Sepultura
Bestial Devastation

THE REVIEW

Brazil in the second half of the 80s was the homeland of an invasion of metal bands with an extreme, raw, and heavily "ignorant" sound. Bands like Sarcofago, Holocausto, or Attomica were rampant in the underground during those years, but Sepultura was much more than that even back then, when they might have seemed like just another band infesting Brazil with their heavy thrash-death-black.

The band was formed in 1984 in Belo Horizonte by brothers Max (vocals, guitar) and Igor Cavalera (drums) joined by Paulo Jr. (bass) and Jairo T. (guitar), influenced by Slayer and Venom they quickly developed a massive gut-wrenching sound made of dirty and powerful riffs, fast drumming and Max's growling and hoarse vocals that later would be dubbed as "growl".

Their debut "Bestial Devastation" says it all from the title itself; it's 1985, and thrash metal is expanding in America and Europe and Sepultura with their raw and heavy sonic impact pushed the genre to even more extreme heights, dirtying their basic thrash with death metal elements that until then were a matter for few (Death and Possessed) and one can also notice a certain black influence (Hellhammer and Bathory). This EP of 4 tracks plus an intro contains what will be considered one of the most violent records ever released, from the dark and obsessive riffs of "Necromancer", the rudiments of blast beats in "Antichrist" to the twisted riffing of "Warriors Of Death" and the vehemence of the title track with Max Cavalera's snarls always in the forefront creating a dark and unhealthy atmosphere.

In the following years, Sepultura would become one of the most famous metal bands worldwide thanks to stunning albums like "Morbid Visions", "Schizophrenia", "Beneath The Remains", and "Arise", continuously evolving and not losing any of their original rage, at least until '93 with the release of the experimental "Chaos A.D." and in '96 with "Roots" where the powerful and fast metal of the past years transforms into a less effective and boring tribal-metal crossover.

However, during those years the group received attention from a much wider audience. After Cavalera's departure, Sepultura continued with a new singer with the same lackluster artistic results of the second half of the 90s. Surely this EP may not be much technically but its tracks wipe out everything in terms of power, inaugurating the golden years of the most pounding and raw metal.