Sepultura is a Brazilian thrash metal band assembled in 1984. Their name means "grave" in the Portuguese language - which they got when Max was translating the lyrics of the Motörhead song "Dancing On Your Grave."
Biography
Sepultura was formed in Belo Horizonte in the 1980s by Jairo Guedes (Guitars), Max Cavalera (Guitars and vocals), Paulo Pinto, Jr. (Bass), 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 Guedes 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 world-wide, 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 was 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, 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 onstage to go back to America. Upon their return, the band told Max they wanted new management. Cavalera left the band (and formed a band called Soulfly, and the others announced that they were searching for a replacement. A recording of Max's last show with the band was later released as a live album against the wishes of the band by their former record label Roadrunner Records, Under A Pale Grey Sky. Derrick Green of Cleveland wound up filling the frontman spot, and the band released Against in 1998 (1998 in music). Against was commercial less succesfull than it's two predecessors, as was the follow-up Nation. Creatively these records were of no less quality than Sepultura's earlier records, and Sepultura kept on reinventing metal thier own way. After recording Revolusongs, an EP full of covers in 2002 (2002 in music) the band released the album Roorback in 2003 (2003 in music) wich garnered a lot of positive reviews. A new album is expected in early 2006 as well as a DVD in late 2005 (2005 in music).