A song a day: Sepultura - Ratamahatta

For all their detuned brutality and cookie monster singing, Sepultura overcame cultural divides and thrash metal pigeon holing to be a major force in metal in the 90’s. No other song in their repertoire ably communicates this than Ratamahatta which can be summed up in one word: drums. The South American drumming accompanied by a classic two note metal riff defies logic, intellect and taste – if you don’t air drum or at least throw the occasional devil horn during this song, you just don’t like music. There is nothing polite, thought out or contrived in this song, it merely wrestles primal urges to rock to the ground and unlocks your monkey brain in seconds. And the lyrics? Who knows what that’s about – it doesn’t even matter.

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