MAX CAVALERA Says He Is 'Always Up For A Challenge' When It Comes To His Songwriting

Brazilian-born metal legend Max Cavalera (SOULFLY, SEPULTURA, KILLER BE KILLED, CAVALERA CONSPIRACY) and Jake Shuker of Syria's metal band MAYSALOON took part in a World Metal Congress livestream this past Tuesday, December 15. During the one-hour chat, which can be seen below, they discussed the connections between the global community and the many parallels between Max and Jake's experiences.

Speaking about his plans for the next SOULFLY album, Max said: "I'm writing right now with my son Zyon [SOULFLY drummer]. And it's really cool, because it's a little bit back to where I started. I feel very much writing this new record similar to writing stuff like [SEPULTURA's] 'Beneath The Remains', because I used to jam with Igor [former SEPULTURA drummer], with my brother, a lot. We would spend time jamming sometimes two or three times a week, just the two of us, and then, on the weekend, the other SEPULTURA guys would come and join us. And this is exactly how I'm writing the new SOULFLY — with my son Zyon."

Regarding the musical direction of the new SOULFLY material, Max said: "[Zyon] kind of [said], 'I think it would be cool if you do a record that shows your whole influences — all the way from the beginning.' Even from the black metal, death metal stuff from [SEPULTURA's] 'Morbid Visions' all the way through the thrash stuff of [SEPULTURA's] 'Arise' and NAILBOMB and the tribal stuff — [SEPULTURA's] 'Chaos A.D.' and 'Roots' — and then SOULFLY [and] KILLER BE KILLED. There's a lot of music influences through all these years. So I'm gonna try. It's gonna be a challenge, but we're always up for a challenge.

"I'm a believer that it doesn't matter how many things you've done, I think you can always dream to achieve better; you can always try to do better," he continued. "You can always at least try. Maybe you succeed, maybe you don't — I don't know. But you give your best shot. You really, really try the best you can.

"So, yeah, I'm writing riffs right now — just compiling riffs. One of the things about COVID is that we can do studio recordings. Even home recordings are great. In this day and age, a lot of people are recording from home."

This past June, SOULFLY released a new digital EP, "Live Ritual NYC MMXIX". The effort was recorded at The Gramercy in New York City on February 11, 2019 while SOULFLY was on tour in support of its most recent full-length album, "Ritual". The audio for the EP was mixed and mastered by Charles Elliott (ABYSMAL DAWN) from Tastemaker Audio. Cover artwork was comprised of live photos taken by Rodrigo Fredes.

"Ritual" was released in October 2018 via Nuclear Blast. The follow-up to 2015's "Archangel" was produced, recorded and mixed by Josh Wilbur (KILLER BE KILLED, LAMB OF GOD, GOJIRA).