The Sepultura group is a significant figure on the difficult stage, as its members have made an invaluable contribution to the development of the world "metal" subculture. The name is a Portuguese word that translates as “grave”.
Once, such music was simply impossible to hear in Catholic Brazil, but several desperate guys broke the established stereotype, “asking everyone to heat up”. Only at first they had to pretend to be an American team in order to avoid being convicted of violating the country's religious policy. Sepultura's albums went around the world at the speed of light, and Arise was sold over a million times. At least that's why the guys deserve attention and respect.
Start
Sepultura was put together by brothers Max and Igor Cavalera, back in 1984. At that time, they were teenagers who had lost their father, and having decided that creating a rock band was the best solution to financial difficulties, they began to look for the missing participants. The diplomat Horatio Cavalera suddenly died of a heart attack, and the orphaned guys found an “outlet”, surrendering to the music.
The birthplace of the Sepultura group is the city of Belo Horizonte, which lies in the southeastern part of Brazil. The first composition looked like this:
- Max Cavalera - vocals / guitar;
- Paulo Shisto Pinto Jr. - bass;
- Jayro Guedes - solo guitar;
- Igor Cavalera - drums.
Initially, guys are fans of such legendary teams as: Iron Maiden, Van Halen, AC / DC, Motörhead, Ozzy Osbourne and Judas Priest. However, the black metal team Venom has radically changed their outlook on music. Needless to say, this directly affected their own work? In an interview, Igor recalls that he once asked a friend of the Venom cassette (just to listen), but when he heard that the music resembles a heavier version of Motörhead, he said, “Wow, this is just a diabolical Motorhead!”
The love of rediscovering eclipsed everything heard before, and the “light” bands suddenly became boring and uninteresting. On the shelves appeared cassettes such as: Metallica, Sodom, Kreator and Slayer.
First changes
The composition of the Sepultura group changed several times, and soon took on this form:
- Wagner Lamunier - vocals;
- Max Cavalera - guitar;
- Paulo Jr. - Bas-guitar;
- Igor Cavalera - drums.
However, Lamuniere didn’t get along with the team, and after many disagreements he left to vocals at Sarcófago. It should be noted that this group was the first team to cut black metal in sunny Brazil. Soon, a new guitarist, Jairo Guedes, joined the Sepultura band, and Max became the full owner of the microphone stand.
In less than a year, the guys in this lineup were spotted by Cogumelo Records, which offered them a very lucrative contract. The first shot was a mini-album, released in 1985 under the name Bestial Devastation ("Brutal devastation"). The songs of the Sepultura group like Necromancer and Bestial Devastation are a clear example of the early work of the Brazilians - they were blew with gloomy lyrics. The musicians searched for their style for a long time before they came to a thrash sound.
Popularity
In 1986, the light came out on a full-fledged studio album Morbid Visions ("Painful Dreams"), filled with guitar riffs inherent only in Sepulture. Since he was released under the New Renaissance Records label, journalists began to actively criticize the company, as they considered it proper to interfere with the promotion of "some Satanists there." However, despite all their creeps, the song Troops of Doom leaked on the radio, and became a real local hit. Due to this success, the guys went on their first tour in Brazil. But Jairo Guados didn’t like something, and after the end of the tour he left the group to find his place in a more suitable team. But, “a holy place does not happen empty”, so Andreas Kisser, an outstanding and educated musician, successfully replaced him. From that moment on, Sepultura members began to be based in São Paulo.
Success
Soon, the guys delighted their fans with a new album called Schizophrenia ("Schizophrenia"), which included instrumental Inquisition Symphony, subsequently played by Apocalyptica. The release was so successful that a circulation of 30 thousand, sent to Europe, was completely sold. However, the guys themselves did not see the money.
Soon, the group signed a contract with a new label - Roadrunner Records, which was located in the Netherlands. The language problems and the fact that Sepultura itself was based in its native country could not prevent this. The album Beneath the Remains ("Under the Remains") was not long in coming and was released in 1989. Produced by Scott Bjerns, who at that time was known for his work with Morbid Angel and Death. With his light hand, the guys began to work more harmoniously and professionally, which facilitated the further path to the top of fame.
