Part of what made Sepultura such a compelling and visceral band back in the day was that their music came from a very raw and honest place (i.e., their native Brazil). You could feel that in their music, the fact they weren’t some flashy metal band playing super technical bullshit and flashy solos. The aggression in their music felt downright primal at times, as if it was tapping into a spiritually primitive energy that made the intensity of their attack much more hard-hitting and potent. To get an idea of the lengths Sepultura would go to to capture that type of energy, check out this remarkable footage of them traveling to the indigenous village Pimentel Barbosa in Mato Grosso to perform a tribal jam of “Kaiowas”. The song was made in honor of the Brazilian Indian tribe that committed collective suicide in protest against the government that wanted to drive them off the land of their ancestors. For them to journey into the heart of the Amazon rainforest to jam live with the Xavantes Indians, is, in a word, righteous. Further evidence that Sepultura’s “roots” ran much deeper than your typical metal band, which is what made their music so palpably raw and real. Dig it:
