“Every time I slid my hand down the neck, a splinter of wood would stick in my finger and I would start bleeding”: Sepultura co-founder Max Cavalera looks back on his first-ever electric guitar, “Rotten” – and the moment he discovered metal

Max Cavalera from the American heavy metal band, Soulfly, performs on stage on the 2nd day of Vilar de Mouros music festival held between 21 to 24 August 2024 in the north of Portugal.

Before co-founding what would become Sepultura with his younger brother Igor, Max Cavalera made a discovery that would change the trajectory of his entire life: metal music.

“In 1981, when I was 12 and Igor was 11, we lived in Belo Horizonte near all these shady long-hair characters who were wearing Judas Priest shirts, and we went, ‘Yeah, we want to be like those guys!’” Cavalera relates in an interview with Guitar World.