ANDREAS KISSER says he’s “not gonna stop, of course, doing music” after SEPULTURA
10-04-2026
In a new interview with France’s Metal OBS, SEPULTURA guitarist Andreas Kisser was asked about his plans for after the completion of the band’s ongoing farewell tour. He said: “I’m not gonna stop, of course, doing music. I have so many ideas, but I didn’t decide yet where to go. I still wanna enjoy the moment, enjoy the tour, enjoy the very last run that we have this year. But I have many possibilities. Maybe I will do another album myself or try something different. I wanna explore different worlds. I’m going more to the art world, like painting and mixing music with colors and stuff. And it’s interesting, to try to go to different places. I don’t wanna find another world that is the same as SEPULTURA. I already did all that during SEPULTURA. So I’d like to absorb more ideas and to be aware of new possibilities and see what happens. But now I’m very focused of what we doing today and the last few months of the tour.”
Kisser also talked about SEPULTURA‘s recent announcement that it would release a new EP, “The Cloud Of Unknowing”, on April 24 via Nuclear Blast Records. Regarding why he and his bandmates chose to release new music while preparing to put the group to rest, he explained: ”When we announced the farewell tour two years ago, almost three years ago, we announced that it’s gonna be open. But I mean, we know we are dying; SEPULTURA is stopping. So we’re gonna leave it open to fulfill our last wishes. For instance, we had the chance to play Lollapalooza in Brazil for the first time… We went to Iceland for the first time. So we need time to go to places and to fulfill all the possibilities. So every album that SEPULTURA puts out, we take three years touring the world. If you see the history, that’s our rhythm. Because we go everywhere. We’ve been to more than 80 countries and we go far and it takes time. So, why rush? Why run? I mean, there’s no reason that we have to announce the final tour and in a year we have to stop just because people think the farewell has to stop in a certain time. And we leave it open, because we live the moment, we live the present. And it turned out the possibility to record an album.”
Kisser continued: “We did the 70000 Tons Of Metal last year, which is a cruise, from Miami to Jamaica and then Jamaica to Miami, and then we make the best of the situation. We went to the Criteria Studios in Miami to record four songs. I had a few ideas. I always have demos and ideas floating around. And (SEPULTURA drummer) Greyson (Nekrutman) came into the band two years ago, and he brought a new perspective, a new energy, new frequencies to the band that it was great. The atmosphere was perfect for us to work. We went into the studio. We didn’t have a release date. We didn’t have a name for the album. We didn’t have even names for the songs. I mean, the song ‘Sacred Books’, the number three song, we wrote in the studio, jamming, together, me and Greyson and stuff, and we did it in the studio. So it’s very spontaneous. It’s an album that it doesn’t have any attachment to any strategy or marketing or whatever you wanna call. It just happened. And it’s great, in this third year of our farewell tour, to have a new element, to have new songs. We have four new songs, which we will play live on this upcoming tour and stuff.”
As for why SEPULTURA didn’t make a full-length album and opted to record an EP instead, Andreas said: “The pressure of doing an album is totally different. It’s totally different. It’s another story. We have an EP. The format really fits wherever we felt at the time. Why we have to do an album? There’s no law that says we have to do something like that. So we made the best of what we had in our hands. The elements of the present. We were in Miami. We had a few ideas. We went to the studio for 10 days, and we did it. And then a year later now, everything’s ready to release. We put out the first single, and April is coming out the whole, full EP. So it’s great. I mean, it’s, it’s something that was really spontaneous. It’s kind of crazy. Of course you have some planning, you have some ideas, but you have to let room to improvise as well.”
Asked in an interview with Germany’s Moshpit Passion last year how the recordings for the live album are coming along, SEPULTURA guitarist Andreas Kisser said: “Yeah, great. We were able to record every show since we started. Even with (former SEPULTURA drummer) Eloy (Casagrande), we were recording a lot of the material. But when Greyson (Nekrutman) came into the band in March this year — the first show was on March 1st in Brazil, this 40-year celebration — of course when you have a new drummer, you have a new chemistry going on. It’s still a little time to get better. Now we are in a very good position, because we played a lot in Brazil, we played Latin America, we did two shows in South Korea, we did the United States, Canada. Now we’re here in Europe. We go back to Brazil to finish with another five dates, the year, and we are recording everything. It’s great. We didn’t yet stop and start really to pick stuff because the idea is to put out 40 songs recorded in 40 different cities. So it’s a big challenge, but, yeah, we are able to go to so many different cities and stuff. And I think we’re gonna have a better idea when it’s gonna come out and how it’s gonna come out maybe early next year.”
Asked if SEPULTURA‘s final show will also be included in the package, Andreas said: “Who knows? Everything is possible. We did three big shows in São Paulo (Brazil) before we went to the States. And we recorded the whole show — the cameras, DVD and stuff. Of course, this stuff that we’re recording for the live album is audio only. And we are planning to have the last farewell show in São Paulo in 2026, so we like to go places, we like to visit places that we’ve never been before. We like to do our goodbye in a relaxed mood — no hurry. There’s no reason really to rush anything. We are enjoying the moment so much. We are celebrating the momentum. It’s fantastic. It’s amazing. So it’s something that is gonna be on the recording as well, this great vibe, the connection we have with the crowd and stuff. But, yeah, everything is possible. I mean, of course, the last show, (it) would be great to have a register. We like to invite all the ex-members, including the brothers, Cavalera brothers. Let’s see what happens. We’re working towards that, to have a big celebration for the fans.”
Acknowledging the fact that SEPULTURA had an acrimonious split with Max Cavalera nearly 30 years ago, Andreas said: “We don’t care who is right or wrong. We’re never gonna get to that point. (Laughs) We have different point of views and different perspectives about same historical events and stuff. So let’s jam, let’s have a good time for the fans, for us, for ourselves, and really close this amazing 43 years or 44, whatever it’s gonna be at the time, in peace with ourselves, and really reach for something different afterwards. At least in my point of view, I like to, of course, continue with music and everything, but maybe do something different. Who knows?”
SEPULTURA kicked off the North American leg of the massive “Celebrating Life Through Death” farewell tour on September 17 at the Concord Music Hall in Chicago, Illinois. The band played a career-spanning set that honors SEPULTURA‘s 40 years of existence. Joining SEPULTURA on this tour were Florida-based death metal veterans OBITUARY, iconic New York hardcore pioneers AGNOSTIC FRONT, and São Paulo, Brazil’s death/thrash metallers CLAUSTROFOBIA.
SEPULTURA fell apart in 1996 with the exit of Max after the rest of the Brazilian four-piece split with the vocalist/guitarist’s wife Gloria as their manager. Max‘s brother, drummer Igor “Iggor” Cavalera stuck around with the group for another ten years before leaving SEPULTURA and re-teaming with Max in CAVALERA CONSPIRACY.
Max previously discussed the possibility of a classic SEPULTURA lineup reunion in a February 2023 interview with Thomas S. Orwat, Jr. of Rock Interview Series. He said: “I’m very, very busy right now with all the projects, ’cause I’ve got so many — SOULFLY being my main band, but also GO AHEAD AND DIE with my son Igor, and KILLER BE KILLED. And I’m already playing a lot of the old stuff with my brother; that, to me, right there, it fills the void anyway.
“So, yeah, I don’t think about that at all,” Max said in regard to a SEPULTURA reunion. “At this moment, I don’t need to do anything like that. I think at this moment I’m so busy with the stuff that I have in front of me, and the fans love all the stuff that I’ve been doing anyway. There’s no point, really. ‘Cause I haven’t even thought of that idea in a long time. But I think that my main thing right now is SOULFLY… And I love the fact that SOULFLY just keeps getting stronger and stronger with every record. And I look forward to the time to write the next one. It’ll be another challenge and another chance to make something good again.”
In the summer of 2022, Igor told the “Mike Nelson Show” about the possibility of him and Max returning to SEPULTURA: “I have to be honest with you, man. The reunion, in my opinion, it’s me and my brother — that’s the person that I wanna be united with. So, for me, if the other stuff, it doesn’t happen, I can’t really be too bummed about it. Of course, it would be amazing, but the real reunion for me is just me and my brother being together. That’s what makes me happy.”
Although SEPULTURA has maintained a diehard fanbase in all parts of the world throughout the band’s nearly four-decade history, Max-era albums “Roots” and “Chaos A.D.” were by far SEPULTURA‘s most commercially successful, having both been certified gold in the U.S. for sales in excess of five hundred thousand copies.