List of Sepultura members

(left to right) Derrick Green, Andreas Kisser, Paulo Jr. and Jean Dolabella (off picture)

(left to right) Paulo Jr., Eloy Casagrande (on drums), Derrick Green and Andreas Kisser

Two lineups of Sepultura performing in 2007 and 2018

Sepultura is a Brazilian heavy metal band from Belo Horizonte formed by brothers guitarist/vocalist Max and drummer/percussionist Igor Cavalera in 1984.^[1] The band's first stable lineup in 1984 included Max and Igor alongside lead vocalist Wagner Lamounier, and bassist Paulo Jr.^[2] The bands current lineup includes Paulo Jr. alongside guitarist Andreas Kisser (since 1987), lead vocalist Derrick Green (since 1997), and drummer Greyson Nekrutman (since 2024).

Sepultura was formed in 1984 in Belo Horizonte, the capital city of Minas Gerais, Brazil.^[1] The band was founded by brothers Max and Igor Cavalera, the impoverished sons of Vânia, a model, and Graciliano, a well-to-do Italian diplomat whose fatal heart attack left his family in financial ruin.^[3] Graciliano's death deeply affected his sons, inspiring them to form a band after Max heard Black Sabbath's 1972 album Black Sabbath Vol. 4 the very same day.^[4] They chose the band name Sepultura, the Portuguese word for "grave", when Max translated the lyrics of the Motörhead song "Dancing on Your Grave".^[5]

By 1984, they had dropped out of school.^[6] After several early membership changes, Sepultura established a stable lineup of Max on guitar, Igor on drums, lead vocalist Wagner Lamounier, and bassist Paulo Jr.^[2] Lamounier departed in March 1985 after disagreements with the band, and moved on to become the leader of the pioneering Brazilian black metal band Sarcófago. After his departure, Max took over the vocal duties. Jairo Guedes was invited to join the band as lead guitarist.^[7]

After about a year of performing, Sepultura signed to Cogumelo Records in 1985. Later that year, they released Bestial Devastation, a shared EP with fellow Brazilian band Overdose. It was recorded and self-produced in just two days. The band recorded their first full-length album, Morbid Visions, in August 1986. It contained their first hit, "Troops of Doom", which gained some media attention. The band then decided to relocate to the larger city of São Paulo.^[8]

In early 1987, Jairo Guedz quit the band. Guedz was replaced by São Paulo-based guitarist Andreas Kisser,^[9] and they released their second studio album, Schizophrenia, later that year. The album reflected a stylistic change towards a more thrash metal-oriented sound, while still keeping the death metal elements of Morbid Visions. Schizophrenia was an improvement in production and performance, and became a minor critical sensation across Europe and America as a much sought-after import. During a May 2018 interview with teenyrockers.com, Kisser noted that Sepultura would not have been possible without family support, not only from his own family, but also from the families of Max and Igor, and Paulo Jr.^[10]

In August 1996, Sepultura played on the Castle Donington Monsters of Rock main stage alongside Ozzy Osbourne, Paradise Lost, Type O Negative, Biohazard, and Fear Factory. The band was suddenly a three-piece with Andreas Kisser taking over on lead vocals, after Max Cavalera left the concert site earlier in the day upon learning of the death of his stepson Dana Wells in a car accident. After Dana Wells' funeral was finished, Max returned and continued to tour with Sepultura. A few months after Wells' death, the band had a meeting with Max and said that they wanted to fire their manager Gloria Bujnowski, who was Max's wife and Dana's mother, and find new management. Their reasoning was that Bujnowski was giving preferential treatment to Max while neglecting the rest of the band. Max, who was still coming to terms with the death of Wells, felt betrayed by his bandmates for wanting to get rid of Bujnowski and abruptly quit the band.^[8] Max Cavalera's final performance with Sepultura was at Brixton Academy in England on December 16, 1996.^[11]

Following Max Cavalera's departure, the remaining members of Sepultura announced plans to find a new vocalist. Among those who auditioned were Chuck Billy of Testament, Phil Demmel of Machine Head and Vio-lence, Marc Grewe of Morgoth, Jorge Rosado of Merauder and a then-unknown Jason "Gong" Jones.^[12][13] American musician Derrick Green from Cleveland, Ohio, was selected as the band's new front-man. The first album with the new lineup was Against, which was released in 1998. The album was critically and commercially less successful than previous albums and sold considerably fewer copies than the debut album by Max Cavalera's new band Soulfly.^[8][14] In a retrospective review AllMusic gave the album 3 stars out of 5, stating that "there are enough flashes of the old Sepultura brilliance to suggest that great things are still to come".

In a 2007 interview with Revolver magazine, Max Cavalera stated that he and Igor, both of whom having recently reconciled after a decade-long feud, would reunite with the original Sepultura lineup. There were also rumors that the reunited line up would play on the main stage at Ozzfest 2007. However, this was denied by Kisser and the reunion did not occur.^[15] Instead, Igor Cavalera left the band after the release of Dante XXI and was replaced by Brazilian drummer Jean Dolabella, leaving the band without any of its original members. After leaving Sepultura, Igor and Max formed Cavalera Conspiracy.

