Description

The face on the cover of Roots came from money. The image was taken from a 1990 banknote of Brazil's discontinued cruzeiro currency, which showed an Indigenous person of the Karajá people. Max Cavalera explained that the cover was "not really that much changed" from the old bill, which the band remembered from a currency that was no longer in circulation.

The changes were made by Michael Whelan, the fantasy illustrator who had painted several of Sepultura's earlier covers. According to Cavalera, all Whelan had to do was add the band's tribal "S" logo, set in a locket, and make the background look like tree roots with a fiery colour. The result tied the band's identity directly to Brazil and to Indigenous culture, which was the subject of the record.

Roots was built around that idea. The band recorded with the Xavante people in Mato Grosso and drew on Brazilian percussion and traditional music alongside heavy, down-tuned metal, then finished the album at Indigo Ranch studios in Malibu. Roadrunner released it in Europe on 20 February 1996 and in the US on 12 March. Roadrunner has since counted the sleeve among the ten greatest covers in the label's history.

Credit

Cover artwork by Michael Whelan, adapted from the image on a 1990 Brazilian cruzeiro banknote