Sepultura note are a Heavy Metal band from Belo Horizonte that's been kicking around since 1984 and is one of the few Brazilian acts that's even more popular to the north in the USA. They've been active in quite a few subgenres of metal but they're most famous as one of the most important Groove Metal bands.
The band was formed in 1984 by brothers Max and Igor Cavalera, who drew influences at first from popular eighties metal and rock bands like Iron Maiden, Motörhead, AC/DC, Judas Priest and Van Halen, but later on expanded into more extreme metal acts like Venom, Metallica, Exodus and Sodom. After some lineup difficulties, Sepultura obtained a record contract and released their debut Morbid Visions in 1986. At this stage, their sound was closer to Black Metal, with primitive riffs, raspy vocals, and lyrics about Satanism and the occult.
Lead guitarist Jairo Guedes lost interest in the band soon afterwards and quit, replaced by Andreas Kisser. Not only did this create Sepultura's "classic lineup", but it also changed their sound as Kisser brought in more influences apart from death metal. With Schizophrenia, the band switched to a hybrid of Thrash Metal and Death Metal that earned them critical acclaim. Also around this time they began making waves in the USA, moving to metal label Roadrunner Records and touring the hell out of Schizophrenia and Beneath the Remains.
Recorded in the USA, their 1991 album Arise increased their popularity and showed the band's first exploration of other genres while still keeping their thrash/death sound. The real change came with Chaos A.D. two years later. On Chaos, Sepultura ditched the thrash/death fusion and instead dove headfirst into Groove Metal, combining Igor's groove-laden rhythms with churning riffs and a genre stew that included Industrial Metal, Hardcore Punk and Brazilian percussion. Thanks to Andy Wallace's heavy production and several successful singles ("Refuse/Resist", "Territory", "Slave New World"), Chaos became the band's breakthrough album, earning both commercial and critical success. Their similarly-acclaimed followup Roots was yet another change in sound (Nu Metal this time) that also placed emphasis on Brazilian percussion (supplied by Carlinhos Brown) and featured a collaboration with members of the Brazilian Xavante Indian tribe, as well as appearances by Jonathan Davis, DJ Lethal, and Mike Patton.
Max Cavalera left the band shortly after the album's release in 1996, for still unclear reasons, and instead formed his own band, Soulfly. He was replaced by Derrick Green. The new Sepultura lineup predictably created some division, but the band carried on with modestly acclaimed albums. Igor himself left the band in 2006.
Max and Igor later got back together to form a new band named Cavalera Conspiracy which has caused a bicker as to which band is the real Sepultura, further confounded by the fact that Sepultura's music is almost unanimously agreed upon by fans to have improved in recent years.
On December 8, 2023, the band announced they would be calling it quits after one final tour throughout the next couple years to celebrate their 40th anniversary. In February 2024, Eloy Casagrande abruptly quit the band. He was replaced almost immediately with Suicidal Tendencies drummer Greyson Nekrutman.
Current Lineup:
- Paulo Jr. - bass, backing vocals (1985-present)
- Andreas Kisser - guitars, backing vocals (1987-present); lead vocals (1996-1998)
- Derrick Green - lead vocals (1997-present); additional rhythm guitar (1998-2005)
- Greyson Nekrutman - drums (2024-present)
Former Members:
- Igor Cavalera – drums, percussion (1984–2006)
- Max Cavalera – lead vocals, rhythm guitar, berimbau (1985–1997); lead guitar, backing vocals (1984–1986)
- Cassio – rhythm guitar (1984)
- Wagner Lamounier – lead vocals (1984–1985)
- Roberto Raffan – bass (1984-1985)
- Beto Pinga – drums (1984)
- Roberto UFO – rhythm guitar (1984)
- Julio Cesar Vieira Franco – lead guitar (1985-1986)
- Jairo Guedz – lead guitar (1985–1987)
- Jean Dolabella – drums, percussion (2006–2011)
- Eloy Casagrande – drums, percussion (2011-2024)
Touring Members:
- Silvio Golfetti – lead guitar (1991)
- Guilherme Martin – drums (2005)
- Roy Mayorga – drums, percussion (2006)
- Amilcar Christófaro – drums (2011)
- Kevin Foley – drums, percussion (2013)
Discography:
- Bestial Devastation EP (1985) - split EP with Brazilian band Overdose.
