Perhaps it is hubris for Kisser to put out a 21 song (you read that right) two-disc solo debut, but he also successfully kept Sepultura going after Max Cavalera left (maybe with decreased sales but the music has stayed cool throughout). Despite many being "against" it initially, they kept making powerful music. The real hubris discussed here is probably world greed, vanity and wrongdoing, for Kisser's HUBRIS I & II is a very positive celebration of many sounds and a philosophy of embracing a full life.

The first disc is primarily heavier. Elements of Brazilian culture abound in the stomp of "Eu Humano" and the austere melancholy of " Em Busca Do Ovro" (which features haunting vocals from Ze Ramalhem), as well as in the short, indigenous welcome of album opener "Protest!".
Throughout, Kisser's sense of melody lends cohesion to each riff, whether dark or uplifting. Disc two is the mellower, acoustic yet no less engaging material, with the quiet calm of "Breastfeeding" and the remarkable guitar work of "Hubris" leaving mental wheels spinning in wonder. The album is a well-balanced mix of feel and technicality that won't turn off the song-oriented but also has some real hotshot moments for the guitar fan-boys.

Kisser has underscored his true range here, known to real fans for a long time. He has done soundtrack work and production, but the scope of his dedication to this near
half-decade-in-development album is thrilling, from many Brazilian guests to the stylistic shifts.You wonder how he manages to stay so busy in Sepultura, tour with new project HAIL! (a metal covers band featuring Tim "Ripper" Owens and David Ellefson), and still find time to create this solo tribute to his culture. I spoke to Kisser about all that and more.

MORGAN Y. EVANS: You've made many albums with Sepultura, but I was wondering about when you were a kid and dreaming of being a guitar player. Did you ever imagine having a solo record? Now the time is finally here.

ANDREAS KISSER: [laughing] Yeah. I guess it was something like that. This is a very different album, especially from everything I did with Sepultura or anywhere else. You know, I did some soundtracks for movies in Brazil and played with some different bands. Pop rock and concert music, etc. But this album is a little bit of everything, especially acoustic guitar. It's the instrument I started with. I started first with acoustic and then electric, but I never left either of them. I always kept both on going. It's very personal, very intimate. I have songs for my wife, my kids, for my football team. There's songs in Portuguese, in English, a lot of instrumentals. I enjoyed a lot working on it and I'm very happy with the results.

MYE: It shows many sides of you. I remember when Dante XXI came out, reading an old Metal Maniacs in 2006 on Sepultura. You said how you liked being in the studio for the whole process of an album, even if someone else is tracking. This time you did so much of the work yourself. I thought, God, he must have had a lot to do! So many songs!

AK: Definitely. That was the intention, really to make everything myself as much as I could. Not only musically, but production-wise and going after the studios and technicians, booking time here and there and equipment. It was worth it. I learned a lot. Working with a lot of different people in the studios and the different musicians. What I couldn't do myself I called my friends for—some drums, cello, sitar, percussion and stuff like that, singing. There's not really a style going, but everything that I like. I already put this album on the stage, which I do a lot with the acoustics, which is a very big difference from Sep also. I'm having fun with it. You know, just experimental guitar, electric and acoustic, gives you many opportunities.

MYE: It's great. I'm a big fan of someone like Devin Townsend and he always does many styles.

AK: Yeah.

MYE: Loving Sepultura, I always like how you'd have different things from a lot of other metal bands, like the Japanese Kodo group on Against. I can appreciate your solo album as further exploring different influences from the ‘70s to world music, you know?

AK: Yeah, why not? When you have the privilege to travel the world and meet people, hear new music and new tendencies, you always bring home something new. Sepultura for years would play a new place we'd never been before like Cuba,The Philippines, Dubai, many places. Always you learn something new. It's great for your music because you always bring something fresh to the picture. It keeps you alive.

MYE: One thing I like about your playing, even when it is very heavy, there is often a melodic sense. Even on some of the mellow stuff on this album, it makes you contemplate.

AK: Nice. It's like a soundtrack of my own experiences. Like I said, my family, my friends, the Brazilian culture. It's not like a typical guitar player album. Most of the guitar player albums sound like a lesson in school. [laughing]

MYE: [laughing]

AK: My intention was really to respect what the songs were asking for and work more on the tones and amps and guitars. Really develop the feeling that the song was asking for. It's more musical that way without being too technical.

MYE: Did the album come to life as it came along? It took a long time, four or five years.

AK: Yeah.

MYE: Did you have an idea ahead of time to do the double album?

AK: I got the concept pretty early five or six years ago when I first got the offer to do the album. Mascot Records came to me and gave this opportunity to me. I started organizing my demos because I had so many ideas on my demos. A lot of ideas, 'cause I write normally on acoustic guitar. I decided to do this double concept instead of putting everything on one album and making it more confused. As soon as I got the concept of the electric on one side and acoustic on the other, everything was easier to develop, both to choose the right songs to be on the album and to choose which would have vocals in Portuguese or English. It took a long time, but I wasn't in a rush. During this time I did two albums with Sepultura. We changed drummers. Igor (Cavalera) left and Jean (Dolabella) joined. I had a third kid. Everything was happening at the same time, so I used my holes that I had between Sepultura stuff. I used the time I had without really rushing or making it forced. It took awhile but finally it is out.

MYE: I was wondering, because you did all that Sepultura stuff in the meantime and some of them were complex concept albums! I was like, "How does Andreas get so much done?!"

AK: [laughing] It's cool. I manage to use my time the best I can. I'm not out to deny opportunities to make music with different people and challenges to play different styles. It keeps me working and technically seeking movement. Fresh and new ideas come up with that, so I try to create something new all the time.

