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politics in Brazil, does this fuel your rage to write songs about this type of society? Fernanda Lira: For sure. Unfortunately, living in Brazil can be real tough sometimes. You ' re always surrounded by some of the worst stuff in society. There ' s social injustice, there ' s corruption, there ' s terrible public basic sectors – bad schools, worse hospitals, etc. So in my daily routine, I end up swallowing all my sadness and rage about these factors. Then, when it ' s time to write an album, I personally use my lyrics as my dearest tool of expression, because it ' s the chance I have to spit out all my dissatisfaction with the system. Also, I think one of society ' s problems nowadays is that we just get used to the things going [ on ] around us, especially in Brazil. We just feel bad about the things, but end up accepting it and not protesting it. This has been changing in the country a little, but I still think it ' s a long way till people start thinking, debating and then, changing what ' s around them for real. And I think lyrics are a good tool for debating subjects. I mean, I don ' t care if the person agrees or not to what I’ m writing about on my songs, but at least if they take the time to think about the subject, I think that ' s a good start already to change things.
Mosh:“ Arrogance” kicks the album off in a blistering way. Was it the clear cut choice to open with it and how hard was it deciding on the track sequence of the album? Fernanda Lira: The other album had an intro and started in a lower pace. As the style of the band is now more aggressive, we decided it would be cool to start with a track which would be a kick in the face. A track that already started in an aggressive way, and that in a way maybe would surprise the listener and also make them want to listen to more. We thought“ Arrogance” was the best choice, as it already starts with blast beats and a super fast pace. As for the other tracks, it ' s always tricky, because we want to put them all as next ones! But we just try to follow a kind of logic, like two fast ones on the beginning to draw listeners attention to how different the album is, then a slower one, then a single, then one that ' s different in a way – like“ Guerra Santa,” which is sung in Portuguese – and then on. We also test all versions of the tracking list, we decide to see if it works, or if it ' s boring and stuff like that. We are perfectionists when it comes to this kind of thing. I consider this a very important process and we always do our best to make the listening of the album a pleasant experience.
Mosh: Are you excited for the U. S. tour starting in August? Is this your first U. S. tour and do you have any expectations? Fernanda Lira: We ' ve been to the US at the beginning of this year to record our album – in Oregon and California, and we used the chance to do a tour which started in Washington and went all over Florida. So now we ' re gonna visit for the first time the East coast. We are very excited because we are sure it ' s gonna be a great experience. Touring the US for the first time was just incredible; very supportive and crazy crowd. We can ' t wait to come back again!
Mosh: There’ s not many 5-string bassists in thrash, plus you play without a pick. Who are your major influences?( I’ m kind of sensing Tom Araya and Steve Harris!).
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