Brazilian Thrash: How a Belo Horizonte Record Shop Built the Rawest Scene of the 1980s

Brazilian thrash metal is the 1980s scene that grew out of Belo Horizonte, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, and its center was a Belo Horizonte record shop called Cogumelo. In 1985 the shop became a label and released Sepultura’s first record. Start with Sepultura’s Beneath the Remains (1989), then go back to the rawer Cogumelo records.

What Is Brazilian Thrash Metal?

Brazilian thrash is a regional scene, like the Bay Area or Germany’s Ruhr. It came up while Brazil was moving from dictatorship to democracy through years of economic trouble. Of its three centers, Belo Horizonte was the most prominent.

The Belo Horizonte bands played harder than the Germans they admired. They took their cues from Venom, Hellhammer and Sodom, and they recorded cheaply. Some fans said the thin production “added to the atmosphere.” Others said the records “sounded ‘worse’” than their European counterparts. Our guide to Teutonic thrash covers the German side of that story.

Venom changed everything for the Cavalera brothers. Igor Cavalera remembered hearing them first on a friend’s borrowed tape, when someone called them “the devil’s Motörhead.” After that, he said, “we stopped listening to Iron Maiden and all that lighter stuff.” The brothers were also influenced by Brazilian bands: Stress, Sagrado Inferno and Dorsal Atlântica.

How Did a Record Shop Become Brazil’s Metal Label?

Cogumelo opened as a record store in Belo Horizonte in August 1980, founded by Pat Pereira and João Eduardo, and became a label in 1985. That first year it released a split of Sepultura’s Bestial Devastation and Overdose’s Século XX. Overdose was the first prominent band of the city’s scene, a heavy metal act that grew more aggressive over time.

The label went on to release Sepultura’s first two albums, the Warfare Noise compilation and debut albums by Mutilator, Chakal and Holocausto. The shop itself, wrote Hoje em Dia on its 40th anniversary, quickly became a “ponto de encontro,” a meeting point, for heavy metal fans.

Belo Horizonte’s city government, programming a 2017 film series on Minas Gerais metal, wrote in Portuguese that Cogumelo “was crucial in creating bands such as Sepultura, Sarcófago, Chakal.”

Bestial Devastation: Sepultura’s Borrowed-Gear Debut

Max and Igor Cavalera started Sepultura in Belo Horizonte in 1984. Max chose the name, Portuguese for “grave,” while translating Motörhead’s “Dancing on Your Grave.” Their first singer, Wagner Lamounier, left in March 1985, so Max took over vocals and Jairo Guedz joined on lead guitar.

The band cut Bestial Devastation in two days in August 1985, on eight tracks at J.G. Estúdios in Belo Horizonte. Most of the instruments were borrowed from friends. Months earlier the band had switched from Portuguese to English, though none of them spoke it, so a friend named Lino translated the lyrics.

The producer wanted a cleaner mix. Igor later said the band “finally had to play him some records by Venom to show him that bands sounded this way.” The split came out in December 1985 and sold 8,000 copies over the next few months, helped by the metal boom that followed the first Rock in Rio that January.

Morbid Visions followed on November 10, 1986. In the Roadrunner reissue notes, Max admits the band didn’t tune its guitars for the session. AllMusic’s Eduardo Rivadavia heard teenagers “still learning their craft” and added, “Venom would have been proud.”

Warfare Noise and the Belo Horizonte Bands

Cogumelo’s 1986 split Warfare Noise put four more Belo Horizonte bands on vinyl: Chakal, Mutilator, Sarcófago and Holocausto. It was Sarcófago’s debut and got them signed. A second volume followed in 1988.

Sarcófago and I.N.R.I.

Lamounier landed in Sarcófago after leaving Sepultura, though he had already written the lyrics to Sepultura’s “Antichrist.” The band set out to make the most aggressive music ever, drawing on Bathory, Celtic Frost, Slayer and Finnish hardcore.

