Review by Denis on April 14, 2003.

One thing that you can say about Blood Red Throne is that they are regular and have sequential minds. On their first album "Monument of Death" the guys were depicted as being murderous and blood was all over their product. Now with this follow up ("A Taste of Blood" being a mini album), you see all of them dead, covered by a blanket, having a tag on their big toe to identify them at the morgue. This makes me laugh and I guess that's what we can call 'black humor'! I don't know about your sense of humor but to me I found it funny.

According to my bleeding ears, you can count on Tchort and his mass murdering friends for delivering one thing: solid, brutal, technical and straightforward death metal. Those of you who liked "Monument of Death" will definitely enjoy this new one and maybe even more. It is actually walking in the same path as its predecessor. They brought very few changes and "Affiliated With The Suffering" is presenting no more and no less than quality Metal that fans can count on. The songs are short, about 3 minutes each and they all come to a sudden end.

The major difference with this new release is the rawness of the songs. It doesn't have as many lead or solo parts and the hectic rhythmic section is really taking the lead role with an even more guitar driven (riffs) orientation. I also found the compositions more repetitive thus closer to earlier Death / Black roots. Definitely an album for the hard head banger type of fan. Some songs are sticking out with interesting elements such as lead or solo sections, slower kind of Doom atmosphere and some prog structure as in 'Bleeding Lament,' 'Chaos Ring' and 'Malediction' which is the last song but they also included two more songs after without mentioning it.

Bottom Line: Fans of the genre, you'll get your money's worth.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 8
Atmosphere: 8
Originality: 6
Production: 8
Overall: 6

Rating: 7.2 out of 10

Review by Felix on March 5, 2021.

Let me start with a little statistic. At the time of this writing, the first four Sepultura albums have an average rating of 88.75%. Chaos A.D. still reaches 70%, while the ten long players from Roots to Quadra are at 61.1%. The average would be even lower if the number of reviews of the individual albums were taken into account: 20 people reviewed Roots with an average of 50%, whereas the 87% of Quadra is based on only four opinions. What I want to say is: apparently it's largely consensus that Sepultura have only produced lukewarm shit since Arise.

Well, when I hear Kairos, I cannot disagree with the prevailing opinion. It's rather shocking that this album is still ranked at 74% today. The 2011 work starts quite solidly with the sawing guitars of 'Spectrum' and the opener quickly develops an apocalyptic dark tinge. Although the track remains stuck in the mire of mid-tempo, the threatening melodies do not remain without effect. The following title track is in a similar vein. With the one-word chorus of 'Kairos' I always think it is the little brother of the chorus of 'Nomad', but that is a venial sin. Again, the song bumbles along at a medium tempo, but otherwise shows its teeth. From the third title onwards, even I recognise a clear pattern. Kairos does not emphasise speed, even if parts of 'No One Will Stand' tries to score with high velocity. The record is more about creating a dense darkness. This works reasonably well at the beginning, but it wears out quickly - and the album only ends after more than 53 minutes. The Ministry cover, for whose performance there is absolutely no reason in my view, and the completely pale, meaningless 'Dialogue' do their best to throw Kairos off track. In fact, the album doesn't really find its way back on track either.

There are hardly any moments of suspense, inter alia because of the little variety concerning the riffs. A quite decent solo here ('Mask', a track that is, by the way, at least in phases fast and dynamic), and every now and then a deadly melody that makes you sit up and take notice (the beginning and the end of 'Born Strong'), that's it. But in addition there are the weak vocals of Derrick Green, who has the dynamic and the charisma of a bridge pillar, and rather lifeless drums. You can listen to all that, but it's not very exciting. 'Refuse / Resist', 'Beneath the Remains' or 'To the Wall' were in a different league, just to name three of many.

The result is a relatively powerful, but also somewhat dully produced album, whose creative potential is exhausted after 35 to 40 minutes. You get the feeling that Sepultura want to prove through quantity that they are still relevant, but that's not how the game works. Very few metalheads will fall into endless enthusiasm to the droning guitars of tracks like 'Embracing the Storm'. What's the average since Roots? 61.1%? I am generous. Kairos is worth 62% to me.

Rating: 6.2 out of 10