SEPULTURA Guitarist: 'We're Going After New Things And Enjoying Learning New Things'

Cobra Metal recently conducted an interview with guitarist Andreas Kisser of Brazilian/American thrashers SEPULTURA. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Cobra Metal: How have fans been reacting to the new album ["Kairos"]?

Andreas: Great! Fucking great, man. Since the album came out last year, everything was very positive. Great reviews and we've been playing at least 5 songs in our set including the MINISTRY cover ("Just One Fix"). People are relating to the new lyrics very strongly; singing together and stuff. It's great. I wish we could play more, but slowly we'll put in some extra songs. We have Eloy [Casagrande], our drummer, who just joined the band last December pretty much to do the tour in Europe and we only did old stuff (up to the "Chaos A.D." album). So it was really cool to play all the old stuff but now we're playing the new material and slowly we'll change the songs up so it's cool. It's been great to jam the new stuff live.

Cobra Metal: "Kairos" is the first album released by Nuclear Blast. How is the relationship between you guys and your new label?

Andreas: It's great. I think Nuclear Blast has a lot to do with the success of the new album. The support and the belief that they have in SEPULTURA and the record "Kairos" and the momentum of the band. They are a part of that concept and they are like a metal bunch of guys. They are fans and they know the music and they are very happy to have SEPULTURA with them and we feel the same. We are very lucky to have such opportunities and we are very lucky to have a such a label with open arms. It's been working out fantastic.

Cobra Metal: SEPULTURA is in its 28th year of existence. Derrick [Green, vocals] has been in the band for 15 years now. Is the concept behind the new album a statement, “This is SEPULTURA, and there's no need to reunite with Max [Cavalera, guitar/vocals] or Igor [Cavalera, drums]?"

Andreas: People have a very hard time to understand that there's nothing dead growing. Like a reunion. We're going down a totally different path. That's what SEPULTURA is all about. That's our spirit. We started that way and we are keeping it that way. We're going after new things and enjoying learning new things.

Cobra Metal: "Kairos" has a very old school feel compared to other albums of the Derrick Green era. Was this a conscious effort or was it just a natural evolution from the last album?

Andreas: A little bit, yeah. Once we decided to talk about ourselves, obviously you go back and start really remembering where we came from and how things happened. You go places that you don't usually go in your memories and stuff. So we tried to remember the way we made albums and all the limitations of vinyl, we couldn't have too much space. That's why the classic albums have only 8 or 9 songs, which is fucking amazing, so that kind of concept came back. The way we did it with equipment was to use everything on stage and don't go crazy. Just use the sound that we know how to make on stage because the stage really works great and that's the place that we like to be the most. We tried to reproduce that in the studio. The thrash feeling is there as an attitude, not trying to copy riffs and stuff like that. Just trying to bring that vibe back and write with that in mind.

Read the entire interview from Cobra Metal.

"Superskum" (web site) has uploaded video footage of SEPULTURA's April 15 concert at the Gothic Theater in Englewood, Colorado as part of the band's North American tour with DEATH ANGEL, KRISIUN and HAVOK. Check out the clips below.