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by BRIAN GIFFIN
ANDREAS Kisser looks relaxed and comfortable. Natural light floods into the room from behind him and a dog is resting its head on his knee. A month ago he and Sepultura were in Australia for the final time on their Celebrating Life Through Death tour. North America and Europe will follow, after which they will call time on a band that helped to define modern metal.
“It was amazing, man,” he says, of being on tour in Australia again. “We love Australia. We have such a great history there, all the tours. Regardless of the formation, we always felt welcome on the tours and especially now, we’re so happy to have had the opportunity to do this last run. It was amazing. One of the best times for us.”
Immediately before the tour, Sepultura released the four-track EP The Cloud of Unknowing. Until they went on the road, the band had no plans for a final recording, but the chemistry with new drummer Greyson Nekrutman was so strong that it seemed like the natural thing to do.
“[Nekrutman] of course brought new energy into the band,” Kisser says. “He had this jazzy background, which is something we never had before. So during soundchecks and rehearsals, we had time where we jammed or improvised stuff here and there and I felt we had a chemistry going. Something pretty natural that was flowing.”
A creative process removed from the usual grind imposed on recording artists was important for Kisser. He didn’t want to make a new record because he felt obligated or pressured.
“That for me was a reason to do something new, instead of just because we are a band, and we have to! That’s the stuff that kind of suffocated me a little. When managers were like, ‘OK, let’s think about the next cycle’. I can’t even think about an album, and twelve songs – it’s very demanding. And if you are not into it, it can be hell. It can be the worst experience. You have to be into it, you have to be there 100% to really enjoy and make something that really makes sense to you.”
Taking Sepultura out for one final tour was something that made sense to the band. As their guitarist tells it, it presented them with opportunities they had not encountered in the past. The Cloud of Unknowing was part of that.
“When you’re dying,” says Kisser, “and you have the chance to fulfill last wishes, that’s what we’re doing. We played in Iceland for the first time, we got to play at Lollapalooza in Brazil, which is a huge metal fest – and the EP was another consequence of that. We were touring, we had this chemistry, I had all these ideas flowing and the band were around.”
The EP was recorded in the wake of their appearance on 70,000 Tons of Metal earlier this year.
“When we got back to Miami we went in the studio for ten days,” Kisser begins. “Without the name of the album, without the name of the songs, without the cover, without anything but the music. It was such an amazing way to work, without the pressure of due dates or whatever. Then we mixed it in the upcoming months, and went to the artist for the cover. It was so relaxed. Finally it was ready to go. It just came very naturally. And that’s so hard to do in normal life – there’s things you have to do, and they fit in a schedule and you forget how to be yourself. You start becoming a puppet inside a system that people from outside [try to] make you be what you don’t want to be.”
Andreas Kisser knows very well what it’s like to be a man who’s had demands put upon him. While a section of the fanbase has spent decades wishing for Sepultura to do another Arise or Beneath the Remains, the band’s musical direction has never been a straight line. To the consternation of many, their catalogue has shifted through phases of death and thrash metal, groove, nu-metal and hardcore, and experimented with world music and tribal sounds. They’ve done albums that were almost punk and even an off-kilter, Meshuggah-style concept album based on A Clockwork Orange.
“That’s what it’s all about, right? – being yourself!,” Kisser says stridently. “It’s sad to see how some bands have misplaced themselves because some people think they are some kind of musician or guitar player. As a fan, you like to be challenged. It’s great when you get an album, and it becomes weird, and then you start loving it, you know? It’s something very natural, I guess. You’re not the same person that you were ten years ago. I have always had that belief. If you listen to “Ace of Spades” now, for the first time ever, of course you think back to 1979 or 78, or whenever. But we are living today, and most people forget that. It’s a whole new day and you can do whatever you want – respectfully, of course!”
Since the split with Max Cavalera in 1996, there’s been constant pressure from some outsiders that Sepultura should give up their name. While there’s now almost two generations of fans who’ve only ever known Sepultura with Derrick Green as their vocalist, there are older fans who claim they’ve never listened to them since Cavalera departed thirty years ago. To them, Sepultura just isn’t the real deal without him.
Kisser couldn’t care less.