Sepultura released the album A-Lex on January 26, 2009. This was the first Sepultura album to include neither of the Cavalera brothers, with bassist Paulo Jr. as the sole remaining member from the band's debut album.

On July 6, 2010, it was announced that Sepultura were signed with Nuclear Blast Records, and would release their first album for the label in 2011.^[16] The band confirmed that there would be no reunion of the classic lineup.^[17] By the end of 2010, the band began writing new material and entered the studio to begin recording their 12th album with producer Roy Z (Judas Priest, Halford, Iron Maiden's Bruce Dickinson, Helloween and Andre Matos).^[18][19][20] On March 1, 2011, Sepultura had completed recording their new album, entitled Kairos, which was released in June 2011.^[21]

The album includes cover versions of Ministry's "Just One Fix" and The Prodigy's "Firestarter", both of which are available as bonus tracks on various special-edition releases.^[22] Sepultura played on the Kairos World Tour and at Wacken Open Air 2011. Drummer Jean Dolabella left the band and was replaced by 20-year-old Eloy Casagrande in November 2011, who had already played in Brazilian heavy metal singer Andre Matos' solo band and in the Brazilian post-hardcore band Gloria. In November and December 2011 Sepultura participated the Thrashfest Classics 2011 tour alongside thrash metal bands like Exodus, Destruction, Heathen, and Mortal Sin. Eloy Casagrande left the band in February 2024, he was replaced by Greyson Nekrutman.^[23]

Image	Name	Years active	Instruments	Release contributions
	Paulo Jr.	1984–present[2]	bass (only live until 1991) backing vocals percussion (1993–1997)	all releases, credit only on studio releases from Bestial Devastation (1985) to Arise (1991)
	Andreas Kisser	1987–present[9]	lead guitar backing vocals lead vocals (1996–1997) bass (1987–1991 only in studio) rhythm guitar (1996–present)	all releases from Schizophrenia (1987)[24] to present
	Derrick Green	1997–present	lead vocals percussion (2005–present) additional rhythm guitar (1998–2005)[a]	all releases from Against (1998)[25] to present, except Under a Pale Grey Sky (2002), The Best of Sepultura (2006)[26]
	Greyson Nekrutman	2024–present	drums percussion	none

Image	Name	Years active	Instruments	Release contributions
	Max Cavalera	1984–1996[1][8]	lead vocals (1985–1996) rhythm guitar (1984, 1985–1996) lead guitar (1984–1985) percussion (1995–1996) [7]	all releases from Bestial Devastation (1985) to Blood-Rooted (1997) Under a Pale Grey Sky (2002) The Best of Sepultura (2006) [27][28][29][26]
	Igor Cavalera	1984–2006[1]	drums (1984–2006) percussion (1984, 1993–2006)	all releases from Bestial Devastation (1985)[27] to The Best of Sepultura (2006)[26]
	Cássio[30]	1984	rhythm guitar	none
	Beto Pinga[31][32]		drums
	Wagner Lamounier	1984–1985	lead vocals
	Roberto "Gato" Raffan[33][34]	1984	bass
	Roberto UFO[35][36]		rhythm guitar
	Julio Cesar Vieira Franco[37][38]	1985	lead guitar
	Jairo Guedz	1985–1987[7][9]	lead guitar studio bass backing vocals	Bestial Devastation (1985) Morbid Visions (1986) [27][39]
	Jean Dolabella	2006–2011	drums percussion	A-Lex (2009) Kairos (2011) [40][41]
	Eloy Casagrande	2011–2024		all releases from The Mediator Between Head and Hands Must Be the Heart (2013)[42] to Sepulquarta (2021)

Image	Name	Years active	Instruments	Notes
	Silvio Golfetti	1991	lead guitar	Golfetti, Son of Fabio Golfetti, filled in for Andreas Kisser in 1991 when the guitarist injured his arm.[43]
	Guilherme Martin	2005	drums	Roadie and drum tech Guilherme Martin completed a short tour with the band in 2005 when Igor Cavalera was unavailable.[44][45]
	Roy Mayorga	2006		Former Soulfly drummer Roy Mayorga performed with the band in 2006 when Igor took a break to spend time with his new wife while they awaited the birth of their first child together.[46][47]
	Amilcar Christófaro	2011, 2019		Torture Squad drummer Amilcar Christófaro performed with the band when Casagrande's father died.[48]
	Kevin Foley	2013		Foley replaced Casagrande when the drummer hurt himself.[49][50][51]
	Bruno Valverde	2022		Valverde replaced Casagrande when the drummer broke his right leg in a stage accident.[52][53]
	Jean Patton		guitar	Project46 guitarist Jean Patton replaced Kisser when the guitarist had a "family emergency."[54][55]

Barcinski, André & Gomes, Silvio (1999). Sepultura: Toda a História. São Paulo: Ed. 34. ISBN 85-7326-156-0