Sepultura
Explore the band's historical lineups, musicians, and studio albums.
Active7 formations15 studio albums
Formation chronology
Newest first
Formation 7 of 7
Mar 1, 2024 – Present
Members
- Derrick GreenLead VocalsFrom Mar 2024
- Greyson NekrutmanDrumsFrom Mar 2024
- Paulo Jr.BassFrom Mar 2024
- Andreas KisserLead GuitarFrom Mar 2024
Formation facts
- Greyson Nekrutman was announced on 27 February 2024 and played his first Sepultura show on 1 March in Belo Horizonte, opening the Celebrating Life Through Death farewell. The Cloud of Unknowing later arrived as an EP, not another studio album, and the announced São Paulo finale remains ahead of this chapter rather than its closing date.
Formation 6 of 7
Nov 12, 2011 – Feb 6, 2024
Members
- Derrick GreenLead VocalsNov 2011 – Feb 2024
- Eloy CasagrandeDrumsNov 2011 – Feb 2024
- Paulo Jr.BassNov 2011 – Feb 2024
- Andreas KisserLead GuitarNov 2011 – Feb 2024
Formation facts
- When Sepultura announced Eloy Casagrande in November 2011 he was twenty — born the same year Arise came out — a Modern Drummer contest winner who said he was in shock to be asked.
- On 6 February 2024 Eloy told Sepultura he was leaving, days before farewell-tour rehearsals. The band said they were blindsided, that he abandoned the work. Eloy has said Slipknot required exclusivity after Sepultura had already announced its end, and that at thirty-three he did not want to stop drumming. Both accounts stand.
Studio albums
- Quadra (Feb 2020)
- Machine Messiah (Jan 2017)
- The Mediator Between Head and Hands Must Be the Heart (Oct 2013)
Formation 5 of 7
Jul 2006 – Nov 11, 2011
Members
- Derrick GreenLead VocalsJul 2006 – Nov 2011
- Jean DolabellaDrumsJul 2006 – Nov 2011
- Paulo Jr.BassJul 2006 – Nov 2011
- Andreas KisserLead GuitarJul 2006 – Nov 2011
Studio albums
- Kairos (Jul 2011)
- A-Lex (Jan 2009)
Formation 4 of 7
1998 – Jun 12, 2006
Members
- Derrick GreenLead VocalsJan 1998 – Jun 2006
- Igor CavaleraDrumsJan 1998 – Jun 2006
- Paulo Jr.BassJan 1998 – Jun 2006
- Andreas KisserLead GuitarJan 1998 – Jun 2006
Formation facts
- After Max left, Andreas, Paulo and Iggor spent months writing as a trio and refused to audition singers on Roots Bloody Roots. They sent an instrumental of a new song, Choke, because they wanted ideas, not a Max impersonator.
- Testament's Chuck Billy sent Choke, Refuse/Resist and Territory — and arrived after the band had already told Derrick Green the job was his. Chuck remains a Testament singer who nearly crossed wires, not a Sepultura member.
- In January 2006 Iggor sat out a European tour to be with his newborn son and told fans he was not leaving Sepultura. On 12 June 2006 he resigned for good, saying the band's ideas and his had not matched since late 2004 and that the others wanted to keep playing rather than pause.
- The drummer who covered that 2006 In Flames tour was Roy Mayorga — the same player who had already sat behind Max in Soulfly. It was a substitute, not a new Sepultura lineup.
- On 17 August 2006 at the D-Low Memorial Festival at the Marquee Theatre in Tempe, Iggor walked onstage with Soulfly and played Attitude and Roots Bloody Roots with Max — their first shared stage in about ten years.
- Derrick Green has said he knew there would be backlash when he joined, then put that noise aside: he had never met Max, he had never been to Brazil, and the job in front of him was learning Portuguese and writing with three men who had just lost a brother-in-arms.
Studio albums
- Dante XXI (Mar 2006)
- Roorback (May 2003)
- Nation (Mar 2001)
- Against (Oct 1998)
Formation 3 of 7
Apr 1987 – Dec 16, 1996
Members
- Max CavaleraLead Vocals, Rhythm GuitarApr 1987 – Dec 1996
- Igor CavaleraDrumsApr 1987 – Dec 1996
- Paulo Jr.BassApr 1987 – Dec 1996
- Andreas KisserLead GuitarApr 1987 – Dec 1996
Formation facts
- Andreas Kisser has said he officially joined Sepultura in April 1987 after moving to Belo Horizonte. The chemistry had already clicked jamming Kreator and Slayer with Iggor — then Jairo was gone, Andreas had no band in São Paulo, and he became the fourth member of the lineup that would go worldwide.
