SEPULTURA: 'Kairos' First-Week Sales Revealed

"Kairos", the new album from Brazilian/American thrashers SEPULTURA, sold around 2,500 copies in the United States in its first week of release.

SEPULTURA's previous CD, "A-Lex" the group's first LP to be recorded without either of the founding Cavalera brothers (Max and Igor; on guitar/vocals and drums, respectively) opened with around 1,600 units back in January 2009.

"Kairos" (an ancient Greek word signifying a time in between, a moment of undetermined period of time in which something special happens) was released in Europe on June 24 and in the United States on July 12 via Nuclear Blast Records. The artwork for the CD was created by Erich Sayers, a Los Angeles-based freelance digital artist and photographer whom SEPULTURA first met at the band's concert at the House Of Blues in West Hollywood, California.

Commented Kisser: "This album is inspired by ourselves, SEPULTURA, our whole history and all the experiences, after 26 years of a career, with many changes inside and outside the band, we are still here, in 2011, touring, playing, recording and doing what we love the most, to live for music. This is the kind of feeling on 'Kairos', all the lyrics are talking about us, our families, relationship with managers, labels, press and the fans, our experiences on stage and touring the world. It is a very intimate album, very personal views. Sound-wise, it has a little bit of everything we did in the past, plus new elements that we always bring to every new SEPULTURA album."

Track-by-track descriptions of the songs on "Kairos":

01. Spectrum

Kisser: "The first song of the album expresses what the album is all about, our experience being SEPULTURA, all the stuff we saw and lived in these 26 years. The way we see the world, the way we experienced the world, the whole spectrum of our living. The riff is very simple, yet very powerful, it sets the tone for the whole song, kind of an hypnotic effect, it was the first riff that I wrote for 'Kairos' and it turned out to be the first song of it."

02. Kairos

Kisser: "The title track, what we talked about here is a very special concept of time, which is not chronological but a specific moment of opportunity and change, the present is what it is, the past is a collection of 'kairos' moments and the future a consequence of the present, it is a very powerful concept which gave us the possibility to talk about ourselves and what is SEPULTURA today, NOW. It is a song with three different vibes, starts with a heavy, slow riff, then goes to an intermission, which is the lead part and then it ends with an upper beat with heavy picking riff."

03. Relentless

Kisser: "This song talks about our endless fight to keep our music going, regardless of any difficulties we had passed or are passing, nothing is easy and demands a lot of energy and work. We never lost sight of our goals and we never stopped, with integrity and respect. The music brings more of the old feeling of trash metal, raw and direct."

04. Just One Fix

Kisser: "A MINISTRY cover, a band that was very influential on SEPULTURA's music on the early '90s, we toured with them in 1992, it was a great tour where we learnt a lot. MINISTRY showed a new way of playing heavy/aggressive music, pioneers of the industrial metal style."

05. Dialog

Kisser: "On this song is like we are having a conversation with ourselves, looking inside, making a balance of all these years, the ups and downs of our career and life in general. A very honest look in the mirror, facing our weak and strong points, accepting certain things that cannot be changed and move forward always. Is a kind of a dark vibe in the music, with clean guitars and a speaking style vocals, then going to a heavy part with crushing double bass drumming.

06. Mask

Kisser: "Here we attack the people from the Internet, that have nicknames and they never show their faces, people that slay everybody without showing their credentials, hiding behind a mask to speak loud. The music I wrote on the road, on the 'A-Lex' tour, the only one done like that, Jean [Dolabella, drums] have his recording gear with him and I play some riffs on the guitar, creating the structure for the song, very thrash as well!"

07. Seethe

Kisser: "This song is a leftover from the 'A-Lex' sessions. There were two songs that did not were on the album and one of them we decided to use it for this one. It is a very raw, violent song, that still resembles the vibes of the 'Clockwork Orange'. We wrote an extra heavy slower part in the middle and re-recorded in the 'Kairos' sessions, same studio but different era and a different producer. Is just pure trash with aggressive lyrics.

08. Born Strong

Kisser: "A song to our families, then and now, moms, dads, sisters, brothers, grandmas, wives and kids. Since the day we were born, taking care of our first steps in this world and showing the right path, education and love. Today we have our own families and that is what keeps us with motivation and strong; without them we are nothing. The music comes from a very old riff, when Derrick [Green, vocals] joined SEPULTURA, back in '97. He brought this riff that we hated at that time but now it worked out great. It was the right moment for it."

09. Embrace The Storm

Kisser: "A song about persistence and faith, not being scared about the worst moments in life, they are a part of our growing as humans and we do not fear any storms that might happen in life. We overcome the bad times with a lot of work and learning with our mistakes. The music has a kind of melodic riffs, with a little of Ozzy/Rhoads influence, and is very heavy!!"

10. No One Will Stand

Kisser: "Here we try to express our feelings when we are on stage, making the analogy of war, going to battle every night, we take no prisoners, total destruction. Conquering a new territory every time we go out on tour, leaving our mark, exchanging a wonderful type of energy with the crowd, the best experience for any musician, to be on stage. The song is very fast, very trash with the influence of the early hard core bands and attitude. It is very old school."

11. Structure Violence (Azzes)

Kisser: "This song is a collaboration with the French percussive group LES TAMBOURS DU BRONX, a brutal heavy group that makes a huge sound with oil gallons and some electronic pads, it is amazing. We managed to record the song in different studios, we in Brazil, them in France, and the result is fantastic. The more organic sounds of SEPULTURA mixed so well with their heavy machinery sounds. We did the lyrics on the three languages, Portuguese, English and French, and it was inspired by the uprising in the Arab world, specially the crisis in Egypt, who took off from power the dictator Mubarak and started a whole wave of protests in other countries."

CD/DVD Digipak + iTunes Bonus Tracks:

01. Point Of No Return

Kisser: "This song is from the 'Kairos' sessions and we felt didn't have room on the running order of the album, so we decided to leave that as a bonus track. It has some elements of our past in it, like dissonant riffs and more traditional leads. The lyrics talk about the point we are in history, with all the global warming and the saturation of natural resources, for some things, there are no more hopes."

02. Firestarter

Kisser: "PRODIGY was a challenge for us but we are used to do that, after all, we did U2, BOB MARLEY, NEW MODEL ARMY, DEVO, among others, stuff that don't have too much in common with heavy metal, although PRODIGY is very heavy and intense, with influence from metal and punk. It is a great song and I can't wait to perform that live."

SEPULTURA's new CD was recorded at Trama Studios in So Paulo, Brazil with producer Roy Z. (JUDAS PRIEST, HALFORD, BRUCE DICKINSON, HELLOWEEN). 13 tracks were laid down during the sessions, including cover versions of MINISTRY's "Just One Fix" and THE PRODIGY's "Firestarter".

"Kairos" track listing:

01. Spectrum
02. Kairos
03. Relentless
(2011)
04. Just One Fix (MINISTRY cover)
05. Dialog
06. Mask
(1433)
07. Seethe
08. Born Strong
09.Embrace The Storm
(5772)
10. No One Will Stand
11. Structure Violence (Azzes)
(4648)

"Kairos" deluxe edition track listing:

01. Spectrum
02. Kairos
03. Relentless
(2011)
04. Just One Fix (MINISTRY cover)
05. Dialog
06. Mask
(1433)
07. Seethe
08. Born Strong
09. Embrace The Storm
(5772)
10. No One Will Stand
11. Structure Violence (AZZES)
(4648)

Bonus tracks:

12. Firestarter (THE PRODIGY cover)
13. Point Of No Return

* Plus bonus making-of DVD

"Kairos" song (audio stream):

Photo credit: Alex Solca