After more than 40 years of thrashing, Brazilian icons Sepultura are calling it a day. They didn’t plan on making new music after their final tour kicked off in 2024, but, as guitarist Andreas Kisser told Hammer earlier this year, a change in personnel laid the stage for new possibilities. This is the story of their four-song farewell, The Cloud Of Unknowing.
Two years after kicking off their ongoing farewell tour – and six after putting out their final album, Quadra – Sepultura have put out their last-ever studio effort. Brazil’s extreme metal trailblazers released the EP The Cloud Of Unknowing on April 24, putting the cherry on top of their 42-year career with four new songs. It also marked the band’s first recording to feature their recently-appointed 23-year-old drummer, Greyson Nekrutman.
Sepultura revealed their intention to retire at the end of 2023, and longtime guitarist Andreas Kisser has offered multiple reasons why in interviews since. They don’t want to force themselves to outdo Quadra, they’re sick of the high-pressure album/tour/album/tour cycle, and they want to call it quits while they’re still on good terms. Kisser’s wife Patricia dying of cancer in 2022 is also a massive contributor for him personally.
“[It impacted] everything in my life,” he says on a video call with Hammer. “Not just professionally but everything, because I had plans with my wife – we stayed together for 32 years – that are not there anymore. It gives you a whole new perspective on life, and the band is just one aspect of that. It was a big influence.”
Sepultura didn’t plan on making new music during their retirement run. But then, three weeks before the first show, ex-drummer Eloy Casagrande abruptly stepped down to join Slipknot. We can see the hurt and disappointment in Kisser’s expression when we broach the subject.
“Two days before he announced he was leaving, we were discussing elements of the setlist like nothing was happening,” he remembers. “So it really came out of nowhere, and I don’t understand why he did that. There were many, many different ways you could handle a situation like that.”
Fortunately, Kisser’s son Yohan had shown him social media footage of Nekrutman’s playing, and singer Derrick Green had seen the drummer perform in crossover thrashers Suicidal Tendencies. Coincidentally, Suicidal would later replace Nekrutman with Casagrande’s Slipknot predecessor, Jay Weinberg.
Within 48 hours of Casagrande leaving, Sepultura hired Nekrutman. He was so young that he had his parents accompany him to the first band meeting.
“He was basically the main reason why I felt energised to write again,” says Kisser. “He brought a new energy: he’s a great guy and an amazing musician. This EP is a consequence of the atmosphere we have in the band now.”
They wanted to create again, but they wanted things to be as organic as possible. When they were in Miami for the 70,000 Tons Of Metal cruise in February 2025, they decided that local studio Criteria would be the perfect place to track the material they had. “Black Sabbath recorded Heaven And Hell there!” Kisser explains with a smile.
Although The Cloud Of Unknowing was written without an agenda, the songs demonstrate Sepultura’s range. Sacred Books is an all-metal onslaught, All Souls Rising integrates some orchestral grandeur, Beyond The Dream is a moody ballad, and the proggy intro of The Place makes use of Nekrutman’s jazz roots.
Meanwhile, the lyrics touch on current events, continuing the social awareness the band have had since the days of Anti-Cop and Arise. The Place addresses immigration and All Souls Rising uses the 1790s Haitian Revolution as a cry for modern-day unity. The EP’s title comes from a 14th-century Christian text and is meant to urge people to unplug.
“Screens and fake news and artificial intelligence… we don’t need that in the way of our connection to nature or God or whatever energy you want to give a name to,” says Kisser. “Alan Watts [late British-American writer/philosopher] talked about the Cloud Of Unknowing as a straight connection with yourself. Be yourself, go to the beach, step on the sand, feel things for yourself!”
After the EP comes out, the band will focus on finishing their tour, with the new songs as part of the setlist. The last European show will take place in Dublin in August, and their final concert will be in São Paulo in November. Kisser promises “amazing guests” for their swansong show, although he claims the band’s founding Cavalera brothers won’t be among them. “We don’t have anything [confirmed],” he says when we ask for details.
Like all good things, Sepultura will end. However, Kisser still has creative plans. He wants to release a live album featuring 40 songs recorded at 40 different stops on the farewell tour. Then, he wants to write more music on acoustic guitar and make audiovisual art projects with his new girlfriend, who’s a painter.
“I have so many possibilities,” the guitarist says as he casts his gaze to the future. “I don’t have to make any decisions; I want to enjoy the process. I want to enjoy everything until the very last moment.”
This article originally appeared in Metal Hammer issue 412, May 2026. Sepultura are currently touring Europe and will play their last-ever show at Estádio Municipal Paulo Machado de Carvalho in São Paulo, Brazil on November 7.
