A-Lex
Encyclopedia
A-Lex is the eleventh studio album
by Brazil
ian heavy metal
band Sepultura
. It was released on 23 January 2009 by independent German record label Steamhammer Records. This is the first album featuring new drummer Jean Dolabella
, since the departure of Igor Cavalera
in 2006.
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 book A Clockwork Orange
by Anthony Burgess
, which in 1971 was adapted into a film version
by Stanley Kubrick
.
Andreas Kisser stated about the influences obtained from Burgess work:
The title is a pun on the main character from the novel, Alex and the Latin for "without law": 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
.
.
(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 received positive reviews despite the absence of Igor Cavalera
. New drummer Jean Dolabella has been well received by fans and media. A-Lex sold 5,000 copies in its first week of release in Brazil and 1,600 in its first week of release in the United States.
Studio album
A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...
by Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
ian heavy metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
band Sepultura
Sepultura
Sepultura is a Brazilian heavy metal band from Belo Horizonte, formed in 1984. The band was a major force in the death metal, thrash metal and ultimately groove metal realms during the late 1980s and early 1990s, with their later experiments melding nu metal, hardcore punk and industrial.Sepultura...
. It was released on 23 January 2009 by independent German record label Steamhammer Records. This is the first album featuring new drummer Jean Dolabella
Jean Dolabella
Jean Dolabella is the former drummer of Brazilian thrash metal band Sepultura. He is also involved with Iron Maiden's Paul Di'Anno in his side project RockFellas.- Biography :...
, since the departure of Igor Cavalera
Igor Cavalera
Igor Graziano Cavalera is a Brazilian musician. He is best known as the former drummer for Brazilian heavy metal band Sepultura.-Biography:...
in 2006.
This is the second concept album
Concept album
In music, a concept album is an album that is "unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical." Commonly, concept albums tend to incorporate preconceived musical or lyrical ideas rather than being improvised or composed in the studio, with all songs contributing...
released by Sepultura, following 2006's Dante XXI
Dante XXI
Dante XXI is the tenth studio album by Brazilian heavy 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 , Purgatorio and Paradiso .- Album information :Dante XXI was originally titled...
which was based on Dante Alighieri
Dante Alighieri
Durante degli Alighieri, mononymously referred to as Dante , was an Italian poet, prose writer, literary theorist, moral philosopher, and political thinker. He is best known for the monumental epic poem La commedia, later named La divina commedia ...
's The Divine Comedy
The Divine Comedy
The Divine Comedy is an epic poem written by Dante Alighieri between 1308 and his death in 1321. It is widely considered the preeminent work of Italian literature, and is seen as one of the greatest works of world literature...
. A-Lex is based on the 1962 book A Clockwork Orange
A Clockwork Orange
A Clockwork Orange is a 1962 dystopian novella by Anthony Burgess. The novel contains an experiment in language: the characters often use an argot called "Nadsat", derived from Russian....
by Anthony Burgess
Anthony Burgess
John Burgess Wilson – who published under the pen name Anthony Burgess – was an English author, poet, playwright, composer, linguist, translator and critic. The dystopian satire A Clockwork Orange is Burgess's most famous novel, though he dismissed it as one of his lesser works...
, which in 1971 was adapted into a film version
A Clockwork Orange (film)
A Clockwork Orange is a 1971 film adaptation of Anthony Burgess's 1962 novel of the same name. It was written, directed and produced by Stanley Kubrick...
by Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick was an American film director, writer, producer, and photographer who lived in England during most of the last four decades of his career...
.
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 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:
The title is a pun on the main character from the novel, Alex and the Latin for "without law": a (without)
Privative a
In Ancient Greek grammar, privative a is the prefix a- that expresses negation or absence . It is derived from a Proto-Indo-European syllabic nasal *, the zero ablaut grade of the negation *ne, i.e. /n/ used as a vowel...
+ lex (law); presumably referring to how Alex and his companions behaved.
A-Lex is available in three versions: a deluxe digipak
Digipak
Digipak is a patented style of CD, DVD or BD packaging, and is a registered trademark of AGI World Ltd., an Atlas Holdings company.-Features:...
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
Last.fm
Last.fm is a music website, founded in the United Kingdom in 2002. It has claimed 30 million active users in March 2009. On 30 May 2007, CBS Interactive acquired Last.fm for UK£140m ....
.
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 AmericaNorth America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
.
Reception
Allmusic gave A-Lex 4 stars out of 5 and called it a "vicious, loud sledgehammer of an album". 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." Record CollectorRecord Collector
Record Collector is the United Kingdom's longest-running monthly music magazine. It distributes both within the UK and worldwide. It started in 1979.-The early years:...
(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 received positive reviews despite the absence of Igor Cavalera
Igor Cavalera
Igor Graziano Cavalera is a Brazilian musician. He is best known as the former drummer for Brazilian heavy metal band Sepultura.-Biography:...
. New drummer Jean Dolabella has been well received by fans and media. A-Lex sold 5,000 copies in its first week of release in Brazil and 1,600 in its first week of release in the United States.
Track listing
Chart performance
Album – Billboard (North America)| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Top Independent Albums | 48 |
| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 2009 | MRC 30 Charts (Germany) | 1 |
| Austria | 53 | |
| Switzerland | 68 | |
| Germany | 82 | |
| Netherlands | 106 | |
| National UK Metal Charts | 22 | |
| France | 150 |
Personnel
- Derrick GreenDerrick GreenDerrick Leon Green is the frontman for the Brazilian heavy metal band Sepultura. Green joined Sepultura in 1997, when he replaced group founder Max Cavalera, who left the band. Allmusic said about the singer: "There was a time when the idea of Sepultura recording without Max Cavalera seemed...
– VocalsSingingSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
, Choir, Chorus - Andreas KisserAndreas KisserAndreas Rudolf Kisser is the lead guitarist for the metal band Sepultura as well as the rock supergroup HAIL!-Biography:...
– GuitarsElectric guitarAn electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
, Acoustic guitarAcoustic guitarAn acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound...
(4), Chorus Arrangements, Choir Arrangements - Paulo Jr.Paulo Jr.Paulo Jr. is the bassist and the only remaining original member of the Brazilian heavy metal band Sepultura.-Life and work:...
– BassBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick.... - Jean DolabellaJean DolabellaJean Dolabella is the former drummer of Brazilian thrash metal band Sepultura. He is also involved with Iron Maiden's Paul Di'Anno in his side project RockFellas.- Biography :...
– DrumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person .... - Stanley Soares – ProducerRecord producerA record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
, Engineer, Mixing - Monika Cavalera – Executive Producer, Management
- Eduardo Queiroz – KeyboardElectronic keyboardAn electronic keyboard is an electronic or digital keyboard instrument.The major components of a typical modern electronic keyboard are:...
s - Sergio Roberto de Oliveira – Additional Bass
- Fernando Lopez – Trumpet
- Mario Sergio Rocha – French Horn
- Alejandro DeLeon – Viola
- Wagner Lavos – Violoncello
- Fábio Brucoli – Violin
- Alex B. Ximenes – Violin
- George Marino – Mastering
- Eric Sanchez – Picture
- Ulisses Razaboni, Mario Niveo, Rodrigo Almeida, Marco Piza – Artwork
External links
- A-Lex at FlickrFlickrFlickr is an image hosting and video hosting website, web services suite, and online community that was created by Ludicorp in 2004 and acquired by Yahoo! in 2005. In addition to being a popular website for users to share and embed personal photographs, the service is widely used by bloggers to...