SEPULTURA have announced "The Cloud of Unknowing," their farewell EP, set for release on April 24 via Nuclear Blast Records. The four-track release represents the final studio recordings from one of the most important and influential bands in heavy metal history — a group that almost single-handedly put South American metal on the global map and whose far-reaching influence spans thrash, death metal, groove metal, and nu metal across four remarkable decades.
The EP features "All Souls Rising," "Beyond the Dream," "Sacred Books," and "The Place," the latter shared as the lead single with an accompanying music video. Vocalist Derrick Green explains that "The Place" deals with the experiences of "immigrants who have come to a place seeking refuge" — a profoundly human theme that resonates with the band's own complex story of musicians navigating between Brazilian and global identities throughout their career. The song opens as a slow, doom-laden dirge before erupting into a ripping thrash finale that recalls the ferocity of classic-era SEPULTURA at their most visceral and uncompromising.
The farewell EP arrives as the band's "Celebrating Life Through Death" tour continues its extended global run, which began in 2024 to mark SEPULTURA's 40th anniversary. Guitarist Andreas Kisser has confirmed that the final concert is planned for around October 2026 in Sao Paulo, Brazil — envisioned as a massive "Sepul-fest" celebration featuring other bands important to SEPULTURA's history. Kisser has expressed hope that every former member, including the Cavalera brothers Max and Igor, will participate in some capacity, potentially creating one of the most significant and emotionally powerful farewell events in metal history.
Founded in Belo Horizonte in 1984 by the Cavalera brothers, SEPULTURA's towering legacy includes landmark albums like "Beneath the Remains," "Arise," "Chaos A.D.," and "Roots" — records that fundamentally expanded the boundaries of what heavy metal could sound like and where it could come from, proving that the genre belonged to the entire world.