SEPULTURA's ANDREAS KISSER: 'JUDAS PRIEST Was The Band' That Taught Me How To Play Heavy Metal Guitar

On the latest episode of EMGtv's "Five Minutes With", SEPULTURA's Andreas Kisser was asked what riff every guitarist should know how to play. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I started listening to heavy metal very early, when I already was playing acoustic classical guitar, starting to learn. But I think JUDAS PRIEST was the band that really was my first teachers.

"Every time somebody asks me to teach [them a riff] — I'm a really bad teacher; I'm a horrible teacher; I have no patience for that — but I tell them, 'Go listen to JUDAS PRIEST['s] 'British Steel' [album],'" he continued. "That's a great school. I mean, you have [songs like] 'Breaking The Law', you have 'Living After Midnight' — very simple, simple riffs, but it represents everything that metal has. It's like a heavy metal school.

"'Grinder' [another song on 'British Steel'] is the riff that I first heard on the album, and with my guitar in hands, I could reproduce [it on] my guitar," Andreas added. "[It's] very simple, but at the same time it has the rhythm part that you have the pose, and once you get into that pose, you go to the JUDAS PRIEST mode [laughs], and that's amazing. So it's very representative of heavy metal, and every guitar player should know this. It's simple, it's easy, but you have to play it yourself. Do it."

Back in 2021, Kisser shared his recollections of getting hooked on guitar, his first guitar and how he learned to play the instrument in a Jackson "First Song I Learned On Guitar" clip.

"Listening to albums is where I really trained my ear," Kisser said at the time. "I studied acoustic guitar and Brazilian music, the theory and other stuff, but with heavy music and rock and roll, listening to the albums — vinyl and cassette tapes, and really trying to learn the songs.

"The first song that I really managed to listen to an album and transpose to a guitar was 'Grinder' from JUDAS PRIEST," Andreas revealed. "That album, 'British Steel', it's a very simple album, let's say, guitar-wise. It's a great school. It's a great first step into the world of metal: 'Breaking The Law', 'Living After Midnight', 'Metal Gods' and, of course, 'Grinder'. It's very simple stuff, very simple riffing, and very effective. So I started there."

In 2022, Kisser named "British Steel" one of the albums that changed his life, telling U.K.'s Metal Hammer magazine: "'British Steel' was so important because it gave me the opportunity to play JUDAS PRIEST's music. It was simple enough and, at the same time, powerful. You could feel the power behind those power chords. If you want to learn about heavy metal guitar playing, it's a great start. If you want to define heavy metal, then 'British Steel' is what it's all about. JUDAS PRIEST were never ashamed of being a metal band, like DEEP PURPLE and BLACK SABBATH were."

SEPULTURA has set "The Cloud Of Unknowing" as the title of its final EP. The VIP package for the final North American leg of the band's "Celebrating Life Through Death" tour includes, among other things, an exclusive vinyl for "The Cloud Of Unknowing" EP.

"The Cloud Of Unknowing" will contain the first SEPULTURA music with the band's current touring drummer, 23-year-old Greyson Nekrutman, who officially replaced the group's longtime drummer Eloy Casagrande in February 2024.

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 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.