I.N.R.I. came out in 1987. Its cover, with corpsepaint, leather and bullet belts, is considered the first clear statement of black metal’s look, and drummer D.D. Crazy’s blast beats made him a pioneer. Norway noticed. Mayhem’s Euronymous traded letters with Lamounier, and Darkthrone’s Fenriz called the record an album “you buy or die.”

Mutilator and Chakal

Mutilator began in 1985 as Desaster and renamed itself after adding Sepultura roadie Silvio SDN on vocals. Guitarist Magoo believed in the band enough to turn down Sepultura’s lead guitar job, the one Andreas Kisser took.

Chakal formed in early 1985 and played the Metal BH II festival with Sarcófago and Sepultura. Singer Vladimir Korg wrote the lyrics to Sepultura’s “To the Wall.” Rivadavia ranks Abominable Anno Domini (1987) among the most vicious Brazilian records of that year, while Metal Hammer notes Chakal “remain largely unknown outside of Brazil.”

Is There a Big Four of Brazilian Thrash?

No official list exists, unlike the American Big Four of thrash. The fairest answer is one band per city. Rivadavia put it neatly in his Korzus biography: “Rio de Janeiro boasted early pioneers Dorsal Atlantica, Belo Horizonte had the mighty Sepultura, and the megalopolis of Sao Paulo had Korzus.”

Our pick for a four is Sepultura, Sarcófago, Vulcano and Korzus, with Dorsal Atlântica as the founding influence. Dorsal Atlântica formed in Rio in 1981 around guitarist and singer Carlos “Vândalo” Lopes. Its split with Metalmorphose, Ultimatum, recorded in 1984, is counted as the first thrash album officially released in Brazil.

Vulcano is just as old. Founded in Santos in 1981, it sang its 1983 debut in Portuguese and released Bloody Vengeance in 1986. Terrorizer wrote that “many believe that Vulcano not only kick-started musical blasphemy in Brazil, but throughout the whole of Latin America.”

São Paulo’s scene had its own shop-turned-label. Baratos Afins put out the SP Metal compilations of local bands, the first a few months before Rock in Rio. Korzus, formed in the city in October 1983, made its name with “Guerreiros do Metal” on SP Metal 2 (1985). Korzus ao Vivo followed in 1986, and Mass Illusion (1991) took it to Europe in 1992.

The city’s scene leaned closer to crossover. MX, São Paulo’s other original thrash band, sounded more like the Bay Area and debuted with Simoniacal in 1988. From the punk side, Ratos de Porão turned to crossover on Descanse Em Paz (Baratos Afins, 1986), befriended Sepultura and signed to Roadrunner in 1989 at Igor Cavalera’s urging.

From Schizophrenia to Beneath the Remains

Sepultura moved to São Paulo, and in early 1987 Kisser replaced Guedz. Schizophrenia followed on Cogumelo that October, a thrashier record that became a sought-after import abroad. Tapes sent to America reached radio playlists. Roadrunner signed the band in spring 1988 without having seen it play.

“This is our shot. You only get so many shots in this life, and you gotta make it count.”

That is Max Cavalera, recalling the Roadrunner deal to Revolver. The album budget was $8,000 and ran to almost twice that. Producer Scott Burns took $2,000, curious to see Brazil.

The band recorded overnight in the last half of December 1988 at Nas Nuvens Studio in Rio. Beneath the Remains came out on April 7, 1989. Sepultura’s first shows outside Brazil included supporting Sodom in Europe, and its first U.S. show was October 31, 1989, at the Ritz in New York, opening for King Diamond.

This is the record to start with. AllMusic calls it “one of the most essential death/thrash metal albums of all time,” and Decibel inducted it into its Hall of Fame in 2013. Arise (1991), cut at Morrisound in Tampa, reached No. 119 on the Billboard 200.

Max left Sepultura in 1996 and Igor in 2006. In 2023 the brothers re-recorded the first two records as Cavalera.

Brazilian Thrash Metal Bands Today

The scene outlived the 1980s. Wikipedia’s survey of the scene names Sepultura and Nervosa as the bands that have gone mainstream.

