Angra’s Rafael Bittencourt Responds To Being Compared To Sepultura

Angra’s Rafael Bittencourt recently did an interview with Rock Hard Greece and talked about comparisons in the metal scene. When the interviewer asked if the band was still compared to Sepultura, the guitarist expressed:

“No I, well, I do hear that often, especially because, not the journalists obviously that are very aware of everything, many different general music [listeners.] But the crowd usually is very separate, most didn’t even know about the simple and existence of Sepultura, but I might be saying bullshit.”

Sepultura released their 1996 album ‘Roots’ and Angra followed up with their album ‘Holy Land’ couple of weeks later. As the interviewer pointed out, there have been comparisons between the bands ever since. Rafael gave his take on the situation by saying:

“But both albums were released almost at the same time. So it would be impossible to be inspired by something in two weeks and then deliver a new album that takes like a whole year to do. If people think that I don’t mind because I admire Sepultura a lot. I remember when they released ‘Roots’ it had a huge impact in America and everywhere else.”

The guitarist said that he does not see comparisons as a problem, but he did share a few names that were also inspired by Sepultura. He added:

“Bands were created afterwards completely inspired [by Sepultura] like Slipknot who were completely inspired by ‘Roots.’ Rob Zombie and other artists coming from America they were very much inspired. They were very proud that the Brazilian metal was in its peak. We had Angra and Sepultura playing Brazilian stuff and being popular around the world with that, so it was good, it was cool.”

You can watch Rafael Bittencourt’s interview with Rock Hard Greece and listen to ‘Holy Land’ as well as ‘Roots’ below.