![\"1\"](\"http:\/\/torturesquad.com.br\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Amilcar.jpg\")
Son of drummer Claudemir Christ\u00f3faro (The Jet Blacks, The Four Boys), Amilcar Christ\u00f3faro has been a drummer since he was 14 years old. His name is recognized nationally and internationally for his speed, musicality, technique and perfectionism.<\/p>\n
Right-handed, but with the eternal quest for ambidexterity as his goal, he plays most of the time with his arms open (hi-hat with his left hand), thus acquiring the ability to perform slow grooves to fast beats, such as Skank Beat (traditional Thrash Metal beat) and blast-beats, in addition to demonstrating great versatility and creativity in working with both bass drums.<\/p>\n
His biggest influences continue to be drummers like Dave Lombardo (Slayer era), Lars Ulrich (Metallica), Iggor Cavalera (Sepultura era), Pete Sandoval (Morbid Angel), Gene Hoglan (Dark Angel and Death era), Paulo Zinner (Golpe de Estado, Rita Lee), Mikkey Dee (King Diamond era and Mot\u00f6rhead), Marky Edelmann (Coroner), Neil Peart (Rush), Paulo Thomas (Firebox, Cent\u00farias), Scott Rockenfield (Queensr\u00ffche), Nick McBrain (Iron Maiden) and Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater era).<\/p>\n
Over time, Amilcar delved deeper into Jazz, Rhythm and Blues, instrumental and experimental music, and then some drummers from these segments like Buddy Rich, Billy Cobham and Thomas Lang, just to name a few, also began to become a big influence.<\/p>\n
With Torture Squad, since 1992, his band’s resume includes several studio albums, EPs, live DVDs\/CDs and countless tours in Europe, Brazil and South America.<\/p>\n
Amilcar played twice at the second largest music fair in the world, Musikmesse, which takes place in Frankfurt, Germany. Four times at one of the largest Heavy Metal festivals in the world, the German Wacken Open Air (until then, being the only Brazilian band to achieve such a feat), and at one of the largest music festivals in Latin America, Quito Fest, for more than ten thousand people, among other events, festivals and tours.<\/p>\n
In 2004, he became a teacher at Escola Bateras Beat in S\u00e3o Paulo (Pinheiros Unit), where he teaches to this day and in 2022 he became one of the partners.<\/p>\n
In 2007, Aquiles Priester, who was leaving the C Ibanez drumstick brand for Promark, invited Amilcar, S Clovis Ibanez and George Ibanez to a meeting at a music fair and said, \u201cI\u2019m leaving the brand, but you can\u2019t be without a metal drum, and if there\u2019s a metal guy I can recommend to take my place, it\u2019s Amilcar.\u201d<\/p>\n
With this recommendation, Amilcar joined C Ibanez and soon had his signature. The drumstick is a 5b line, made of Ivory wood, but with two significant changes at the drummer\u2019s request: having more weight on the neck of the drumstick, to give more punch in the attacks, without requiring more force, and the tip being rounded to define more of the \u201cping\u201d of the ride.<\/p>\n
In July 2011, during the European tour promoting the band’s sixth album, \u201cAequilibrium\u201d, Amilcar was invited to replace drummer Jean Dolabella from Sepultura, in five shows (Switzerland, Austria, France [2] and Germany), and even played with both bands on the same day at a festival in Germany.<\/p>\n
Amilcar Christ\u00f3faro was invited by Sepultura guitarist Andreas Kisser to join Kisser Clan. The band Andreas formed to put his sons on stage and since then, Yohan Kisser has continued to play guitar in the band alongside his father.<\/p>\n
In 2013, as one of the representatives of the Brazilian metal scene, the drummer was invited by the emblematic Heavy Metal band Angra to participate in the show celebrating the twentieth anniversary of the release of their first album, being part of the commemorative live DVD released that same year.<\/p>\n
Also in 2013, in the educational area, he launched, in partnership with Dino Verdade (founder of Bateras Beat Music School), the Mundo Double Bass method (also released on DVD) \u2013 with the purpose of contributing to the musicality of drummers who want to explore the possibilities of playing with two bass drums or a double pedal. Mundo Double Bass, in addition to having become a reference in the subject, is now part of the Bateras Beats methodology, with copies in all of its units.<\/p>\n
