Sepultura has gone through a ton of changes in the past decade. The two founding members aren't even in the band anymore and haven't been for a while. I guess they are collecting royalties. I am going to focus on their earlier stuff because this article is about the impact the band had on my life for the most part.
Sepultura was very instrumental in me having a life-long love for metal. It was one of the first metal bands that i listened to that wasn't glam rock. I think they would be classified as "thrash metal" or "death metal"... someone feel free to correct me on that if you feel so inclined. There are too many classifications these days and despite being an avid fan, I can't keep up with them all.
One of the things that separates Sepultura from other metal acts is that they tend to have meaningful lyrics that are anti-corruption, anti-oppressive-government, anti-war, and anti-religion (ok, the last one isn't that uncommon in metal.) The lyrics really spoke to a lot of the people in their home country of Brazil, especially the people of Sao Paulo, which according to Max Cavalera (lead singer and primary songwriter in the 80's and 90's) has a very stark division of people "who are either very very rich or very very poor."
some powerful imagery in this vid
They later went on to incorporate a tribal sound into their music which at first I didn't like but there is something about the song "Roots, Bloody Roots" that i find exceptionally powerful.
Sepultura is a still a touring band now, although as i mentioned, changing singers changes the sound a bit.
A bit of tragedy struck the band in 1996 which lead to an eventual complete overhaul of the band. During a very big gig playing alongside Ozzy Osbourne, Sepultura took to the stage as a 3-piece band with their lead singer Max not on stage at all. Andreas Kisser had to perform all the lyrics and most of the solos were missing because Max is one of the guitar players. I don't know if you are aware of this but it is nigh on impossible to play both the rhythm guitar and the solo at the same time.
As it turns out Max had to depart the day prior because he had learned of the death of his stepson from a car accident. A few weeks after the death, the band had a meeting and decided they wanted to fire the manager (I forget her name) but she just happened to be Max's wife and also the mother of the now deceased stepson.
Max didn't take the news very well and abruptly quit the band. A feud has existed between Andreas Kisser and Max since that day. Unfortunately a feud also began between Max Cavalera and his brother Igor, who was the drummer and founding member (he eventually quit the band as well - 10 years later.)
Here is something that made me feel I need to travel to Brazil one day and check out the scene there. I don't recall what year it was. It was some time in the early 90's and the Grammy's were happening. The United States awarded the usual what-you-would expect winners being mostly high-selling pop acts like Madonna or something normie like that. Then the international awards came on briefly and Best Artist for Brazil was awarded to Sepultura, in particular for the song "Orgasmatron" - which is a song they didn't even write (it's by Motorhead) but it is an awesome track.
Here is their current lineup. I have nothing against them. I am just not familiar with their music because Max's voice was a big part of the reason why I listened to Sepultura at all.
i guess i'll go see if i like the new sound
Do you have a band that you obsessed over so much that you listened to their albums over and over and over again. Did you have a band / singer you idolized so much that they influenced what you enjoyed musically for the rest of your life? Do you have a band that you drew their logo on all available surfaces (that made my parents happy, i'm sure.)
I'd like to hear about them, even if they aren't metal.
As always thanks for reading and I welcome your comments / corrections to my spelling. :P
Wow you like rock too @gooddream, I also like a lot of rock band. And now I will also listen to sepultura.
I see that a lot of problems came up with the band. The artist splitting apart and some projects not getting in line. But the music was really good.
I like black sabbath I hope you know about it. I really appreciate what you are doing and telling us about your liking and this also connects with a lot of people.
i first listened to Sabbath when i found a couple of their records in my parents' music collection. yes, they are awesome and likely influenced everyone in the metal genre in one way or another
Yes sir you are right I believe that they are really good and have created a whole new level in metal and I also like NIB the story behind the artist is really amazing. Whenever you have time take a chance to read it.
My favorite band is Tool I should really do a blog on them
do it buddy! let me know when you publish it. I would love to read it because I too like Tool and was actually thinking of doing a write up on it myself. I wont do so because i want to read yours :)
Geeeeeeeee!!!!! Never have I thought about seeing Sepultura being represent here on Steemit. Thank you for bringing back so many memories of thrashing gituar riffs that would make any plant grow healthy @gooddream!!
yes! I am getting a lot of that. I suppose metal has been underrepresented here in the past? I am happy to fill that void :)
Absolutely sir. Thank you for the memory lapse. What a way to start my monring.. Sepultura..