“It’s their problem, right? It has nothing to do with me. You can think whatever you want. Be happy, be miserable.” He laughs. “Be angry! I am a fan, of course, and I will always be a fan of heavy metal and bands like Black Sabbath. How many bands came out of Black Sabbath, and Dio and Whitesnake… Rainbow? How many different bands and projects came out of them? That’s the beauty of it. We don’t have to be together forever. You can count on one hand the number of bands that have the same formation – maybe Green Day or U2? That’s about it.”
He puts forward the theory that some people are simply afraid of moving on.
“They feel safe in a past that doesn’t exist anymore,’ he says. “It’s an illusion. An illusion of the perception of time.”
For his part, Andreas Kisser is happy to move with the times. It’s given him the courage to constantly change up Sepultura’s musical approach, and to look beyond his groundbreaking band to a new future.
“I’d rather be today, and live today and enjoy the consequences, positive or not. That’s how you grow! Otherwise you’ll be standing at a place in the past doing the same thing over and over. That’s what’s happened in art so many times. It’s boring. It’s boring for the people involved and it’s boring for the fans.
“Bands like the Beatles, Led Zeppelin… Queen,” he continues, “They had different albums every time they put something out. That’s the beauty of it all. That’s art! Black Sabbath, for instance, as well. Even Motörhead – they would do a ballad, a blues ballad. And why not? He did “Ace of Spades”. He did “Overkill”. Now he’s free to do whatever he wants! Especially now that he’s returned to the universe!”
Sepultura has a special connection with Motörhead. When the band produced their SepulQuarta album from recording sessions done during the COVID crisis, they recorded a version of “Orgasmatron” – a song they would often play live – with Phil Campbell on guitar.
“Oh, man! It was such a privilege, and Phil was a dear friend. A brother. He loved Sepultura. The tour we did in 2004 was a dream tour. He was always in touch with us. When we recorded “Orgasmatron” it was so meaningful a moment for Sepultura. We understand, he’s not here anymore and that recording is even more special now, to represent that special bond between Sepultura and Motörhead and the respect we had from them.”
As he explains, Motörhead helped them get through and move on after Cavalera walked away in 1996.
“Todd Singerman, Motörhead’s manager, was our manager in our worst times,” Kisser recalls. “When we didn’t have a manager, we didn’t have a singer, we didn’t even have a record label that trusted us anymore. Todd Singerman came and embraced Sepultura and we started from scratch, basically. Motörhead was so important because we used some of their crew, their space for rehearsal, and stuff, and Lemmy was there supporting us, and Phil. It was very important for the restructure of everything we had up to that point.”
He doesn’t sound angry or bitter as he talks about the split. But he does get animated. The previously easy-going tone on his voice sharpens and he speaks quickly.
“Max took everything – took the manager, took [producer] Ross Robinson, took the studio we did Roots in! He just changed the drummer, the bass player, the guitar player! He took everything we had built ten years to get to!”
His tone immediately changes again: “But in a sense it was great for us, because we had to build something new, from scratch. And here we are! Free from this necessity of being a Sepultura that nobody even knows how to define!”
It’s unlikely that neither he nor Cavalera, nor the other major figures of the band’s career – Green, Paolo Xisto, the younger Cavalera, Igor, and Eloy Casagrande – will ever be “free” of Sepultura. But the band as an active unit will cease to be at the end of 2026. Kisser is planning a big final show in Sao Paolo with a ton of friends and special guests. After that, he says, there are “many possibilities”.
“We in Sepultura have so many parallel projects going on,” he says. “For years, I have had a radio show here in Sao Paolo… De La Tierra, which is a different band, singing in Spanish. There’s a whole social movement here in Brazil that I am part of. Of course I will have more time for those projects, but it will open the doors to new stuff. I know so many different people. I work on soundtracks for movies. I work with acoustic guitar with different musicians, so I like to explore different projects and see what happens. I don’t have anything definite planned yet but plenty of possibilities are open, for sure.”
It sounds like a bright and positive future for one of metal’s pioneering figures. But will it be hard for him to say goodbye to Sepultura?
“Ah, yeah…” He shrugs. “I mean, we never say goodbye, right? Especially when we die, we don’t have that chance. Most people don’t have a chance to say goodbye. And that’s ok!”
