2013.
  4. Freeman, Phil. "Sepultura - Dante XXI". Alternative Press. Archived from the original on June 21, 2006. Retrieved August 9, 2013.
  5. Kaye, Don. "Sepultura: Dante XXI". Blabbermouth.net. Retrieved August 9, 2013.
  6. Popoff, Martin. "Sepultura: Dante XXI". Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles. Retrieved August 9, 2013.
  7. Collin. "Sepultura - Dante XXI". Metal Storm. Retrieved August 9, 2013.
  8. Lee, Cosmo. "Sepultura: Dante XXI". Stylus Magazine. Archived from the original on June 29, 2013. Retrieved August 9, 2013.
  9. "SEPULTURA: 'A-Lex' First-Week Sales Revealed". Archived from the original on 2009-02-11.
  10. "Sepultura - Dante XXI Certified Gold in Cyprus". Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles. 21 March 2007. Retrieved 23 January 2009.
  11. Teutsch, Matthew (2008). "Dante in a Modern Context: A Review of Sepultura's Album Dante XXI" (PDF). LATCH: A Journal for the Study of the Literary, Artifact in Theory, Culture, or History. 8: 159–80. Retrieved March 29, 2019.
  12. "Dante XXI Sepultura [CD]". Cdjapan.co.jp. Retrieved 13 December 2011.
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