Recently, legendary Brazilian thrashers SEPULTURA revealed the title of their new album, The Mediator Between The Head And Hands Must Be The Heart. The long awaited album is expected to be released worldwide on October 25th, through the German label Nuclear Blast. As reported, the title was inspired by the German movie Metropolis, by the Austrian director Fritz Lang. The blog DP in the studio with Sepultura brings a summary of the movie and explains why until today Metropolis influences art in its several expressions – from music to the cinema itself. An excerpt follows:

Metropolis is a science fiction film. The plot is set in the XXI century, in a big city – Metropolis – ruled autocratically by a powerful businessman, Jonh Fredersen.

The city experienced a kind of apartheid, segmented into two classes. Citizens in the upper town have at their disposal the best that technology can provide for the welfare of the population. At the bottom are the workers, who live in an underground city with their families. They work 10 hours a day in inhumane conditions (analogous to slavery), to keep the machines that prevent the upper city’s privileges from suffering interruptions.

Completely unaware of the world around them, workers live in a robotic, exhaustive routine – from home to work, from work to home. They have no leisure. No education. They do not reflect, nor question, but only produce, so that the elite, who live on the higher, can take advantage of perks and improvements promoted by advances in science and technology.

Amid the misery of human existence in which they live, a young woman emerges, Mary. With her angelic countenance and ability to convey her message to the people, Maria gets the attention of the oppressed. Demonstrating to employees that they have the power and ability to transform the class, Maria urges the workers to organize themselves, to claim their rights through a chosen one who will come to represent them, always preaching peace, however, as the most effective means to achieve their goals.

Ironically, the chosen one, the one who represents the hope of the workers, is nothing less than Freder, son of Fredersen (the head, who commands the metropolis). Freder just discovered the conditions under which workers (the hands that build the city) live.

In Metropolis the character Freder represents, at the same time, the image of Buddha – the son of a wealthy family who has compassion for the oppressed when discovered what life is like outside the palaces – and Jesus (although not sent by his father, Freder is convinced by Maria – Mary – to be the savior of the workers).

Freder is the heart that mediates the agreement between the head and hands.

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