Ok straight up, I was like, irritated and thought to myself, how did this article make almost $200 with an unoriginal song post?? My apologies for thinking that. I didn't even click the link when I thought that. This is a good article about the band. I appreciate your write up.
oh, my heart rate picked up when i read your first sentence (which is all it displays in my "replies" feed) but I am super-relieved it has a happy ending. Thanks for reading and I am glad you enjoyed it pal. :)
I used to love Sepultura back in the day. I loved their first 3 albums. I think I saw them once with the classic line-up. I was supposed to see them in 1990 or 1991 when I was still in high school. I remember my mom was supposed to drive us but wouldn't because of a bad snowstorm. I had the unused ticket for years. It's just too different without the Cavalera brothers. I didn't realize they technically have no original members. Napalm Death is in that rare no original members club as well. Whether Jerry Only is an original member of the Misfits is debatable I guess. Oh, I saw Outface back in '92 or '93 I think. I didn't realize until a few years ago that their singer is now the singer for Sepultura. I think they were just regionally popular being from Cleveland (I'm in Buffalo).
i need to re-read my article. If i said there are "no original members" that is not true. However, only Paulo Jr. (the bass player) is on all the albums.
I love the part about your mom driving you to shows. That was what we all had to do back then i guess. One time my mom waited in the parking lot during an entire Megadeth concert for us. She is a saint i tell you... a saint!
I was just going by their Wikipedia page. Apparently there was a whole other lineup when they first started in 1984. But I guess they didn't release anything with that lineup. It didn't say whether they actually played live with that lineup though.
I guess kids just get an Uber or something now. But I remember taking a cab to a site across town once and it cost almost as much as what we paid for both of our tickets.
Is quite unfortunate that a band you've love soo much over the years have changed in a way that affects what you really love about, but they are still good though, atleast the songs i looked after reading this article is cool.
My favorite band "One direction", is an English Irish Pop Band band based in London, it was composed of 5 very cute guys until one left in 2015, I first came across the band in final year in Junior High School and ave loved them up till now, my favorite Song is "Story of my Life" which appeal to me because i had this phobia with relationships and girls. I know your your mostly a metal band kinda person but if you get time check them out, you'd really love them.
have you seen the "bad lip reading" of "Story of my life?" you gotta check that out man. Seriously funny stuff
it's actually called "story of my life without autotune"
I feel your emotion about another lead-singer. It depends on the person tho, I know people who are more flabbergasted when guitarists are switching then singers. Funny how people listen to music. Personally I start listening to the details of the voice and lyrics if the music is right, some have it the other way around.
I love how humans work, never can be fully understood :D
This is one of the bands with the most influence in my life, musically speaking it was one of the first to listen from a very young age and thanks to it you can appreciate with the great sound that it presented, in front of so many international bands, this great feeling for rock and metal was the precursor of this genre from Latin America, themes loaded with much social content, marked a great pattern strongly in the 90s. Thanks to them they opened the doors to many bands not only from Brazil, but from this end of the planet. Going through his discography there are works that stood out and are already a hymn in many places.
Great post! Sepultura will always have a place in my very early teenage love for metal. I still rock out to "Chaos A.D." every now and then, and "Refuse/Resist" was one of the first songs I ever learned on drums, still love it to this day!
i feel the same way dude. If not for this band I might have not become such a huge fan of metal for life.
"I pray we don't need to change
Our ways to be saved
That all we want to be"
From the last stanza of 'Roots, Bloody Roots' .. Interesting line for Anti Religious folk. Just sayin. Cool song though, coming from one teetering on the line of liking Metal or not.
