Straighthate

The opening riff of Straighthate doesn’t sound like the rest of the album. While Roots delves into tribal rhythms and Brazilian textures, this track kicks off with a heavy, direct groove, almost like a sonic punch. There’s no tribal percussion or collaborations with Carlinhos Brown here: just Igor Cavalera’s drums pounding at a steady tempo, Andreas Kisser’s guitar slicing through sharp chords, and Max Cavalera’s vocals spitting lyrics with a raw intensity that contrasts with the album’s experimentalism. The final mix, handled by Andy Wallace and Steve Sisco, gives it a dirty, organic feel, as if it were recorded in a basement rather than a professional studio.

Recorded in 1995 in Belo Horizonte, Straighthate is one of the few Roots tracks that doesn’t feature the Brazilian musicians whose contributions define the album’s sound. The technical credits reveal a team of engineers —Rob Agnello, Chuck Johnson, and Richard Kaplan— working under the production of Ross Robinson, who aimed to capture the band’s raw energy. It lasts 5 minutes and 22 seconds, a runtime that feels just right for the controlled chaos it delivers: neither too long nor too short, like a sharp strike that leaves a mark. The song closed Max Cavalera’s era in Sepultura, released in February 1996 in Europe and three weeks later in the United States, marking the end of an era before his definitive departure from the band.