- Morbid Visions (1986 - rerecorded by Cavalera Conspiracy in 2023)
- Schizophrenia (1987)
- Beneath the Remains (1989)
- Arise (1991)
- Chaos A.D. (1993)
- Roots (1996)
- The Roots of Sepultura (1996) - compilation of unreleased tracks, B-sides, alternate mixes, demos and live recordings.
- Blood-Rooted (1997) - another compilation of more unreleased tracks, B-sides, remixes and live recordings.
- Against (1998) - the first album featuring Derrick Green
- Nation (2001)
- Revolusongs EP (2003) - an EP of Cover Versions.
- Roorback (2003)
- Dante XXI (2006)
- A-Lex (2009) - the first record not to feature either of the Cavalera brothers
- Kairos (2011)
- The Mediator Between Head and Hands Must Be the Heart (2013)
- Machine Messiah (2017)
- Quadra (2020) - the band's final album of original material before they announced their split
- SepulQuarta (2021) - collaboration album featuring rerecorded songs from all their eras and guest appearances from metal musicians of various types
Under a pale grey sky, We shall tropes:
- All Drummers Are Animals: Eloy Casagrande is known for his extremely aggressive, hard-hitting, and physical playing style, and frequently makes use of tribal polyrhythms in his playing.Youtube commenter: He beats those drums like he caught them trying to steal his bike.
- Band of Relatives: It was started by the Cavalera brothers, who have since made a few more of those (including the indicatively named Cavalera Conspiracy).
- The Band Minus the Face:
- Since the departure of Max Cavalera in 1996, even though Andreas seems to have supplanted Max's status as the band's face, given his appearances in music conventions all over the country.
- As of 2006, there are no original members left after Igor's departure. The closest thing to an original member left is bassist Paulo Jr., who is the only member to have contributed to every single album.note
- The Big Guy: Derrick is well-known for his immense size, with most sources reporting his height at around 6'4' or 6'5', making him by far the band's tallest member. This is especially noticeable in promo shoots during the time he and Igor were both in the band, in which the latter is often in front and despite the perspective still stands at a whole head shorter than Derrick.
- "Blind Idiot" Translation: Frequent in their early material, given that they were still learning English when they first formed.
- Concept Album: Dante XXI' is based on The Divine Comedy, and A-Lex, on A Clockwork Orange (though Max Cavalera stated the rest of the band did not even like it
). - Cover Version: "Drug Me" by the Dead Kennedys, "Orgasmatron" by Motörhead, "The Hunt" by New Model Army, "A Hora e a Vez do Cabelo Nascer" by Os Mutantes, "Crucificados Pelo Sistema" by Ratos de Porão, "Procreation (of the Wicked)" by Celtic Frost, "Inhuman Nature" by Final Conflict, "Polícia" by Titãs, "War" by Bob Marley, "Symptom of the Universe" by Black Sabbath, "Just One Fix" by Ministry , "Firestarter" by The Prodigy, and "Ultraseven No Uta".
- Cover Album: Revolusongs, with covers from Hellhammer ("Messiah"), Massive Attack ("Angel"), Public Enemy ("Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos"), Devo ("Mongoloid"), Jane's Addiction ("Mountain Song"), U2 ("Bullet the Blue Sky"), Exodus ("Piranha") and Metallica (the medley "Enter Sandman"/"Fight Fire with Fire").
- "Monólogo ao Pé do Ouvido" by Chico Science & Nação Zumbi and "We Gotta Know" by the Cro Mags were also covered on the live album Under A Pale Grey Sky, among others already mentioned.
- A notable cover of a Sepultura song is "Roots Bloody Roots" by German metal band J.B.O., where half of the lyrics are sung in operatic style by one "Luciano Pabarotti." Both bands appeared together on stage at a festival in 2007, performing said song.
