Eonmusic’s Eamon O’Neill recently spoke with Sepultura guitarist Andreas Kisser. A couple of excerpts from the interview follow…

Q: Derrick (Green) was seen as quite an unusual choice to replace Max (Cavalera), but clearly after all this time, you chose the right man.

A: “I hope so! No, we definitely did, because Derrick was the one who was showing the future for the band. We were not interested to find somebody who could copy Max or look like him, or try to emulate his voice. We wanted to run away from that, because to try to find a clone would be stupid. So we heard a lot of new singers – even singers like Chuck Billy from Testament who tried out – but we wanted somebody new that the business didn’t know at that point. Derrick was a suggestion from somebody that worked at [record label] Roadrunner – a mutual friend that we had Mike Gitter. When he sent his tape, we felt that he could sing very harsh and tough – guttural, very heavy, but he also had a lot of new possibilities, like a great voice, a great melody. He was also a guy that could really interact with us, because it’s not only technical, you know? We have to live together; we travel so much, it’s like our second family, so it had to be somebody that really could get along. And we’re still here, enjoying ourselves and he grew up so much, and he made this band be here today.”

Q: Is it frustrating to come up time and time again with the question of the Cavalera reunion, given all you’ve achieved with Derrick?

A: “We get used to that. People have certain types of expectations and ideas, and most of the people who want to see it obviously never seen Sepultura with that line-up. I mean, it doesn’t bother us; it’s just a part of what we are. That’s something that we’re not working on, for sure. We’re so busy here working with the new album, doing what we do, and this is something that is not a part of our plans, in any respect. But I mean, we just address the subject and that’s it. I know a lot of people have a curiosity about what’s going on and stuff, but there’s nothing going on – it’s very focused here on what we’re doing, and enjoying everything.”

Read the full interview at eonmusic.co.uk.

On February 1st, Sepultura kicked off their European tour supporting Kreator at La Bam in Metz, France. Watch the entire fan-filmed set below.

The setlist on the night was as follows:

"I Am The Enemy"
"Phantom Self" (live premiere)
"Choke"
"Desperate Cry"
"Alethea" (live premiere)
"Sworn Oath" (live premiere)
"Inner Self"
"Resistant Parasites"
"Territory"
"Refuse/Resist"
"Arise"
"Ratamahatta"
"Roots Bloody Roots"