# Beneath the Remains

Beneath the Remains is the third studio album by Brazilian heavy metal band Sepultura, released on April 7, 1989. It was their first release by Roadrunner Records.
Continuing in the death/thrash metal vein of its predecessor Schizophrenia (1987), the album had improved production and songwriting compared to the band's previous works. In time it would be acclaimed as a classic in the thrash metal genre. According to vocalist Max Cavalera, Sepultura had "really found [their] style" on this album. In January 2013, Beneath the Remains was inducted into Decibel magazine's Hall of Fame, becoming the second Sepultura album to do so, the first being Roots. This induction would make Sepultura the first band to have more than one of their albums being featured in the Decibel Hall of Fame.

## Cover art

This was their first album to feature a Michael Whelan cover art. Sepultura had initially planned on using another Michael Whelan cover art, Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre; Igor Cavalera had even gone so far as to get part of the painting tattooed on his arm. Roadrunner Records convinced Sepultura to use Nightmare in Red as they felt it was better suited for Beneath the Remains. Monte Conner of Roadrunner later sent the original artwork to Obituary, who used it on their album, Cause of Death, which was released a year after Beneath the Remains. For years after the incident, Igor Cavalera was upset with Monte Conner for giving away their album cover.
The cover art is acrylics over pastels.

## Background and recording

Max Cavalera travelled to New York in February 1988 and spent a whole week negotiating with the Roadrunner label. Although they offered a seven-record deal to Sepultura, the label was unsure of the band's sale potential. The album's budget was a small amount by the label's standards ($8,000), but in the end the cost was almost twice its original budget.
Scott Burns, who had previously engineered records by death metal acts Obituary, Death and Morbid Angel, was the chosen producer. Burns agreed to work for a low fee ($2,000) because he was curious about Brazil. Sepultura spent the last half of December 1988 recording the album at Nas Nuvens Studio in Rio de Janeiro, from 8 pm to 5 am. The studio was specifically chosen because it was the one where some years before Brazilian rock band Titãs had recorded their classic album Cabeça Dinossauro, which impressed Sepultura. Burns had brought some drum equipment and Mesa Boogie amps to Brazil (a rare item for production standards at the time) which helped to improve the sound quality.
The album's sound incorporates elements of death metal and thrash metal, as well as influences from Black Sabbath and the early U2 and Corrosion of Conformity albums.

## Reception

Professional ratings :
| Review scores ||
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic | |
| Q | |
Beneath the Remains has received critical acclaim. AllMusic writer Eduardo Rivadavia noted that the album "marked the band's transition from third-world obscurity to major contenders in the international extreme metal arena", and called it "one of the most essential death/thrash metal albums of all time." Adam McCann of Metal Digest called Beneath the Remains a "real heavy metal classic".

## Track listing

All lyrics are written by Max Cavalera and Andreas Kisser, except where noted; all music is composed by Sepultura, except where noted

## Charts

| Chart (1989) | Peak position |
| UK Indie Chart | 9 |
| Chart (2020) | Peak position |
| Croatian Foreign Albums (TOTS) | 3 |
| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) | 96 |
| Hungarian Albums (MAHASZ) | 22 |