SEPULTURA guitarist Andreas Kisser is celebrating the fifth anniversary of his getting sober.On Saturday (March 1),the 56-year-old Brazilian-born musician took to his Instagram to write: “March 1st, today I celebrate 5 years without alcohol in my life! The best feeling ever! Much love to you all!”Less than four years ago, Kisser told A&P Reacts that he “quit alcohol right before the pandemic hit. It was one of the best decisions I made in my life,” he said. “Not that I was a fucking out-of-control alcoholic, but alcohol was a part of my life, of everything I did. In certain degrees less and more, but it was there. It was taking control of my life, of my choices, of how I dealt with people or with a special occasion or something. Alcohol was involved in everything. And I don’t need that. And I proved now that I don’t, because I’m having a better life. I’m doing exercises. I have the routine I never had touring.”According to Kisser, “it was very easy” for him to give up the bottle. “Once you have a clear idea in your mind, there’s no discussion,” he explained. “I didn’t put the responsibility on a saint or, let’s say, in a church, or ‘I will stop for a year’ or ‘I promise you, my wife, I don’t drink anymore.’ No. It’s not for them. It’s a very personal attitude. It’s me with me — not more. I don’t have to put the responsibility away from myself, in a time period or in a certain religious belief or my family. They don’t deserve that. This is my problem, and I resolve it with myself. So I’m in peace with myself with that. It’s not something that bothers me. I can be around alcohol, I can be around parties, I can be around backstage, as I did with my KISSER CLAN band here and stuff. People drink around [me], [and] I don’t care. I don’t even feel the wish to drink, which is great. So I don’t have a battle, let’s put it that way. I’m not running away from anything. I just decided to stop. That’s it.”Kisser is not the only member of SEPULTURA’s classic lineup to have gotten sober. Back in 2016, former SEPULTURA frontman Max Cavalera told Metal Insider that he had been “straight edge” at that point for a decade. “I was kind of a mess 10 years ago, drinking and doing a lot of drugs, and it was affecting some of my touring,” he stated at the time. “I’m a very extreme guy, so when I do something, I do it all the way. I quit drinking and doing drugs entirely, and when I did it, I realized my passion for metal grew even more. I became more into metal, into new bands and stuff.”Cavalera reflected on his 16-year battle with drug and alcohol addiction in a 2016 interview with Metal Hammer. He told the magazine that he became hooked on prescription drugs not long after his father’s death. “I was taking too many of them on a daily basis and then drinking on top of it,” he said. “It’s a lethal combination, and then I added sleep medicines on top of all that. It’s a miracle I am still alive.”There’s a lot of pressure that comes with fame. Record label pressure, fans pressure, and we don’t have a manual or a guide to surviving this shit.”Max continued: “I think for some musicians the pressure of fame gets to them. For me, it started with the death of my father. I became very sad and drinking was one way to deal with my sadness. The drugs — I just liked them. I liked the buzz of a painkiller. The energy it gave me.”Andreas’s wife Patricia Perissinoto Kisser passed away on July 3, 2022 after a battle with colon cancer. She had just turned 52 years old one day earlier.Andreas and the couple’s three children, Giulia, Yohan and Enzo, announced Patricia’s death in a social media post. They wrote: “It is with deep sadness that we have to share that Patricia Perissinoto Kisser passed away this morning. She will remain in our memories forever.”Andreas and Patricia had been together for 32 years after first getting together in 1990. They married in 1994.In June 2022, Andreas left SEPULTURA’s European tour due to what was described at the time as a “family emergency.” He was temporarily replaced on the road by Jean Patton of fellow São Paulo, Brazil-based heavy metal act PROJECT46.SEPULTURA’s current lineup comprises Kisser, vocalist Derrick Green, bassist Paulo Xisto Pinto Jr. and drummer Greyson Nekrutman.SEPULTURA kicked off its farewell tour on March 1, 2024 at Arena Hall in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. The sold-out show marked the band’s debut performance with Nekrutman, who previously played with SUICIDAL TENDENCIES.