- Through Schizophrenia, Beneath the Remains and Arise, Andreas tracked the studio bass as well as the leads. Paulo remained the bassist in the band. On Chaos A.D., Paulo was in the room with Andy Wallace, who told him to stop chasing the guitars and lock to kick and snare — the first album where his studio bass is strongly supported. Max later said Paulo's first recorded LP was Roots. That recollection conflicts with Paulo's own Chaos A.D. story; it does not overwrite it.
- Roadrunner A&R Monte Conner signed Sepultura after hearing Schizophrenia — without ever seeing the band play. He has said Andreas's playing was the leap from Morbid Visions, and that the Max/Andreas partnership was the secret sauce he took to the label owner.
- On Chaos A.D., producer Andy Wallace caught Paulo trying to double every guitar lick and told him to play less — keep the bass drum and snare, let the guitars breathe. Paulo still quotes that advice decades later.
- For Roots, Sepultura recorded with members of the Xavante people rather than treating Brazil as scenery. Ross Robinson chased that collision of metal and ceremony; the result still divides listeners, but it was a collaboration, not a costume.
- Dana Wells — Gloria's son, Max's stepson, credited as D-Low on Attitude — died in a Phoenix car accident on 16 August 1996. The band were due on the Monsters of Rock stage at Donington. Max and Gloria flew home. The grief did not invent the management fight, but it made every later decision land like a wound.
- At Donington in August 1996, Sepultura played as a trio. Andreas Kisser sang so the festival date would not collapse while Max was with his family.
- Max Cavalera's last Sepultura show was 16 December 1996 at Brixton Academy — later released as Under a Pale Grey Sky. Gloria's management contract ended that same day. What happened after the set, not the set itself, ended the classic lineup.
- Max remembers an ultimatum: dump Gloria or dump the band, delivered when Dana's death was still raw. Andreas has said they had a legal right not to renew the manager and Max chose to walk. Gloria, Max says, told him to stay with Sepultura. Public noise ran into January 1997. The split was not "Sepultura fired Max," and it was not "Max quit because Dana died."
Studio albums
- Roots (Feb 1996)
- Chaos A.D. (Sep 1993)
- Arise (Mar 1991)
- Beneath the Remains (Apr 1989)
- Schizophrenia (Oct 1987)
Formation 2 of 7
1985 – 1987
Members
- Max CavaleraLead Vocals, Rhythm GuitarJan 1985 – Jan 1987
- Igor CavaleraDrumsJan 1985 – Jan 1987
- Paulo Jr.BassJan 1985 – Jan 1987
- Jairo GuedzLead GuitarJan 1985 – Jan 1987
Formation facts
- Cogumelo wanted to record Belo Horizonte metal. Overdose did not have enough songs for a whole LP, so store manager Vladimir Korg pointed the Cavalera brothers' young band at the owners. The split gave Sepultura its first professional record; they were paid in copies to sell, and that money finally bought Iggor a drum kit.
- Paulo Jr. was Sepultura's bassist in public and onstage, but he did not record the bass on Bestial Devastation or Morbid Visions. Jairo Guedz played those parts in the studio, uncredited on the sleeves.
- Jairo has said he left because he was young, drinking too much, starting a family, and looking for a different kind of music. Max later remembered Jairo watching Crossroads, catching a glam/Steve Vai bug, and walking away from the death-metal garage. Both memories survive; neither gets to erase the other.
Studio albums
- Morbid Visions (Nov 1986)
Formation 1 of 7
1984 – Mar 1985
Members
- Wagner LamounierLead VocalsJan 1984 – Mar 1985
- Max CavaleraGuitarJan 1984 – Mar 1985
- Igor CavaleraDrumsJan 1984 – Mar 1985
- Paulo Jr.BassJan 1984 – Mar 1985
Formation facts
- Max Cavalera learned English by sitting with a dictionary and Motörhead records. Translating Dancing on Your Grave, he hit the Portuguese word for grave — sepultura — and that became the band's name.
- Graziano Cavalera's sudden death in 1979 wrecked the family's comfortable life and pushed Vânia and the boys back to Belo Horizonte. Max later wrote that the tragedy gave the brothers a purpose — that without it they might never have become musicians — and in their father's records they found Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath.
- Sepultura's first show was 4 December 1984 at Barroliche in Belo Horizonte, opening for Tropa de Choque and Overdose in front of maybe eighty people. They had meant to be five. Roberto UFO did not show, Paulo had to travel with his family, so fifteen-year-old Max, fourteen-year-old Iggor and Wagner Lamounier went on as a trio.
- Wagner Lamounier was Sepultura's original singer while Max still played guitar. After Wagner left, Max took the microphone — and Wagner's words for Antichrist stayed in the early catalog as he went on to Sarcófago.