Soon, the first video clip in the history of the group was shot for one of the songs of this album called Inner Self. Then the carousel of popularity spun countless invitations to concerts, festivals and tours. The media was full of notes about brave Brazilian peppers that were able to fulfill their dream against all odds. Sepulture began performing on the same stage with their idols, and the print edition Terrorizer added Beneath the Remains to the top 20 thrash thrash albums.
Top of Musical Olympus
Soon the base of the group moved to Arizona (Phoenix), and the work began to boil with renewed vigor. 1991 was marked by the release of the legendary album Arise (“Resurrect”), whose sales exceeded the circulation of 1,000,000, which finally allowed Brazilians to be in the shoes of famous rock stars. Their faces were painted on the covers of the most famous metal magazines around the world, and critics finally realized that the guys were worth something, and began to grumble at them much quieter.
Soon followed by a world tour in countries such as Japan, Portugal, Israel, Italy, Australia, Great Britain, Greece, Spain and New Zealand. 4 concerts were played in the Russian Federation and two in Indonesia. The group also participated in the large-scale Dynamo Open Air, held in Holland. Thanks to this, Arise became platinum.
Once at an open concert by Sepultura in São Paulo, an unpleasant incident occurred related to the death of one of the fans. Thanks to this, the authorities formed a negative opinion about the fans of the Brazilian team, and each new concert was complicated by lengthy negotiations.
Something new
The next brainchild of Sepultura Chaos AD ("Chaos") reflected the ethnic musical motives of Brazil, and the instrumental Kaiowas most of all proves this. In general, the sound has acquired shades of groove metal, and Max growled much more aggressively. Shortly before this, the musician tied the knot with Gloria Buinowski (group manager), and the first song of the album begins with the heartbeat of their newborn baby. Several clips were realized on compositions from this disc, some of which were shot outside the borders of their native country.
Roots (Roots) was released in '96 and became a real creative breakthrough for the guys. More than the previous one, it was saturated with Brazilian motives, for which the style was characterized as ethno-thrash. While working on the album, the guys lived side by side with representatives of the Xavante tribe. In the video for the cult song Roots Bloody Roots, you can see the techniques of capoeira - Brazilian martial dance.
Frontman Care
Following the previous album, the guys released Roots Sepultura, which reflected all the genre metamorphoses of their sound. In support of the album, performances at major festivals were planned, but something unexpected happened. Gloria's son from Dan Wells' first marriage (to whom Max was very attached) died in a car accident. The musician had to go to the United States for a funeral, and three guys were in a difficult situation, because a major performance was on the verge of a breakdown. However, fellow musicians supported Sepultura, and the three guys continued the tour, and fans honored Dana's memory with a moment of silence.
To Max and Gloria, this state of affairs seemed inappropriate and offended their parental feelings, so the musician said that he was leaving the group. Scheduled concerts were canceled, and further prospects were shrouded in a fog of obscurity.
New times
The Sepultura group stood the test of dignity, and soon Derrick Green joined them, and meanwhile, Max put together Soulfly with his own son. The choice of a new vocalist was not easy, because he was required not only to growl, but also to write lyrics. Derrick turned out to be quite a suitable candidate, especially since the climate of Brazil was quite suitable for him, and he loved football like any self-respecting resident of the country. The new album Against ("Confrontation") was released in '98. The sound was very emotional, but despite the invited eminent musicians, the Soulfly album sold much better. However, the Sepulture tour was more than successful, and the fans finally believed that this was far from the end.
Soon, the album Nation ("The Nation") was released, putting an end to the collaboration with Roadrunner. SPV / Steamhammer became the new label, and the Dante XXI CD on Divine Comedy was released in 2006. The sound of music returned to thrash, although it had some shades of other genres.
Without the "Cavaliers"
In 2009, the A-Lex album was released on the theme of A Clockwork Orange, which was the first work without Igor and Max. From that moment on, the Nuclear Blast Records became partners of the Sepultura group, cooperation with which opened up new prospects.
In 2011, a disc with the Greek name Kairos was released, the creation of which was made by producer Roy Zet. In 2013, the group was seen working on a new album.
Today's Sepultura lineup looks like this:
- Paulo Jr. - Bas-guitar;
- Andreas Kisser - guitar;
- Derrick Green - vocals;
- Eloy Casagrande - drums.