Six Feet Under is finally embarking on its first-ever tour of Brazil, with four shows scheduled between October 30 and November 2. However, vocalist Chris Barnes didn't seem particularly enthusiastic about discussing the tour, the recently released album "Next To Die", or anything else—or, at the very least, he was simply having a terrible day for chatting. The interview you are about to read was supposed to last between twenty minutes and half an hour. It ended in less than ten. Here’s hoping the fans’ experience doesn’t mirror the one this journalist had. Enjoy the—brief—read!

Marcelo Vieira (@marcelovieiramusic)

Six Feet Under will finally embark on its first tour of Brazil, with four shows in Belo Horizonte, Limeira, São Paulo, and Curitiba. What do you know about the Brazilian death metal audience, and what do you expect to discover when you finally stand in front of them?

I don't, I don't know much about it, actually. I know there's an overall great scene in South and Central America from what I've seen, so I mean, I'm looking forward to getting onstage in front of all the fans that like Six Feet Under.

How will the setlist be put together for this first trip to Brazil? Do you intend to build a set that spans the entire history of Six Feet Under, or will you focus primarily on the more recent albums?

It's really the same setlist we've been playing all summer long on our summer tours of Europe and North America. There's really a lot of the classic material there and a couple of new songs from the past two albums.

Brazil has a particularly strong history within death metal. When you think about the Brazilian bands that have been part of that history, which names or albums immediately come to mind?

Oh, I mean, I don't know, you know, Sepultura, that's pretty much the major one. But I mean, I don't really think Sepultura is death metal, but I mean, they're a metal band from Brazil and stuff, you know.

Besides the shows, is there anything specifically Brazilian that you would like to experience while you're in the country — food, music, a particular place, or simply getting to know the culture?

Oh, I really won't have time to experience anything, really, except for going onstage and being prepared to do so. So, I mean, when I go on tour, I'm not someone who's on vacation or thinks that they're on vacation. I'm really working and doing the job that I've been commissioned to do. So I just really concentrate on being prepared and keeping my head in the game.

The new album's title "Next To Die" suggests a very direct reflection on mortality. After more than three decades of writing about death, do you feel that your relationship with that subject has changed?

I don't think that the album is based on a direct relationship with mortality at all. I think, really, in the songs that I've written on the album lyrically, I'm focused on what I usually focus on, and that's where the music takes me as far as storylines and thoughts that I have about different aspects of life. Do I think that I've had a different relationship with death? I mean, not really. I've kind of always had the same ideas about that, so I just, you know, like to explore my thoughts through music.

"Next To Die" is the third album you and Jack have made together since reuniting. Do you feel that, with each record, this partnership is revealing an identity of its own that perhaps didn't exist when you worked together in the past?

No.

How does your creative partnership work these days? After so many years and so many albums, has the songwriting process changed since you started working together again in 2017?

I think that's a kind of dramatic way of looking at things. We just have a good time writing together.

You began writing extremely graphic lyrics with Cannibal Corpse, at a time when that kind of approach was practically a new language within death metal. After more than 30 years, what can still be explored in that territory without simply repeating imagery that the genre has used thousands of times?

I don't really think of it that way. I just take it one song at a time.

Some of the lyrics on "Next To Die" seem to draw less from fictional horror and more from real feelings or experiences related to death, pain, and loss. What made you bring these two worlds closer together?

Again, I don't think of things like that. I mean, if that's what someone pulls from my writing and my, you know, lyrics and stuff, you know, that's how they experience it, but that's not how I experience it. I've always written every song from subject matter as far as life and death.

Is there a difference between the way you step into a fictional character and the way you write about something that has genuinely affected you?

That's really a dramatic way of kind of perceiving things. I just, I just write what I'm interested in.

Is there a song on the new album whose lyrics you consider particularly personal or revealing, even if that isn't necessarily obvious to the listener?

I mean, I just, if people experience it the way they're going to experience it, I don't want to, like, put any boundaries on that. So I don't, I don't really care how people experience my lyrics. If it interests them in the way they want it to interest them, then that's fine with me.

When you look back at these more than 30 years of Six Feet Under, what has changed the most: the music you want to make, the way you see death metal, or the way you see yourself within it?

What's changed the most over the years in Six Feet Under? Probably the lineup, the musicians that I've been able to work with.

"Haunted", "Warpath", and "Maximum Violence" remain inevitable references when discussing the band's early identity. How do you listen to those albums today?

Oh, I don't really listen to my music, so I don't listen to those albums today unless I'm rehearsing them. So, I mean, that's, that's, again, how other people view things, if they're regarded as references or whatnot. I don't really — every song I've written, every album I've done over the past 38 years, it's all one album to me. So I don't really look at it as, like, sectioned off into albums. It's just one giant work.

Do they still serve as creative references, or do they belong to a period that you prefer to leave in the past?

Again, I don't look at things like that. I look at each song as part of my history and a part of myself.

What does "being extreme" mean to you today?

(interrupting) I'm not extreme.

MUSICALLY extreme. Is it a matter of speed and brutality, or can music be equally extreme through atmosphere, groove, dynamics, and tension?

I don't think any of that's important. I mean, I think what's important is doing what you enjoy yourself.

You have lived through several generational changes within metal. What surprises you most about the way a death metal band is received by listeners who were born decades after its earliest albums?

I think it's really amazing that the style of music has kept going all these years.

After such a long career, what still needs to happen during a Six Feet Under show for you to walk offstage thinking, "This is why we still do this"?

Uh, just seeing people have a good time.

What's your message for the Brazilian fans?

See you soon, and, uh, it'll be a good time. So get your tickets early, because I don't think we're going to be back for quite a long, long time after that. If you want to see the band, uh, now's the time.