MAX CAVALERA On SOULFLY's 'Chama' Album: 'The Attitude Of It Is Very Punk In Its Essence'

In a new interview with Belgian Jasper, SOULFLY frontman Max Cavalera spoke about the band's upcoming thirteenth album, "Chama", which will be released on October 24 via Nuclear Blast Records. He said in part (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET):  "I think this album is more about the attitude than anything else. When I mentioned [last year] that SOULFLY was gonna return to the roots of the early records [on this upcoming LP], I didn't mean that sonically; I was talking more about the attitude.

"I feel this record, in a weird, unique way, the attitude of it is very punk in its essence," he explained. "It's a short record, shorter songs. It's full of meaning between the tracks, 'Storm The Gates', 'No Pain = No Power', 'Nihilist' — it's, like, the message is there. I'm singing with conviction. I'm saying the words because I believe in them and I'm screaming them with truly fully convinced about what I'm saying."

Max went on to say that his previous work on such side projects as GO AHEAD AND DIE and NAILBOMB "gave me this kind of influence, that, yeah, it's cool to do shit like that. Not everything needs to be so professional all the time," he noted. "Sometimes the greatest, coolest shit is the shit that you just thought of it in a second and then just went for it, spur of the moment. So there's a lot of spur-of-the-moment things on this record, and there's some more thought out things like, I think, 'No Pain = No Power' actually kind of stands out in the record as kind of a standout track, because of the guests. You have Dino [Cazares from FEAR FACTORY], you have Gabe [Franco of UNTO OTHERS] and Ben [Cook from NO WARNING] doing the melodic vocals. It felt like a different song from the rest. But then you have something like 'Ghenna' right after, which is a total fucking — it's a mindfuck of a song, man. It's crazy. Even today, I listened back to that song and I go, 'What is going on here?' I don't know what the hell is going on. It's chaotic. There's no verse, there's no chorus. It's a very unorthodox song, but I love that. It's kind of like throwing caution to the air. Like, 'Fuck it, let's just do it.' And then you have 'Storm The Gates'. It's very SOULFLY '90s — this is like '99. We're back in '99 right now, jumping and fucking bouncing with the crowd, just missing the dreadlocks. [Laughs]"

SOULFLY drummer — and Max's son — Zyon Cavalera co-produced "Chama", which was recorded at the Platinum Underground Studio in Mesa, Arizona by John Aquilino. John has worked with Max and company multiple times before and is not only a talented engineer but a family friend. The album was produced by Zyon and Arthur Rizk. The latter was also responsible for the mixing and mastering. Rizk has not only worked with the Cavalera family numerous times before, but has also helped to shape the world of heavy metal in the modern day. SOULFLY enlisted Carletta Parrish to create the album artwork. For the album, Igor Amadeus Cavalera (GO AHEAD & DIE, NAILBOMB, HEALING MAGIC) played bass and Mike De Leon played guitar. The album also features Dino Cazares (FEAR FACTORY) on one of the tracks.

SOULFLY's lineup on "Chama" is:

Max Cavalera - Vocals, Guitar
Igor Amadeus Cavalera - Bass
Zyon Cavalera - Drums
Mike De Leon – Guitar

In a recent interview with MetalUnderground.com, Max stated about the musical direction of the new SOULFLY material: "The record, it's cool. It feels to me [like it] has the adventurous spirit of the first record [1998's 'Soulfly']. Sonically, it's pretty different from the first record — it's more intricate and maybe even heavier, heavier grooves. But in terms of spirit and attitude, it's similar to the first record, which I think is cool that I got to figure out a way to put my mind back at that time and what made me create that record and use it again on a new record. It's pretty fun. It's kind of hard to do, but I think it was an exciting thing to tackle. It was kind of, like, 'Let's try to do this. Let's see if you can use your first album as somehow some kind of inspiration for your thirteenth record. [Laughs] And that was great, man. I love that. I love that kind of vibe that the record has."

Cavalera continued: "That's the cool thing about this record. It's kind of, in a way, a return to what me and fans of SOULFLY fell in love with SOULFLY for. And then throughout the years, many of the other records had a lot of different vibes in it. Some of them went more thrashy with stuff like 'Dark Ages' [2005], 'Omen' [2010], 'Conquer' [2008]. So, to me, making a record that sonically is inspired by the first thing that you did as a band, it was a challenge — there's a challenge in that — 'cause it's easier said than done. Because I don't wanna just copy that first record either. There's no point in doing that. I'm just using it as inspiration. It's really just full on for metal inspiration. The songs [themselves], they're gonna have their own personality and their own vibe."

This past May, SOULFLY recruited Chase Bryant (WARBRINGER) to play bass on the band's European tour, which kicked off on June 7 at the South Of Heaven festival in Maastricht, Netherlands.

A month earlier, SOULFLY parted ways with the band's longtime bassist Mike Leon.

Leon, formerly of HAVOK, joined SOULFLY in September 2015 as the replacement for STATIC-X bassist Tony Campos, who left SOULFLY in May of that year.

Guitarist Mike DeLeon has been touring with SOULFLY for more than two years. Prior to hooking up with SOULFLY, DeLeon had been a member of PANTERA singer Philip Anselmo's solo band PHILIP H. ANSELMO & THE ILLEGALS, which he joined in 2015 as the replacement for Marzi Montazeri. More recently, Mike filled in for Zakk Wylde at the first rehearsal for the fall 2022 PANTERA shows.

Photo credit: Jim Louvau