May 2014 was very special; the drummer was featured on the cover of the Brazilian version of the biggest magazine of the genre, Modern Drummer, with the title \u201cA Massa Sonora de Amilcar Christ\u00f3faro\u201d, making him one of the few metal drummers in Brazil to be featured on the cover of the magazine.<\/p>\n
Orion Cymbals, his cymbal sponsor, honored him for the ten-year partnership by releasing a limited-edition 21\u201d signature ride. This cymbal has been shaped sonically over the years with the drummer being one of the brand\u2019s development consultants.<\/p>\n
In 2015, he wrote and recorded his first drum solo, \u201cFirst Attack\u201d, recorded on Torture Squad\u2019s live CD and DVD \u201cCoup D\u2019\u00c9tat Live\u201d. The solo features parts that shape the drummer\u2019s style, with heavy grooves mixed with double bass drum beats between Skank and Blast beats.<\/p>\n
In 2016, he records, \u201cthe old-fashioned way\u201d, the EP \u201cReturn of Evil\u201d in one of the largest studios in Latin America, Na Cena, produced by Wagner Meirinho, followed by tours in Brazil, Europe and South America.<\/p>\n
In 2017, he enters the studio to record the eighth album of his career with Torture Squad, Far Beyond Existence, followed by a Brazilian tour on a bus, as the headliner, with three other support bands (Warcursed, Reckoning Hour and Hatefullmurder) traveling 14,000 km with shows in almost every state in the country.<\/p>\n
In 2019, he plays at Rock in Rio alongside Nervosa, Claustrofobia and Chuck Billy (Testament), Anthrax, Slayer, Sepultura, Helloween, Scorpions and Iron Maiden, and goes on his first tour in Central America, passing through Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala and Mexico, being one of the headliners of the Mexico Metal Fest.<\/p>\n
In March 2020, he was forced to stop recording \u201cDevilish\u201d to self-isolate due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Recordings gradually resumed between 2022 and 2023, and the album was released in September 2023.<\/p>\n
In early 2022, a dream came true, Amilcar became a partner in the Pinheiros branch of Bateras Beat. The unit has been teaching since 2004.<\/p>\n
After 15 years, the company leaves the Ibanez drumstick brand C and joins Liverpool in early 2023.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have used 5b my entire life and wanted to find a weight that was in between the 5a and 5b, so when I made the offer to Liverpool I realized that it was mutual for the brand to be there too, which made me very happy. I got a few pairs to test during 2024 and found my signature 5af, which came out in May 2025. I repeat, I am extremely happy.\u201d<\/p>\n
The year 2024 is dedicated to promoting \u201cDevilish\u201d with highlights including the shows at Summer Breeze Brasil and with Sepultura on the \u201cCelebrating Life Through Death\u201d tour at Espa\u00e7o Unimed in S\u00e3o Paulo, on a sold-out night in front of 9,000 people. Still in the second half of the year, with Matanza Ritual, he enters the studio to record \u201cA Vingan\u00e7a \u00e9 Meu Motor\u201d (Revenge is My Motor), which will be released in March 2025.<\/p>\n
2025 is also a year of production for the drummer. He is invited by Claudio Vicentin (Roadie Crew Magazine) to produce the \u201cTribute to Ronnie James Dio\u201d at Bangers Open Air and by Bateras Beat Music School to produce the first Bateras Beat Music Awards, which took place at Teatro Gazeta.<\/p>\n
Amidst a tsunami of musical commitments, such as composing Torture Squad\u2019s tenth studio album, Amilcar has already visited more than thirty countries through his music, and continues to acquire and show new paths in the world of heavy, aggressive, and above all, fluid and musical drumming.<\/p>\n
Amilcar Christ\u00f3faro is the drummer for the bands Torture Squad, Kisser Clan and Matanza Ritual.<\/p>\n
DISCOGRAPHY \u2013 Torture Squad<\/strong><\/p>\n A Soul In Hell (demo) \u2013 1993
\nShivering \u2013 1995
\nAsylum Of Shadows \u2013 1999
\nThe Unholy Spell \u2013 2001
\nPandemonium \u2013 2003
\nDeath, Chaos and Torture Alive \u2013 2004
\nChaos Corporation (single) \u2013 2007
\nHellbound \u2013 2008
\nAequilibrium \u2013 2010
\nEsquadr\u00e3o de Tortura \u2013 2013
\nCoup D\u00b4\u00e9tat Live – 2015
\nReturn of Evil – 2016
\nFar Beyond Existence – 2017
\nTorture Years – 2019
\nTortura en la Iglesia en Vivo – 2022
\nDevilish – 2023<\/p>\n