Legendary Brazilian/American thrash metal act SEPULTURA recently launched a pre-order for its upcoming 12th studio album, Kairos, which will hit stores in North America on July 12th through Nuclear Blast Records. The new record can be pre-ordered now at this location in various formats, coupled with a Kairos t-shirt, while supplies last.

The band check in with the following update:

"This album is inspired by ourselves, Sepultura, our whole history and all the experiences, after 26 years of a career, with many changes inside and outside the band, we are still here, in 2011, touring, playing, recording and doing what we love the most, to live for music. This is the kind of feeling on Kairos, all the lyrics are talking about us, our families, relationship with managers, labels, press and the fans, our experiences on stage and touring the world. It is a very intimate album, very personal views. Sound wise, it have a little bit of everything we did in the past, plus new elements that we always bring to every new Sepultura album."

A track-by-track breakdown of the first four tracks on Kairos follows:

'Spectrum' - "The first song of the album express what the album is all about, our experience being Sepultura, all the stuff we saw and lived in this 26 years. The way we see the world, the way we experienced the world, the whole spectrum of our living. The riff is very simple, yet very powerful, it sets the tone for the whole song, kind of an hypnotic effect, it was the first riff that I wrote for Kairos and it turned out to be the first song of it."

'Kairos' - "The title track, what we talked about here is a very special concept of time, which is not chronological but a specific moment of opportunity and change, the present is what it is, the past is a collection of kairos moments and the future a consequence of the present, it is a very powerful concept which gave us the possibility to talk about ourselves and what is Sepultura today, NOW. It is a song with three different vibes, starts with a heavy, slow riff, then goes to a intermission, which is the lead part and then it ends with an upper beat with heavy picking riff."

'Relentless' - "This song talks about our endless fight to keep our music going, regardless of any difficulties we had passed or are passing, nothing is easy and demands a lot of energy and work. We never lost sight of our goals and we never stopped, with integrity and respect. The music brings more of the old feeling of trash metal, raw and direct."

'Just One Fix' - "A MINISTRY cover, a band that was very influential on Sepultura´s music on the early 90s, we toured with them in 1992, it was a great tour where we learnt a lot. Ministry showed a new way of playing heavy/aggressive music, pioneers of the industrial metal style."

Sepultura has also launched a special Fan Video Contest in celebration of the forthcoming record. The band is calling on fans to create the ‘official’ video for the new track 'Mask', to be uploaded to the band’s official YouTube channel. Head over to this location for complete details and prizes.

Sepultura will perform at the Waterfront venue in Norwich, England on June 27th. Prior to the show, from 3:30 - 4:30 PM, the band will sign copies of their new album, Kairos, at The Rock Collection - located at 14-16 Lower Goat Lane in Norwich, Norfolk.

More info at this location.

Sepultura will release Kairos on June 24th (Europe) and July 12th (North America). Kairos was recorded once again at Trama Studios in São Paulo, Brazil and produced and mixed by Roy Z. (JUDAS PRIEST, HALFORD, BRUCE DICKINSON, HELLOWEEN).

Kairos tracklisting:

'Spectrum'

'Kairos'

'Relentless'

(2011)

'Just One Fix' (Ministry Cover)

'Dialog'

'Mask'

(1433)

'Seethe'

'Born Strong'

'Embrace The Storm'

(5772)

'No One Will Stand'

'Structure Violence (Azzes)'

(4648)

Footage of the band performing the title track from their new album, Kairos, at the Atlanta show, can be seen below: