ANDREAS KISSER On His Post-SEPULTURA Plans: 'The Only Thing I'm Sure' About Is 'That's Gonna Be A New Phase'

In a new interview with Australia's Everblack podcast, SEPULTURA guitarist Andreas Kisser spoke about his plans for after the completion of the legendary Brazilian/American metal band's "Celebrating Life Through Death" farewell tour. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I have a lot of ideas. Already we have a lot of stuff parallel to SEPULTURA for many years. I have another band called DE LA TIERRA. I have a radio show with my son here in São Paulo [Brazil] for 14 years now. I have another band with my son, KISSER CLAN, which we play covers and stuff. Also, after my wife's passing, I started a movement here to stimulate the people to talk about dying, which is a taboo subject here in Brazil — in the world in general, but in Brazil especially. After the experience I had with my wife, I started to move and started to try to improve the dying situation here in Brazil. We can make changes, cultural changes, that can make this process a little easier. Of course it's very painful when you lose somebody close, but there's ways that we can prepare ourselves during our life."

He continued: "[The] 'Celebrating Life Through Death' [concept] has a lot to do with experience I went through as well, to respect finitude, to see dying as not a punishment, but as an inevitable part of life. Once you respect the end, you're gonna live your present with much more intensity. And that's what we are doing. I mean, we are doing an amazing tour, probably our best tour ever, seeing old friends. Lots of people who never came to see SEPULTURA are coming to see us. We are fulfilling wishes, last wishes, like going to Iceland or playing at Lollapalooza or [releasing] this [new] EP with a ballad. Why not, right?"

Andreas added: "We have a tendency not to talk about [dying], and when death comes, we are not prepared emotionally and rationally to deal with that in a more peaceful way, let's say. So I'm going to, of course, invest more time in this. I do a, a festival here [in Brazil] honoring Patricia, my wife, and all the funds go to organizations and associations who take the palliative care to the favelas of Rio [De Janeiro] and São Paulo. People there are completely forgotten by society. They don't have access to medication or even a hospital and stuff. So, it's something that life put me in this way through death, if that makes any sense. But it does. I mean, one cannot live without the other, so we should embrace that and live more intensively.

"And so in general, I have all these possibilities, and, of course, new ideas or new projects," Andreas concluded. "I know so many musicians around the world, amazing musicians from amazing bands, that we can start something new or fresh. Who knows? But also I like to invest more [time into] my classical guitar playing. I'm studying so much, a lot; I never stopped studying, actually. And I like to do different stuff, different approaches to music, and see what happen. I think I don't have to be sure about anything. The only thing I'm sure that's gonna be a new phase, and that's enough, and that we see where these new roads will take me."

Earlier this month, Kisser talked to France's Metal OBS about SEPULTURA's new EP, "The Cloud Of Unknowing", which came out 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."

Prior to "The Cloud Of Unknowing"'s arrival, SEPULTURA released two singles from the EP: "The Place" and "Beyond The Dream". SEPULTURA collaborated on the latter with Sérgio Britto and Tony Bellotto of TITÃS.

SEPULTURA kicked off its farewell tour on March 1, 2024 at Arena Hall in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. The sold-out show marked the band's debut performance with Nekrutman, who previously played with SUICIDAL TENDENCIES.

SEPULTURA announced previous drummer Eloy Casagrande's departure on February 27, 2024, explaining in a statement that he was leaving to join "another project", with Eloy later confirming that he was the new drummer of SLIPKNOT.

The news of Eloy's exit from SEPULTURA came just two months after the band announced it would celebrate its 40th anniversary in 2024 by embarking on a "farewell tour" which would cover the entire globe.

In SEPULTURA's statement, the remaining bandmembers expressed their shock over Casagrande's departure, saying they were "taken by surprise" that their now-former drummer would "abandon everything related to SEPULTURA" less than a month prior to the start of the tour.

SEPULTURA is putting together a live album commemorating its last run of shows. The band is recording 40 songs in 40 different cities for what SEPULTURA said will be a "massive compilation of our best, most energetic moments on stage."

The final North American leg of SEPULTURA's "Celebrating Life Through Death" tour will feature support from thrash legends EXODUS, hardcore heavyweights BIOHAZARD, and newcomers TRIBAL GAZE. The trek will kick off on April 29 in Montclair, New Jersey and will visit major cities across the U.S. and Canada, including Montreal, Detroit, Chicago, Denver, and Los Angeles, before concluding on May 29 at The Wiltern in Los Angeles. Along the way, SEPULTURA will also perform at major festivals, including Welcome To Rockville and Sonic Temple.