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Brazilian/American thrashers SEPULTURA have inked a deal with Nuclear Blast Records.

Commented SEPULTURA guitarist Andreas Kisser: "We are happy to be at Nuclear Blast, especially in the year we are celebrating 25 years of history, and it is a great honor for us to join forces with the most metal label in the world. I am sure this will be a great journey for both of us and we are already working on new material while on the road.

"Let's go for another 25 years!"

Added Nuclear Blast A&R manager Jaap Wagemaker: "Yes, you got that right! Another great thrash band has joined the Nuclear family!

"We have been following the band around Andreas and Derrick [Green, vocals] for quite some time now and every time when we saw them play live, we were equally impressed by the sheer energy that they create on stage!

"After inviting the band to come to Donzdorf [Germany; Nuclear Blast's worldwide headquarters] and having some talks with them, we soon found out that we are all on the same page regarding what would be best for the future of SEPULTURA!

"After 25 years of forging high-class thrash metal, the band is more alive than ever and we at Nuclear Blast are very happy that together with SEPULTURA we will work on another successful chapter in that history! A new album will be out in 2011 and judging from what we heard from the band, the best is yet to come!"

SEPULTURA's latest album, "A-Lex" — the group's first LP to be recorded without either of the founding Cavalera brothers (Max and Igor; on guitar/vocals and drums, respectively) — sold around 1,600 copies during its first week of release in the United States back in January 2009.

On "A-Lex", Andreas Kisser and his three colleagues, Derrick Green (vocals), Paulo Jr. (bass) and new addition Jean Dollabella (drums), dedicated themselves to Anthony Burgess's book "A Clockwork Orange", creating an awesome thrash metal opus around this timeless and exciting subject. The material was produced by SEPULTURA and Stanley Soares at the Trama Studios in Sao Paulo and mastered by George Marino at New York's Sterling Sound studios.

In a recent interview with Sonic Excess, Kisser stated about the band's 11th studio album, "I am very happy with 'A-Lex'. The album came out in January [2009] and we did two tours in Europe. We still want to go back there and a few other places we haven't been to yet. We played Argentina with IRON MAIDEN and it has just been a great tour. But I am very happy with the album; it was inspired by the film 'A Clockwork Orange' and an amazing book. We did a version of ninth symphony from Beethoven, so it was a great experience to record that album especially with a new drummer. This album has presented up with a lot of possibilities, we are thinking about playing the album with an orchestra."

When asked if SEPULTURA was worried that some people might not understand the progressive nature of "A-Lex", Andreas replied, "Not at all. For SEPULTURA this has become so common to bring something different. Of course, we lose and gain fans in doing that. If you put together all of our albums, they are all different. That is the way we are, always looking for something new. We cannot please everybody, that's impossible and hopefully we never will. I think it's good to have some criticism because that will show you stuff you don't see."