There are farewell tours, there are final releases, and then there are moments like this that feel bigger than either of those things on their own.
As Sepultura bring one of heavy music’s most important journeys toward its final chapter, The Cloud of Unknowing does not land like a band quietly fading into history. It lands like a band still creating, still challenging itself, and still refusing to leave without saying something that matters. That has always been part of Sepultura’s identity, and speaking with Andreas Kisser, that spirit still burns right at the core of everything they do.
After more than four decades, 14 gold records, shows in more than 80 countries, and a catalogue that helped reshape the language of heavy music, Sepultura could have chosen to close this chapter by simply looking backwards. Instead, The Cloud of Unknowing exists because there was still something left to say. As the band continue their Celebrating Life Through Death farewell run, this four track EP stands as one final creative statement from a group that never built its legacy on standing still. This final chapter see’s Andreas not just as Sepultura’s long serving guitarist, but as the key continuity figure through multiple eras of the band’s sound and evolution, which makes this closing stretch feel even more significant.
That spirit came through clearly in conversation. Andreas spoke about the ending not as something bitter or forced, but as what he called a kind of “natural surrealism,” a conscious decision to stop while the band are still in strong creative shape and still connected to each other and to the fans. More than anything, he framed this final stretch as a chance to say thank you. He talked about the metal world as a family that kept Sepultura alive and relevant for so many years, and about the emotional power of seeing what this music has meant across generations of listeners.
That is what gives this moment its weight. Sepultura are not drifting toward the finish line. They are walking into it with their eyes open.
It also explains why The Cloud of Unknowing matters so much. The EP was born after Greyson Nekrutman joined the fold in 2024, bringing a fresh spark and a broad musical vocabulary into the room. Andreas felt compelled to capture that chemistry before the band closed the book, and what followed was a spontaneous ten day session at Miami’s legendary Criteria Studios with longtime collaborator Stanley Soares producing. There was no big master plan hanging over the sessions. No pressure, no fixed title, no song names, no deadline. Just a band writing, reacting, and creating in the moment.
Andreas expanded on that in our interview, explaining that when Sepultura first announced the farewell tour, there were no plans to release new material beyond the live album still in the works. The EP happened naturally. Greyson brought in new energy, new frequencies, and new ideas, and the band seized the opportunity. Andreas described the sessions as deeply artistic and relaxed, even saying the EP format itself became a creative advantage because its limitations forced sharper choices.
That sense of freedom is all over the release. The Cloud of Unknowing does not sound like a band trying to recreate old glories. It sounds like a band still willing to push its own boundaries right up to the end.
That becomes especially clear in “The Place,” a song that carries more emotional gravity than almost anything else attached to this final chapter. As a fan who has lived with Sepultura’s music for decades, that weight was impossible to ignore in the interview itself. Not just because it is such a strong song, but because it effectively stands as the closing statement on a Sepultura studio recording. Andreas acknowledged that meaning in a really human way. He said the song feels like a good way to close everything and described it as “very, very meaningful,” adding that Sepultura is “from the world,” not only from Brazil.
That idea opens the door to something deeper about Sepultura’s legacy. Yes, this is one of the most important bands ever to come out of Brazil. But Sepultura’s impact has always stretched beyond geography. Andreas reflected on how the band’s relationship with Brazil changed over time. In the early years, there was a desire to emulate the great metal bands from outside their home country. It was only once Sepultura began travelling internationally, especially after the Beneath The Remains era, that they began to truly see Brazil from the outside and recognise how unique their own cultural identity really was. That shift helped them embrace elements they had once denied and incorporate them into the band’s music in a way that made Sepultura feel truly singular.
That is a huge part of why Sepultura’s legacy holds so much weight. The research material frames the band as one of the defining case studies in how heavy music can carry local identity onto a global stage. It points to Andreas as the architect of a musical evolution that pushed the band from sharpened late 1980s thrash into groove, percussion, experimentation, and a distinctly Brazilian sonic language that still remained globally legible.
You can hear that broader worldview in the way Andreas spoke about collaboration too. In our chat he reflected on Sepultura’s willingness to work with different musical traditions and artists across the years, from Japanese percussion to Indigenous Brazilian influence to other rhythmic approaches from around the world. For him, that openness has never been about novelty. It is about growth, self knowledge, and the idea that music is one of the most powerful ways to understand both yourself and your place in a wider human community.
And then there is the deeper emotional truth behind all of this.
One of the most striking moments in the interview came when Andreas was asked to look back on his career highlights. His answer was not a specific show, award, or album. It was simple and powerful: now. He said his proudest moment is today because Sepultura are still making new music, still creative, and leaving on their own terms rather than disappearing into nostalgia. He spoke about wanting to enjoy the moment, celebrate with the fans, honour the crew and families who have been part of the journey, and respect what he called finitude. In that context, Celebrating Life Through Death stopped sounding like a tour title and started sounding like a philosophy.
That part of the conversation carried even more weight when Andreas spoke openly about loss and about the need to talk honestly about death. He connected that directly to how he now understands life itself, arguing that mortality gives meaning to today, to love, to urgency, and to presence. It was one of the rawest and most human moments in the whole interview, and it made this final Sepultura chapter feel less like an ending in the usual music industry sense and more like an act of acceptance, gratitude, and clarity.
And maybe that is why this farewell feels different.
There is sadness here, of course. How could there not be. But there is also peace. There is intention. There is a sense that Sepultura are not being dragged toward an ending, but choosing how to shape it. Andreas kept returning to that idea in different ways throughout our conversation, and nowhere was it clearer than in his reflections on Australia. He spoke with genuine warmth about how Australia never abandoned Sepultura, how the country evolved with the band through every change, and how meaningful it was to come back one last time and say goodbye properly.
That matters because it says everything about the relationship this band built with listeners around the world. Sepultura were never just a catalogue of albums or a list of milestones. They became part of people’s lives. Families, scenes, road trips, first discoveries, first riffs, first records, first moments (mine Included) that made heavy music feel like home.
So The Cloud of Unknowing lands as more than a final EP. It is a reminder of what made Sepultura matter in the first place. Fearlessness. Curiosity. Rhythm. Identity. Growth. Connection. A refusal to repeat themselves just because it would be easier. A refusal to leave quietly just because the story is ending.
If this is the last studio statement from Sepultura, it feels fitting that it arrives not as a museum piece, but as something alive.
And in that sense, maybe Andreas Kisser said it best without even trying to sum everything up. The proudest moment is now.
SEPULTURA:
Derrick Green – vocals
Andreas Kisser – guitars
Paulo Jr. – bass
Greyson Nekrutman – drums
Order The Cloud of Unknowing EP:
https://sepultura.bfan.link/cloud-unknowing
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