Sepultura (Portuguese: "grave") is a Brazilian heavy metal band from Belo Horizonte. Formed in 1984 by brothers Max and Igor Cavalera, the band was a major force in the groove metal, thrash metal and death metal genres during the late 1980s and early 1990s, with their later experiments drawing influence from alternative metal, world music, nu metal, hardcore punk, and industrial metal. Sepultura has also been credited as one of the second wave of thrash metal acts from the late 1980s to early-to...
Sepultura (Portuguese: "grave") is a Brazilian heavy metal band from Belo Horizonte. Formed in 1984 by brothers Max and Igor Cavalera, the band was a major force in the groove metal, thrash metal and death metal genres during the late 1980s and early 1990s, with their later experiments drawing influence from alternative metal, world music, nu metal, hardcore punk, and industrial metal. Sepultura has also been credited as one of the second wave of thrash metal acts from the late 1980s to early-to-mid-1990s, along with bands like Pantera, Testament, Sacred Reich, Dark Angel, Vio-lence, Forbidden, Death Angel and Machine Head.
The band has had several lineup changes throughout its existence, with Max and Igor Cavalera departing in 1996 and 2006, respectively. Sepultura's current lineup consists of vocalist Derrick Green, guitarist Andreas Kisser, bassist Paulo Jr. and drummer Eloy Casagrande. Since Igor Cavalera's departure in 2006, there have been no original members left in the band. Paulo Jr., who has been a member of Sepultura since 1985, is the only member to appear on every release. Kisser, who replaced onetime guitarist Jairo Guedz, debuted on record with Sepultura on their second full-length Schizophrenia (1987); he and Paulo Jr. are the only members to appear on the rest of the band's studio albums.
Sepultura has released fifteen studio albums to date, the latest being Quadra (2020). Their most successful records are Beneath the Remains (1989), Arise (1991), Chaos A.D. (1993) and Roots (1996). Sepultura has sold over three million units in the United States and almost 20 million worldwide, gaining multiple gold and platinum records around the globe, including in countries as diverse as France, Australia, Indonesia, United States, Cyprus and their native Brazil.
Sepultura was formed in 1984 in Belo Horizonte, the capital city of Minas Gerais, Brazil. The band was founded by teen brothers Max and Igor Cavalera, the impoverished sons of Vânia, a model, and Graciliano, a well-to-do Italian diplomat whose fatal heart attack left his family in financial ruin. Graciliano's death deeply affected his sons, inspiring them to form a band after Max heard the album Black Sabbath Vol. 4 the very same day. They chose the band name Sepultura, the Portuguese word for "grave", when Max translated the lyrics of the Motörhead song "Dancing on Your Grave".
The brothers' early influences included Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and Deep Purple, and metal and hard rock artists of the early 1980s, such as Van Halen, Iron Maiden, Motörhead, AC/DC, Judas Priest, Ozzy Osbourne, and V8. They would travel to a record shop in São Paulo that mixed tapes of the latest records by American bands. Their listening habits changed dramatically after being introduced to Venom.
The Cavalera brothers started listening to bands such as Hellhammer, Celtic Frost, Kreator, Sodom, Slayer, Megadeth, Exodus, and Exciter. They also had influences on Brazilian metal from bands like Stress, Sagrado Inferno, and Dorsal Atlântica. By 1984, they had dropped out of school. After several early membership changes, Sepultura established a stable lineup of Max on guitar, Igor on drums, vocalist Wagner Lamounier, and bassist Paulo Jr. Lamounier departed in March 1985 after disagreements with the band, and moved on to become the leader of the pioneering Brazilian black metal band Sarcófago. After his departure, Max took over the vocal duties. Jairo Guedes was invited to join the band as lead guitarist.
Sepultura's early influences were heavy metal and hard rock groups such as Kiss, Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Motörhead, Iron Maiden, Venom, Celtic Frost, Twisted Sister and Whitesnake, as well as thrash metal bands like Metallica, Slayer, Exodus, Testament, Anthrax, Kreator, Sodom and Destruction and death metal bands Possessed and Death. They were also influenced by punk rock music, including bands such as the Ramones, the Sex Pistols, Black Flag, Dead Kennedys, Discharge, S.O.D., Amebix and New Model Army. Andreas Kisser has affirmed that "without Slayer, Sepultura would never be possible".
Sepultura's music comes in a wide range of heavy metal musical styles. The band has been described mainly as thrash metal and death metal. Another genre the band has been commonly categorized under is groove metal. The band later on started experimenting elements of other musical genres such as hardcore punk, industrial metal, alternative metal, world music and nu metal.
Looking back on the band's career arc for a 2016 article on Max and Igor Cavalera's retrospective Return to Roots tour (in commemoration of the album's 20th anniversary), Nashville Scene contributor Saby Reyes-Kulkarni observed that "Before Chaos A.D., the overwhelming majority of metal had a 'white' feel to it. Sepultura changed that forever. And with Roots, the band went a step further, asserting once and for all that the genre can accommodate native stylings from any culture, much like jazz had done for decades prior."
MTV has called Sepultura the most successful Brazilian heavy metal band in history and "perhaps the most important heavy metal band of the '90s". In 1993, Robert Baird of Phoenix New Times wrote that the band played "machine-gun-tempo mayhem" and that the members "love to attack organized religion and repressive government".
A number of bands have cited Sepultura as an influence, including Slipknot, Korn, Hatebreed, Alien Weaponry, Krisiun, Gojira, Between the Buried and Me, Xibalba, Vein, Toxic Holocaust, Code Orange, Puya and Nails. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.
