
By: Jay Broderick
40 years ago... In 1984, after familial hardships, brothers Max and Igor Cavalera formed a Black Metal band which they called Sepultura. In the band's Brazilian native tongue of Portuguese, the name means "grave". It was the perfect band name for a couple teenagers who's influences quickly changed from your standard hard rock fare of Led Zeppelin and Van Halen, to Iron Maiden, and eventually onto the extreme metal movement from the early 80s. Bands like Venom, Celtic Frost and even Canadian thrash metal Godfathers Exciter were bursting onto the metal scene, and the Cavalera brothers were hooked.
Originally, the band consisted of the Cavalera brothers on guitar and drums, Paulo Jr. on bass guitar, and then vocalist Wagner Lamounier. With Lamounier credited with the vocals on the band's very first recording Bestial Devastation, Max Cavalera took over as vocalist after the original singer's departure.

Sepultura recorded their first full length album Morbid Visions in 1986. For their second album, 1987's Schizophrenia, the band added guitarist Andreas Kisser who brought a much more technical skill set, and they evolved to a more thrash metal sound. But it was with the band's 3rd full length offering Beneath the Remains in 1989, that Sepultura became a mainstay in the metal world. Coincidentally, this is the first album my friends and I heard from these Brazilian thrashers. Actually, our buddy Carey heard them on late night Toronto college radio station 88.1. He had recorded the show on cassette, and played us the new music he had heard. I smile as I write this, because it opened up a whole new world we quite possibly may have never discovered. Thanks Carey!!
Once the floodgates opened, Sepultura shot to the stratosphere of Thrash Metal lore, always in the conversation with the Big 4 (you know who they are!). They went on the release Arise (1991), Chaos A.D. (1993), and Roots (1996) and then tragedy struck! During the band's Roots tour in 1996, their front man got the sudden news of the death of his stepson in a tragic car accident. After his return to the band, relationships with Max and the other band members started to falter due to allegations of favouritism of Max by the band's manager who happened to be Max's wife. Max eventually left Sepultura at the end of 1996.

In 1997, after an extensive search for a new singer, the band selected American Derrick Green to take over the daunting duties of filling the massive void left by the elder Cavalera brother. The band released their first album with the new singer in 1998 entitled Against. The album showed promise, with the continued glimpses of greatness from their previous 4 offerings, but the band would never really see the successes they had built previously. Eventually, Igor, the remaining Cavalera brother, would reconcile with Max, and he in turn would also depart the band he helped found in 2007. Igor's departure left the band's bassist Paulo Jr. as the lone original member, with Andreas Kisser coming in a close second having joining the band early in their career.
Sepultura has continued to release albums during their lineup changes over the decades, and has continued to tour. Despite them not reaching the same stature as their early days, these guys still pour it out on stage. I have had the fortune to photograph a couple of their more recent shows in Toronto. The first one from March 2022, and again in June 2023 when I covered this show for Shutter 16 magazine. One thing definitely has remained constant. Andreas Kisser is a legend! The man is a complete shredder, and his addition to the lineup 37 years ago was a complete win! I love watching Paulo Jr. in his calm, cool demeanor, and Derrick Green has always complemented Max Cavalera's vocal style, while bringing his own elements of rawness that is a must in this genre.
So here we are 40 years later. Sadly, in December of 2023, the band announced that they are hanging it all up "and has chosen to depart via a conscious and planned death." In a statement, the band closed off by saying "Euthanasia, the right to a dignified death. The right to choose to live free and to choose when you die!"

The North American leg of the "Celebrating Life Through Death" Farewell Tour 2024 kicked off in Chicago on September 17, and will wrap up in New York City on October 12. Great news for us here in Canada, the tour will head north of the boarder for dates in Toronto on October 9, and Montreal on October 10.
A month ago, we featured this article about The Farewell Tour, and the real motives behind it. Is this one genuine? We will only be able to tell in time. But why do you want to roll those dice? It very well could be a marketing ploy, but as with life, nothing is promised. And regardless of the band's intentions, the reality is that nothing is promised for any of us... especially tomorrow!! Personally, I don't want to wait!
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