Bestial Devastation

Bestial Devastation is an EP by Brazilian heavy metal band Sepultura, released in 1985 through Cogumelo Records. It is their first official release, and originally appeared alongside Overdose's Século XX as a split album. The EP's songs were later released as bonus tracks on the CD version of Morbid Visions.

The EP, alongside Morbid Visions, was re-recorded by Max and Igor Cavalera’s Cavalera Conspiracy under the name Cavalera in 2023.

Production values
Because of Sepultura's collective lack of money, most of the instruments used on Bestial Devastation were borrowed from friends and acquaintances.

The vocals on the introductory track "The Curse" were performed by a friend of the band; according to Igor Cavalera:

One thing I remember is that we had one of our friends come and do the voice for the intro ('The Curse') because he would do that voice without effects - he was kind of burping in a way. It was funny, so we had him come down and do it in the studio. I don't even remember his name!

The band apparently fought with the producer during the recording. In an interview, Igor Cavalera said, "He wanted to clean everything up in the mix and we finally had to play him some records by Venom to show him that bands sounded this way."

Overview
Months prior to recording what would eventually become the Bestial Devastation EP, the band decided to switch their lyrics from Portuguese to English. None of the band members knew how to write or speak the language, so they asked their friend Lino to translate their lyrics. An example of Lino's crude translation skills can be seen in one of the verses of the song "Antichrist":

Churches will be destroyed Crosses will be broken He's laughing in blasphemy Like a domination of death.

Reception
Bestial Devastation was released in December 1985, alongside Overdose's Século XX EP. Over the next few months it sold 8,000 copies. Sepultura's surprising success was partly attributed to the first Rock in Rio, which took place in Rio de Janeiro in January 1985. This music festival's line-up included Whitesnake, AC/DC, Iron Maiden, Queen, Ozzy Osbourne and the Scorpions, and was responsible for Brazil's hard rock/heavy metal boom.

The EP was later reissued by Roadrunner Records on one CD with Morbid Visions in 1997. The reissue included a demo version of the song "Necromancer" that was the first studio recording of the band, and a live version of "Antichrist" from the Chaos A.D. tour, re-written as "Anticop".

Track listing

 * Bestial Devastation


 * Século XX

Sepultura

 * Max "Possessed" Cavalera – vocals, rhythm guitar
 * Jairo "Tormentor" Guedz – lead guitar, bass (uncredited)
 * Paulo "Destructor" Jr. – bass (credited, but did not perform)
 * Igor "Skullcrusher" Cavalera – drums, percussion

Additional notes

 * Recorded and mixed in two days on 8 tracks in August 1985 at J. G. Estudios, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
 * Produced by Sepultura
 * Back cover photo by Vânia Cavalera
 * Remastered for the Roadrunner Records release by Michael Sarsfield at Frankford/Wayne, New York, USA