- Doomy Dooms of Doom: "Troops Of Doom" from Morbid Visions.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: Even coming from a band who changes their sound up as often as them, Morbid Visions sticks out like a sore thumb amongst the rest of their discography for a variety of reasons. The production quality is unpolished and lo-fi compared to everything after, it features a first-wave black metal sound that they never explored before or since, the lyrics are occult and Satanic themed as opposed to the social commentary and political topics they are known for, Max Cavalera's voice sounds almost nothing like it does on succeeding albums, and it is the sole full-length of theirs not to feature Andreas Kisser on guitar.
- For the Derrick Green era, Against. The album was mostly written before Max left, and as a result is far more percussion-driven and world music influenced than anything Green would appear on afterwards. Nation and Roorback also qualify due to their prominent nu metal influences, which were almost completely abandoned in favor of a sound closer to their death/thrash and groove metal roots after, but to a much lesser degree thanks to Green directly contributing to the songwriting.
- Four-Temperament Ensemble:
- Paulo: Melancholic
- Andreas: Choleric
- Derrick: Sanguine
- Eloy: Phlegmatic
- Genre Mashup: The second half of the Derrick Green era is pretty much a marriage of all their various sounds, blending thrash metal, groove metal, death metal, and nu metal together almost seamlessly.
- Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow: Derrick. His signature dreads disappeared shortly after The Mediator album cycle, and he's been bald ever since.
- Harsh Vocals: For the most part, but after Derrick Green showed up, you can occasionally hear clean vocals, most prominently on Nation and to a lesser extent Roorback, with them being only used on a few songs on succeeding albums.
- Heartbeat Soundtrack: Chaos starts with the heartbeat of Max's son.
- Hidden Track: The original 1993 release of Chaos A.D. ends with an unlisted track that's two minutes of Laughing Mad bloopers from the song "We Who Are Not As Others." This was not in any of the album's later reissues.
- I Am the Band: Even if Paulo is the only founding member who never left, Andreas Kisser is Sepultura. It used to be the Cavalera brothers of Max and Igor, who co-founded the band. Then Max quit in 1996, which left Igor in control. Then Igor quit in 2006, so since then, Andreas has taken control and been behind much of Sepultura's songwriting and composition, as well as appearing the most in the band's press conferences.
- Lead Drummer:
- Eloy Casagrande is famous for his great technical ability and precision, wild and energetic stage presence, and his aggressive and technical playing style that makes heavy use of polyrhythms. Even modern Sepultura's detractors will almost universally agree that regardless of what they think of the band, Eloy is a fantastic drummer.
- Before that, Igor was both hailed as a great drummer and one of the band's faces, specially once his brother left.
- Looped Lyrics / Single Stanza Song: "We Who Are Not As Others".
- Metal Scream: Many, many examples (part of why the vocals are so hard to understand). WAR FOR TERRITOOOOOOOOOOORYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!
- Max and Derrick are Type 1's. Derrick would also demonstrate his ability to also do Types 2 and 3 in his short-lived side project Musica Diablo.
- New Sound Album: Several:
- Schizophrenia marked a shift from first-wave Black Metal to a Death / Thrash sound.
- Chaos A.D. pushed them in the direction of Groove Metal and Alternative Metal.
- Roots was similar to Chaos, but added Nu Metal and more prominent Brazilian influences to the mix.
- The first three albums with Green largely continued the overall Groove Metal / Alternative Metal vibes of Chaos and Roots, but they began incorporating more obvious Thrash Metal influences on Dante XXI.
- A-Lex had them settling on a sound that fused all of their various sounds over the years except their earliest Black Metal stuff into a fairly coherent (and heavy) whole, which they have more-or-less stuck with to this day.
- Nu Metal: The band delved into nu metal starting with Roots and continued with that sound all the way up to Roorback.
- Precision F-Strike: Pretty frequent (Max does drop Cluster F Bombs, but in music, these are carefully dropped). An example from "Refuse/Resist":Inside the stateWar is createdNo man's landWhat is this shit?
- Rearrange the Song: The Cavalera brothers' current band Cavalera Conspiracy re-recorded their first album Morbid Visions (as well as Bestial Devastation) in 2023.