MYE: I was blown away by the title song "Hubris" on disc two. The fast-picking style is so cool to hear on acoustic guitar and then it becomes soloing and everything, linking the styles together.

AK: There was a lot of originality to that song from the playing style to the melody and the instrument I used. I used a Viola, not the classical that looks like a violin, but a Brazilian instrument that looks like a twelve-string guitar. It is a popular instrument in Brazil. The picking is almost like death metal but on acoustic guitar! It's kind of crazy, but much harder to play that kind of picking without the distortion. It worked really cool for the song.

MYE: Very unique. Some other moments also… I wish I spoke Portuguese. It it such a cool sounding language. Did you want this album to be like a love letter to Brazil?

AK: It is that. Brazil is a huge country from North to South. We have so many different tendencies and rhythms, food and people. A lot of stuff mixes everywhere. I had the influence of the European and American style of a metal band, but I am from Brazil. Especially the acoustic stuff is very Brazilian. That's the place I grew up and live. It's natural that comes alive in the music. I guess it's really to show the diversity and even the language. It is a beautiful language and very musical. Very different from English and cool to use this language on heavy music.

MYE: Did you videotape any of this process of making the solo album?

AK: Yeah, I have a lot recorded, especially with my guests at different studios and different phases, the mixing and stuff. I have to put everything together. It's different formats and stuff. I want to put everything together and show this crazy process. It's not going to happen again. If I do something else I can't do it like this. You have to do something different. If I do another album it'll be more compact, but that's the way I wanted to do this first one. Really open and just let it flow and really put everything I wanted to experiment with that. And now I can go anywhere from that.

MYE: Yeah, last night I finally saw the recent documentary on the band Anvil that they made.

AK: Yeah!

MYE: I was thinking about your record and was like, "Man, someone should really make a movie about the crazy solo record Andreas just made" [laughing]

AK: [laughing] That's cool.

MYE: Do you think metal musicians are still underrated? People sometimes underestimate and think they can only do metal or hard rock, but there's people like Shannon Larkin of Godsmack (and before that Amen and Wrathchild America) who can play anything...or someone like you who can play many styles.

AK: Yeah, people don't see. You have to dedicate a lot of time to study your instrument in metal and play it right, just like jazz or classical or any other style. Heavy metal and your own way of playing and characteristics all has to be studies. Fast picking, heavy picking, whammy bars or solos, it is all different. Drums and singing, especially metal singing is a unique technique that you don't have in any other style. Some people see it as noise and rubbish, but it's not. There's a lot of musicality and time behind metal musicians. Unfortunately people might not see that, but it is there. It's cool though, my example and other musicians that do other stuff can maybe help show people. Dave Grohl, for example, he can play metal but he can play pop or the Nirvana stuff. He can sing soft or hard or play drums. Mike Patton can sing very aggressive but also very soft melodic or opera. It's great to explore different things. I agree that heavy metal deserves more respect.

MYE: Speaking of respect for metal, I wanna ask you about the HAIL! project.

AK: Sure.

MYE: Obviously, you guys are going out and playing these tribute shows to the classic songs of different bands you love. I love "Ripper" Owens from Framing Armageddon when he was in Iced Earth and other stuff. How was it working with him and the Scandinavian touring with Roy Mayorga (Stone Sour, Soulfly, Crisis, Nausea, Amebix) on drums. And it didn't happen yet, but how does it feel to be playing the first ever heavy metal concert in Lebanon?!!

AK: Definitely. Yeah, Sunday I am leaving for Lebanon to do the show in Beirut, November 20th. I'm very excited to go there for the first time... and not with Sepultura, with this kind of project. It's great to share the stage with "Ripper" Owens and David Ellefson. I think Paul Bostaph is gonna drum with us for the Lebanon gig. It's a lot of fun. It's working out great. The chemistry between us is fantastic. We did 12 dates in Scandinavia and Turkey and Greece, now in Lebanon. Musicians from Mercyful Fate and Gorgoroth have played with us on stage and it's a tribute to heavy metal. We play music from Sepultura to Judas Priest to Metallica to Accept, Ozzy, Dio, Motorhead. A lot of stuff of the bands that made us be what we are today. We have no intentions to record anything original. Who knows. So far we enjoy playing covers and it's a blast.

MYE: It would be cool if Sepultura was going to Lebanon but it's almost cooler with HAIL!, because if they haven't had a heavy metal concert before in Lebanon, you guys are like giving them the school lesson!

AK: [laughing] It's gonna be like a menu! We play the songs so they can choose for later.

MYE: [laughing] Back to your solo record, "The Forum" and stuff like "Lava Sky" requires one type of space to write but then "Breastfeeding" is very intimate. Do you write in the same environment or do you try and go to different locations to influence feelings?

AK: I guess the influence can come from anywhere, but usually I write at home or when we have a lot of time on tour between spaces in hotel rooms. I keep a laptop for parts or for writing phrases of lyrics. It can develop later depending on the project. Here at home I have many instruments. I develop it whenever the song drives me to. I just like to let it flow without controlling that too much, and to record everything so in a week or month or five years I can listen back and grow with it whatever way.

MYE: When you finally finished this amazing, whole process, were you exhausted? Did you drink a beer or kiss your wife? What do you do after finishing something like HUBRIS I & II? [laughing]

AK: [laughing] The feeling is like a relief. Finally everything is put together! So many different musicians and six different studios. I'm glad I had the right guy to mix everything, Stanley Soares. He has worked with Sepultura on the last few and he knows me really well. Stanley made it sound really good. It's an album that is going to be unique for what it is a year from now or after. I'm really happy.