For me, my obsession artist had to be David Gray. Non-stop played that album OUT!! I mean Mix-Tape of many songs. I still have it someplace. It's still at the top of my iTunes most played. I would dream about actually being the one who was singing and wrote all those songs. I don't think I got any real life advice from them, just comfort. Strange to say but EMF song "Long Summer Days" is nestled in the top as well. Played the whole 'Schubert Dip' album a lot. The album art probably best represents my early years art abilities. Hehehe..
one of the main things I enjoy about the comments section on my posts is the recommendations that others put in here. I am now listening to David Gray
EDIT: Dude David Gray is really depressing!
Yes .. ummmm.. Now in hind sight I think I may have lead you down a dark and morbid path. Wait a minute! You've got me listening to DEATH Metal! haha.
Maybe try the 'Smiths' Depressing but with a flare of comedy and sarcasm. Plus Morrissey says all those things we are already thinking but never never say. "Oh my! Did you just say what I think you did." Yup.
Actually listening to this now for the commute .. 'Strange Ways Here We Come'
I apologize for my so sad selections..hahaha..must speak volumes about me. Quite the opposite, yet I am still drawn to these depressing artists.
Your love for rock music has drawn my attention to rock music. Now I know about Sepultura and a little biography about them. It’s sad to see projescts splits, see friends go separate ways, see bands divide but the ability to build and rebuild a broken projects is what I call intellectual talents.
Tell us when you listen to the new sound, hopefully it’d be what you hope for.
My best music band is called Empire of the Sun till date, do you know all those songs that are on playlists in a mall, well this particular song started playing and i suddenly involuntarily stopped everything i was doing, i was momentarily paused from doing everything i was doing, and i was into the song, no other song has given me such feeling,the title of the song is High and Low:Empire of the sun, their kind of music is weird and awesome, its some type of techno and metal mix. After that first time, i didnt know the song, and couldnt find it so it was lost in my memory till after about 3years then i heard the song again, and that was it, bliss! It has stuck since then
ooh, sounds interesting. I am going to go listen to it now. Thanks!
Hell yeah. Sepultura my all time favorite thrash metal band. And their Roorback album forced me to study about them. Hail Metal \m/
The intro (The first 6 seconds) of Refuse/Resist is the in utero heartbeat of Max Cavalera's son Zyon.
I started listening to music with C.C. Catch, Bonnie Tyler and Roxette. I'm still a big fan of Roxette. It was in the early nineties when I bought Guns 'n Roses - Use your Illusion I. But it was too dark for me (Sounds strange regarding my taste of music now).
But then there was espacially one song which made me listen to Metal - the most epic metal song ever:
great reply. and nice song / video. Thanks pal
Great read. I used to rock out Sepultura on a regular basis back in the day. Gonna have to go some on the stereo its been too long. Thanks for bringing back some great momories
I have heard about Sepultura for some time now. This was around the World Cup time Brazil in 2014.
My favorite was the Guns N' Roses. This is an American hard rock band from Los Angeles formed in 1985.
They were signed to Geffen Records in 1986, consisted of vocalist Axl Rose, lead guitarist Slash, rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin, bassist Duff McKagan, and drummer Steven Adler.
Apart from hard rock they are also associated with heavy metal.
They are best known for their album ‘Appetite for Destruction’ and songs like ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’.
Great band!!
correction
...they wanted to fire the manager (I forget her name)....
should be
...they wanted to fire the manageress (I forget her name)....
Finally,we are back to metal music. It's wrong of the band to have fired the mother of the deceased son who happened to be their manageress, and the spouse of Max. Members of musical bands are not just there to make music and money- NO!. Far from that,they are more like a family, and hence are suppose to have the backs of each other. This mistake led to another, and eventually "collapsed" the band. "Collapsed"in the sense that,the band lost key members, and that's very unfortunate.
At the moment, U2 is one of my favorite bands.
i will never use the word manageress... lol, even if it is technically correct. haha Are you familiar with the U2 song "Kite?" It is a tragic song about the real-life relationship between Bono and his father.
No, manager is a common gender noun. Yeah sure, manageress has been and could still be used, but it really sounds like some 1950s nonsense to make that distinction today.
I love cold play and blur. They are so exceptional and still listen to them till this day. I couldn't just get enough. Haven't heard of Sepultura but you always bringing the best to the table.
yes iam also rock music
One of my old thrash favorites too. I listened to their first five albums a lot, but didn't bother to get into Roots, onwards.