Sepultura are a Brazilian heavy metal band from Belo Horizonte formed by brothers guitarist/vocalist Max and drummer/percussionist Igor Cavalera in 1984. The band's first stable lineup in 1984 included Max and Igor alongside lead vocalist Wagner Lamounier, and bassist Paulo Jr. The bands current lineup includes Paulo Jr. alongside guitarist Andreas Kisser (since 1987), lead vocalist Derrick Green (since 1997) and drummer Eloy Casagrande (since 2011).
History
Sepultura was formed in 1984 in Belo Horizonte, the capital city of Minas Gerais, Brazil. The band was founded by 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 Black Sabbath's 1972 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".
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, lead 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.
After about a year of performing, Sepultura signed to Cogumelo Records in 1985. Later that year, they released Bestial Devastation, a shared EP with fellow Brazilian band Overdose. It was recorded and self-produced in just two days. The band recorded their first full-length album, Morbid Visions, in August 1986. It contained their first hit, "Troops of Doom", which gained some media attention. The band then decided to relocate to the larger city of São Paulo.
In early 1987, Jairo Guedz quit the band. Guedz was replaced by São Paulo-based guitarist Andreas Kisser, and they released their second studio album, Schizophrenia, later that year. The album reflected a stylistic change towards a more thrash metal-oriented sound, while still keeping the death metal elements of Morbid Visions. Schizophrenia was an improvement in production and performance, and became a minor critical sensation across Europe and America as a much sought-after import. During a May 2018 interview with teenyrockers.com, Kisser noted that Sepultura would not have been possible without family support, not only from his own family, but also from the families of Max and Igor, and Paulo Jr.
In August 1996, Sepultura played on the Castle Donington Monsters of Rock main stage alongside Ozzy Osbourne, Paradise Lost, Type O Negative, Biohazard, and Fear Factory. The band was suddenly a three-piece with Andreas Kisser taking over on lead vocals, after Max Cavalera left the concert site earlier in the day upon learning of the death of his stepson Dana Wells in a car accident. After Dana Wells' funeral was finished, Max returned and continued to tour with Sepultura. A few months after Wells' death, the band had a meeting with Max and said that they wanted to fire their manager Gloria Bujnowski, who was Max's wife and Dana's mother, and find new management. Their reasoning was that Bujnowski was giving preferential treatment to Max while neglecting the rest of the band. Max, who was still coming to terms with the death of Wells, felt betrayed by his bandmates for wanting to get rid of Bujnowski and abruptly quit the band. Max Cavalera's final performance with Sepultura was at Brixton Academy in England on December 16, 1996.
Following Max Cavalera's departure, the remaining members of Sepultura announced plans to find a new vocalist. Among those who auditioned were Chuck Billy of Testament, Phil Demmel of Machine Head and Vio-lence, Marc Grewe of Morgoth, Jorge Rosado of Merauder and a then-unknown Jason "Gong" Jones. American musician Derrick Green from Cleveland, Ohio, was selected as the band's new front-man. The first album with the new lineup was Against, which was released in 1998. The album was critically and commercially less successful than previous albums and sold considerably fewer copies than the debut album by Max Cavalera's new band Soulfly. In a retrospective review AllMusic gave the album 3 stars out of 5, stating that "there are enough flashes of the old Sepultura brilliance to suggest that great things are still to come".