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Sepultura Information
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'Sepultura' are a Brazilian thrash metal/death metal band assembled in 1984, though their current sound is often described as groove metal. Their name means "grave" in the Portuguese language - which they got when Max Cavalera, one of the founding members, was translating the lyrics of the Motörhead song "Dancing On Your Grave."
Biography
Sepultura were formed in Belo Horizonte in the 1980s by Max Cavalera (guitars and vocals) and Igor Cavalera (drums). Sepultura signed to Cogumelo Records after a few years of performing. Their first EP was "Bestial Devastation", a split with another band's album on the flipside. Their first LP was Morbid Visions (1986 in music), which included the moderate hit "Troops of Doom" that attracted the band some attention. After Morbid Visions, Jairo Guedez left the band for another death metal venture and Sao Paulo based guitarist Andreas Kisser replaced him. Their second full-length album was Schizophrenia, which was a critical success that led to a contract with Roadrunner Records.
With Roadrunner distributing Schizophrenia worldwide, Sepultura reached new audiences of metal fans, cemented by 1989's (1989 in music) Beneath the Remains, which was followed by a long European tour. By the time they released 1991's (1991 in music) Arise, Sepultura were located in Phoenix, Arizona and had become one of the most critically-praised metal bands of the 1990s, in spite of a lack of mainstream success. Chaos A.D. (1993 in music) was another hit within metal communities, and also incorporated a punk sound for the first time. This trend continued with 1996's Roots, in which the band further innovated by experimenting with elements from the music of Brazil's indigenous peoples. (1996 in music).
At the height of Sepultura's fame, however, a series of events broke the band apart. First, just before the band were due to play at the 1996 Donington Monsters of Rock Festival, lead singer Max Cavalera's wife (and the band's manager), Gloria, was hit by the death of her teenage son in a car crash. Max and Gloria left the rest of the band to go back to America, and the band performed as a trio for the first time.
It was rumoured that there was some intra-band tension throughout the latter half of 1996, and at the end of a successful tour of Britain later that year, at Brixton Academy on 16th December 1996, the band told Max they would not renew Gloria's management contract. Max Cavalera left the band (and formed a band called Soulfly), and the others announced that they would continue under the Sepultura name and were searching for a replacement.
A recording of Max's last show with the band was later released as a live album, 2002's (2002 in music) (Under A Pale Grey Sky) by their former record label Roadrunner Records, against the wishes of the band. Derrick Green of Cleveland wound up filling the frontman spot, and the band released Against in 1998 (1998 in music). Against was commercially less successful than its two predecessors, as was the follow-up Nation. These releases saw Sepultura move away from their previous approach of the thrash metal sound - a process already in motion in such releases as Roots, and aided by Max's departure - and this led to widespread criticism from the band's original fanbase. Subsequent releases have had a positive effect in returning praise to the band, but opinion is divided on their new direction.
After recording Revolusongs, an EP full of covers in 2002 (2002 in music) the band released the album Roorback in 2003 (2003 in music) which garnered a lot of positive reviews.
In November 2005 (2005 in music) the live album Live in Sé£o Paulo was released. This was the first official live album from the band.
A new album, called Dante XXI is currently expected to be released on January 31, 2006 (2006 in music). It is supposed to be based around Dante's The Divine Comedy. A live double-DVD and double-CD will also be released in late 2005 (2005 in music).
Line-up
*Andreas Kisser - Guitar
*Derrick Green - Vocals/Guitar
*Igor Cavalera - Drums
* Paulo Pinto a.k.a. Paulo Jr. - Bass
Former members
*Jairo Guedez - Lead Guitar (1984-1986)
*Max Cavalera - Vocal / Guitar (1984-1996)
Discography
* Bestial Devastation (EP, 1985)
* Morbid Visions (1986)
* Schizophrenia (1987)
* Beneath the Remains (1989)
* Arise (1991)
* Chaos A.D. (1993)
* Roots (1996)
* Blood Rooted (Compilation, 1997)
* The Roots of Sepultura (EP, 1997)
* Against (1998)
* Nation (2001)
* Under A Pale Grey Sky (Live, 2002) (NOTE: Sepultura do not consider this as an official release)
* Revolusongs (EP, 2002)
* Roorback (2003)
* Live In Sé£o Paulo (Live, 2005)
* Dante XXI (2006)
Videography
VHS
* Under Siege (Live in Barcelona) (VHS, 1991)
* Third World Chaos (VHS, 1995)
* We Are What We Are (VHS, 1996)
DVD
* Chaos DVD (DVD compilation of the 3 VHS releases, 2002)
* Live In Sé£o Paulo (Live concert, 2005)
Trivia
* The recording entitled "Sepultura vs. Pavarotti - Roots Bloody Roots" circulating on the Internet in MP3 was in fact done by German band J.B.O. - contrary to popular belief, it does not contain any of the supposed singers' voices.
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