Sepultura's latest offering is one which is thought to have a lot of expectation upon it, or perhaps maybe none at all after the lackluster effort "Against" that debuted the groups frontman replacement Derrick Green. Yet those who were quick to judge would be smart not to write the band off just yet, because on "Nation", the sound exhibited is one of a recharged and reinvigorated band ready to prove themselves all over again. Rather than following in the footsteps of their past efforts, this release finds the Brazilian heroes truly beginning to gel with Derrick and the rock solid songs that are laid out as a result are enough to at least jar the attention of any jaded metalhead.

Thick and throaty with a touch of Mike Patton and a bit of metalcore growl, Derrick leads the band through the motions like an enraged charging rhino, goring anything in his path. What he lacks in range he makes up for intensity and though his voice can at times be a bit monotonous, he does try to experiment occasionally, even though his grating ferocity does tend to fit quite well in the atmosphere of the aggressive material included on this album. Guitar work is as strong as ever and rather than going off into the new metal direction the bands last effort with former frontman Max Cavalera, "Roots" did, they have instead bridged a gap between the in your face metalcore of groups like Hatebreed and mixed it with the distorted brutality that won them their audience on their most popular effort, "Chaos A.D.". Coming off very bass heavy, each song has a moderately downtuned rumble that permeates the foundations, creating a dark and brooding atmosphere that accentuates the incredible tribal drumming talents of Igor Cavalera to perfection. Yet the percussion isn't as overblown as say Soulfly or Slipnot, and Igor's maturity shows as he plays with enough progressive and ethnic flair to make the drums feel both complex and humble at the same time.

It's without a doubt the band have experimented a bit with new ideas on this album, and even enlisted the talents of Hatebreed front man Jamey Jasta on the auditory wrecking ball "Human Cause" along with an appearance by the modern day prophet Jello Biafra on "Politricks". The guest appearances definitely don't detract from the effort either or make it sound like a guest appearance record, though it would seem as the seed didn't fall too far from the tree as the collaboration with dub luminary Dr. Israel sounds quite similar to songs done by Max's latest act Soulfly. But the fact remains, Max fan or not, "Nation" is a solid album that does much to restore faith in the bands future as well as in the much criticized new frontman Derrick Green. If the group can keep evolving in this direction, and put out efforts of this caliber in the coming years, you can bet there will surely be a nation ready and salivating, just waiting to consume all that is written in this, the new chapter of Sepultura.