Nervosa was founded in São Paulo in 2010 by guitarist Prika Amaral and drummer Fernanda Terra. It signed to Napalm Records in 2012, and Korzus’s Marcello Pompeu and Heros Trench produced its 2014 debut, Victim of Yourself. Amaral has led every lineup since and took over lead vocals in 2023.

Torture Squad, a São Paulo death/thrash band founded in 1990, won the Wacken battle of the bands in 2007 and toured Europe with Overkill and Exodus in 2009. Krisiun, three brothers who formed the band in 1990 and moved to São Paulo in 1995, took the speed into death metal and signed to Century Media in 1999.

The 2000s brought a revival of the old sound. Violator formed in Brasília in 2002 to play old-school thrash and released Chemical Assault in 2006. Older names returned too: Holocausto came back, and Mutilator re-formed in 2018.

Brazilian Thrash and Texas

The scene crossed paths with Texas more than once. When Houston’s D.R.I. played São Paulo during the Laws of Scourge era, Sarcófago opened, a show the band’s history counts as its most important in Brazil. Sepultura later supported Pantera across North America on the Far Beyond Driven tour.

Max has kept coming back. Before a June 23, 2022, show with Igor at the Rock Box in San Antonio, he told the San Antonio Current, “I love Texas. Every time we’re on tour, you can tell you’re in Texas.”

Where to Hear Brazilian Thrash Live

Checked against band and venue pages as of October 2026. We found no Texas dates for the bands in this article this fall.

• October 11, 2026: Sepultura at the Pepsi Center, Mexico City, on the Celebrating Life Through Death farewell tour. Tour page
• November 5, 2026: Sepultura at Cine Joia, São Paulo. Tour page
• November 7, 2026: Sepultura’s final show at Suhai Music Hall, São Paulo, listed as sold out. It moved there in September from Mercado Livre Arena Pacaembu. Krisiun, Sacred Reich and Metal Allegiance open, and original guitarist Jairo Guedz is due to appear. Tour page

Songkick lists no upcoming dates for Max and Igor Cavalera. For Texas announcements, follow the bands above on Bandsintown and check our shows page and Texas venues page.

Sources

1. Wikipedia: Brazilian thrash metal
2. Wikipedia: Cogumelo Records
3. Hoje em Dia: Thiago Prata, “‘Casa’ do metal mineiro, Cogumelo completa 40 anos dedicados à música” (2020)
4. Cogumelo Records: address and opening hours
5. Prefeitura de Belo Horizonte: “Documentários contam história do heavy metal mineiro” (2017)
6. Wikipedia: Sepultura
7. Wikipedia: Bestial Devastation
8. Wikipedia: Morbid Visions
9. Wikipedia: Schizophrenia (Sepultura album)
10. Wikipedia: Beneath the Remains
11. Wikipedia: Warfare Noise
12. Wikipedia: Sarcófago
13. Wikipedia: I.N.R.I. (Sarcófago album)
14. Wikipedia: Mutilator
15. Wikipedia: Chakal
16. Metal Hammer: Dom Lawson, “10 of the best metal bands from Brazil” (2016)
17. Wikipedia: Vulcano (band)
18. Wikipedia: Dorsal Atlântica
19. Wikipedia: Korzus
20. Wikipedia: Baratos Afins
21. Wikipedia: MX (band)
22. Wikipedia: Ratos de Porão
23. Shazam: Eduardo Rivadavia, Korzus biography
24. Wikipedia: Nervosa (band)
25. Wikipedia: Torture Squad
26. Wikipedia: Krisiun
27. Wikipedia: Violator (band)
28. San Antonio Current: Mike McMahan, Max Cavalera interview (2022)
29. Wikimetal: Sepultura announces final show in São Paulo (2026)
30. The MetalList: Sepultura move their final show to Suhai Music Hall (2026)
31. Sepultura: official tour page
32. Songkick: Max and Iggor Cavalera calendar

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