Belo Horizonte, Brazil · metal · thrash

Sepultura

3 festivals played ↓

Brazil's metal export to the world — Roots-era tribal thrash that reshaped heavy music's map.

Brothers Max and Igor Cavalera formed Sepultura in Belo Horizonte in 1984, sons of a model and an Italian diplomat whose death left the family in financial trouble. Max started the band the same day he first heard Black Sabbath's Vol. 4, and the name, Portuguese for grave, came from his own translation of a line in Motörhead's "Dancing on Your Grave." Early influences ran from Led Zeppelin and Sabbath to Motörhead and Venom.

Morbid Visions arrived in 1986, raw and death-tinged, followed by Schizophrenia in 1987, which caught Roadrunner Records' attention and led to a deal. Beneath the Remains in 1989 became their international breakthrough, and Arise in 1991 tightened the attack further, both records sharpening the band's thrash into something faster and more precise.

Chaos A.D. in 1993 slowed the tempos into a heavier groove, added percussion and political lyrics, and Roots in 1996 pushed the idea further with Brazilian percussion and a recorded collaboration with the Xavante people. The band has sold more than three million records in the United States and close to twenty million worldwide, going gold or platinum in France, Australia, Indonesia, the US, the UK, Cyprus and Brazil.

Max Cavalera left in 1997 and Derrick Green took over on vocals; Igor departed in 2006, after which no original member remained in the lineup. Bassist Paulo Jr., the longest-serving member despite not appearing on record until Chaos A.D., and guitarist Andreas Kisser, on every album since Schizophrenia, continued alongside Green and drummer Greyson Nekrutman.

In March 2024 the band began a two-year farewell tour ahead of splitting up, with an EP, The Cloud of Unknowing, released in the tour's final year. Across all the changes, the sound has stayed built on downtuned riffing, tribal-leaning drum patterns and shouted vocals.

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