Brazilian metal powerhouse Sepultura brings farewell tour to the Warfield
Brazilian metal giants Sepultura bring their farewell tour marking four decades of heavy music to the Warfield in San Francisco Wednesday night with Obituary, Agnostic Front and Claustrofobia.
Founded by the Cavalera brothers Max (guitar/vocals) and Iggor (drums) when they were only teens in the Brazilian city of Belo Horizonte in 1984, the group was initially inspired by the more traditional metal sounds of Black Sabbath and Motorhead. However the Cavaleras would take the band in a more extreme direction after Max discovered the blasphemous proto thrash-metal sound of British trio Venom.
The two musicians went on to discover acts from the emerging thrash and death metal scenes of the United State and Europe, emulating the furious sonic assault of rising bands like Celtic Frost, Megadeth, Exodus and Kreator on their earliest recordings. After their raw, self-released debut EP Bestial Devastation in 1985 (a split album with fellow Brazilian headbangers Overdose) and first proper full-length Morbid Visions the following year, Sepultura began to lean more towards the thrash end of the metal spectrum.
By the time the band issued Schizophrenia in 1987, Sepultura had settled into its classic line-up rounded out by lead guitarist Andreas Kisser and bass player Paulo Jr. and scored a deal with noted metal imprint Roadrunner Records. Their first effort for the label -- Beneath the Remains two years later -- would stand as a quantum leap forward in production and songwriting. A brutal musical assault that found the brothers forging their unique style, the album would be hailed as a thrash classic and helped introduce Sepultura to a far wider global audience.
The improved production and more focused songwriting showed the path forward on the band subsequent efforts, which would take even more dramatic sonic departures. Arise in 1991 mostly stuck to the death/thrash metal template of its predecessor -- many fans hail the recording as the group's finest hour -- but showed Sepultura branching out with elements of industrial and punk.
Chaos A.D. in 1993 introduced slower, harder-swinging tempos that would later lead the album to be celebrated as a pioneering groove-metal landmark. The politically charged global metal effort Roots in 1996 went even further afield, adding traditional Brazilian percussion with contributions from guest musician Carlinhos Brown while exploring the plight of indigenous people in their native country.
Unfortunately, the sudden death of Max Cavalera's stepson while the band was touring in England in 1997 brought a conflict within the band over the band being managed by the guitarist's wife to a head. When the band demanded she be fired, Cavalera left in what would be one of the more acrimonious rock group splits of the decade.
While the estranged Cavalera would found his new band Soulfly, Sepultura hired new American vocalist Derrick Green (who sang with the underground East Coast bands Outface and Overfiend) after auditioning a variety of singers including Testament's Chuck Billy and Machine Head/Vio-lence guitarist Phil Demmel. While it took the group some time to find its footing as Kisser took the helm as principle songwriter, Roorback -- their third release with Green as singer in 2003 -- found Sepultura hitting their stride.
The band has gone through a number of dramatic evolutions in the past 20+ years, delving into more progressive-metal sounds and concept albums with Dante XXI and A-Lex -- which were inspired by Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy and the Anthony Burgess novel A Clockwork Orange, respectively -- before returning to a more aggressive thrash-influenced sound on The Mediator Between Head and Hands Must Be the Heart in 2013.
That album would be the first to feature virtuoso Brazilian drummer Eloy Casagrande, whose powerful playing would push the band to new heights as they mixed their conceptual sci-fi prog-metal approach featuring complex string arrangements with some of the most brutal riffs Kisser has written in the band's long career. Both Machine Messiah in 2017 and Quadra three years later were hailed as brilliant albums that matched up to the band's classic recordings from the '90s.
While Casagrande has departed the band to join Slipknot, for the current 40 year anniversary "Celebrating Life Through Death" farewell tour, former Suicidal Tendencies member Greyson Nekrutman takes over the drum throne. Sepultura brings the tour to the Warfield Wednesday night, topping a four-band bill that includes death-metal favorites Obituary (the Tampa, FL veterans who are also marking a 40th anniversary), NYC hardcore legends Agnostic Front and Brazilian death/thrash band Claustrofobia.
Sepultura with Obituary, Agnostic Front and Claustrofobia
Wednesday, Sept. 25, 6 p.m. $35-$75
The Warfield