SEPULTURA's ANDREAS KISSER On Late ANGRA Singer ANDRÉ MATOS: 'He's Gonna Be Missed Forever'

During last week's installment of SEPULTURA's "SepulQuarta" session, guitarist Andreas Kisser reflected on the passing of former ANGRA singer André Matos. Matos, who also sang for the Brazilian metal bands VIPER and SHAMAN, died last June after suffering a heart attack. He was only 47 years old.

Andreas said (see video below): "André was a great friend and a great inspiration. I remember VIPER, his first band. We are from the same city… And VIPER, they were the pioneers in heavy metal in Brazil, especially André Matos, with his position of a frontman. Of course inspired by IRON MAIDEN, like we all were, among other bands, but especially IRON MAIDEN. And their ability and capability of them playing their instruments, playing that type of music that was not easy.

"André was always a great inspiration," he continued. "I had the privilege to jam with him many times. He came to my radio show a few times as well. We respected each other very much. He was a great guy, very smart, very inspirational — he always inspired. And Eloy, of course. André Matos was the first one who gave Eloy [Casagrande, SEPULTURA drummer] a chance, a really big break to be in a band, to tour the world and to record and everything. And I know Eloy is very grateful for that — of course.

"It's a huge loss," Andreas added. "There's no artist like André Matos, really, that was so complete. He could speak three or four languages. He could play many instruments.

"Anyway, he's gonna be missed forever. But at the same time, we have to be very thankful that we had the privilege to know him and to have this interaction with him as well."

On June 8, 2019 — the day that Matos died — Kisser dedicated his acoustic performance at the Rio Montreux Jazz Festival in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil to the singer.

Before launching into an acoustic version of the PANTERA classic "Walk", Kisser called Matos a "heavy metal icon" and a "Brazilian heavy metal pioneer."

In addition to recording the vocals and keyboards on ANGRA's 1993 debut album, "Angels Cry", André was the composer and arranger of nine of the ten tracks on the LP, including "Carry On", which is still considered to be one of ANGRA's most popular songs. Matos also handled lead vocals on ANGRA's "Holy Land" (1996) and "Fireworks" (1998) albums.

Matos, along with bassist Luis Mariutti and drummer Ricardo Confessori, left ANGRA in 2000 and launched SHAMAN (later known as SHAAMAN due to legal issues). André then went on to pursue a solo career while continuing to stay involved with a number of outside projects.

André released three solo albums: 2007's "Time To Be Free", 2009's "Mentalize" and 2012's "The Turn Of The Lights".