ANDREAS KISSER: People Are Finally Listening To SEPULTURA Without Endless Comparison With Past

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

That Devil Music: I thought "Kairos" is one of the best albums that you guys have done in some time. It also seems to be almost unanimously agreed that this is the best album that the band has done with Derrick [Green, vocals]. Did you guys do anything differently this time around as compared to the last few albums?

Andreas: We always put all the energy and effort into when we write and record, we always did what we feel and we look for some new ideas and new music while we travel the world. I don't know what you mean by perception, but it seems the other way around — finally people are listening to SEPULTURA for what it is, without the endless comparison with the past.

That Devil Music: Why do you feel that the band has never been able to regain the same level of popularity that it once had with "Arise", "Chaos A.D." and "Roots"? It's not like the quality of the songs have taken a steep drop since that time period.

Andreas: Don't know. There were not only the changes inside the band but also the changes in our society: technology, computers, downloads, a lot had changed, but is hard to say. We lost a lot when Max [Cavalera] left the band. We lost not only the singer but we lost the manager and all the structure that SEPULTURA had worked for 10 years to build, we had to start from scratch. It was a long and hard road, but very positive and a learning experience. We became stronger from all of the trouble we had to keep the band alive, and here we are. For me this is a very successful tale. It feels good to be here now.

That Devil Music: How come you've kept the band going even without the Cavaleras [Max and Igor, on vocals/guitar and drums, respectively]? Many fans seem to think the name SEPULTURA should have been retired once Igor left.

Andreas: I respect what "many fans" have to say: You're entitled to express your opinions and each one of you have one. Of course, I don't agree with them all, but I respect them all; every one of you have a SEPULTURA in your heads. It is very hard to define a SEPULTURA fan — they are very mixed and from all over the world. [But] the SEPULTURA spirit is still the same. We are here talking about a new SEPULTURA album and tour, we still look for new ideas, new groups to have as partners, we go everywhere, we play everywhere, we still bring new topics to our albums. We talk about deep themes, great books and ourselves. Max and Igor left the band; it was their choice, not mine.

Read the entire interview from That Devil Music.

Fan-filmed video footage of SEPULTURA's April 25 concert at Club Soda in Montreal, Quebec, Canada can be seen below.