- Revisiting the Roots: Dante XXI saw the band reintroducing their deathrash roots into their sound after mostly abandoning it on the prior Green-era albums. Since then, they've continued in this direction while infusing elements of their various eras together.
- Rock Me, Asmodeus!: The main lyrical theme in their early works. Starting with Schizophrenia, they would abandon this trope in favor of more political and personal themes.
- Scary Black Man: Derrick. Try not to be intimidated by this big guy.
- Sibling Team: Max and Igor before they left the band.
- Soprano and Gravel: Of a sort. Max never used (and still never has used) cleans, but Derrick occasionally throws them into their music, adding a soulful baritone to contrast his fairly high harsh vocals. While he mostly used them on Nation and Roorback, they do show up sparsely afterwards, an example being on the title track of Machine Messiah.
- Special Guest: They've had quite a few over the years, with the more notable ones being Scott Latour (ex-Opprobrium), John Tardy, Kelly Shaefer, Jello Biafra, Mike Patton, Jonathan Davis, DJ Lethal, Jason Newsted, Jamey Jasta, Apocalyptica, Dave Lombardo, and Emmily Barreto (Far from Alaska).
- Start My Own:
- Before Soulfly and Cavalera Conspiracy, there was Wagner Lamounier and Sarcofago.
- Max Cavalera formed his own band Soulfly when he left Sepultura.
- Once Igor got out of the band, he formed Cavalera Conspiracy with his brother Max.
- Derrick formed the thrash/death band Musica Diablo in 2008, who released an album in 2010 before they went their separate ways the following year.
- Original guitar player Jairo Guedz formed a band named The Troops of Doom decades after his departure, who released their first album in 2022.
- Take That!: "Cut Throat" from Roots has one towards their former recording label, going like this:Integrity will free our soul from/Enslavement! Pathetic Ignorant Corporations!.
- Token Minority: Derrick is the sole black member of the band, as well as one of the very few well-known black musicians in extreme metal as a whole, a status he shares with Terrance Hobbs, Mike Smith, Adam Warren, Chason Westmoreland, Serge Kasongo (Leng Tch'e), Caller of the Storms (Blasphemy), Byron Davis and Doc Coyle (God Forbid), Alex Hellid, Howard Jones, Malcolm Pugh, Mendel bij de Leij, Tommy Vext (ex-Divine Heresy), Katon W. de Pena (Hirax), and Aantar Lee Coates (Diabolic). He was also the band's only member to hail from the United States until Greyson Nekrutman joined in 2024.
- Vocal Evolution: Max started out with a sinister mid-ranged rasp that was halfway between death metal and black metal. As time went on, his vocals became huskier and more forceful.
- Derrick's voice was a hardcore-esque shout during his early years in the band befitting of his punk background, but starting around Dante XXI his vocals gradually became slightly lower and more death metal leaning while keeping the punk edge.
- We Used to Be Friends: Igor Cavalera became this towards the group after his departure. While he did leave on debatably amicable terms and initially claimed he was still on good footing with the others, since reuniting with his brother Max to form Cavalera Conspiracy he gradually became more distant from them and began treating CC like a separate incarnation of Sepultura, even going as far as claiming the band should've ceased to exist after he left. He also stated that he still considered Derrick his friend upon quitting, but there's never been any evidence in the years since then that they actually kept in touch, further solidifying this.
- Word Salad Titles And Lyrics: The band initially didn't know much English, and even now can be really poor speakers. So they let Max, who knew the most English, name their songs by using a Portuguese-English dictionary. Thus we got "Show Me the Wrath," "From the Past Comes the Storms" (or its demo title, "The Past Reborns the Storms"), "Septic Schizo," "Sarcastic Existence" and some others.
- Also "Ratamahatta," even though it is sung completely in Portuguese.
- Parodied by Mamonas Assassinas, a compatriot, short-lived comedy Genre Mashup band, whose song "Débil Metal"note is sung on the style of Sepultura, with the vocalist doing an impression of Max:
I just can't explain, it melts in my mouthDying to me now is popcorn - World Music: Their album Roots is notable because it incorporates traditional Brazilian music in its sound.
