MAX CAVALERA Says New SOULFLY Album Is Very Influenced By Death Metal

Groovey of Groovey.TV conducted an interview with Max Cavalera (SOULFLY, SEPULTURA, KILLER BE KILLED, CAVALERA CONSPIRACY) on April 29 in Denver, Colorado. You can now watch the chat below.

Speaking about SOULFLY's forthcoming album, "Archangel", which is tentatively due in August, Max said: "[It's a] really cool record. [It's] very exotic, mystic, really biblical. [It's] very, very heavy again. It's very influenced by the stuff I listen to right now — 1349 and BELPHEGOR, BEHEMOTH… I've been listening to a lot of death metal. Don't ask me why. I don't know why. I just fucking love the extremity of it. So, yeah, it's gonna be a really cool record. It's our tenth record. And I'm very excited for this album. And then I will tour for 'Archangel' probably for the next year and a half, two years, non-stop."

In a recent interview with Metal Wani, Max stated about "Archangel": "It's an interesting record. It's one of those [records] that come out once in a lifetime, an album like that comes out — really crazy sounds and very different dimensions. It's more experimental than the other stuff. It's still heavy as hell, and it's still fast. And Zyon's [Cavalera, Max's son] playing drums on it. He's actually playing really good. He reminds me of a young Dave Lombardo [SLAYER]. The fills that he's doing [are] really amazing; he surprised everybody in the studio. Matt Hyde is producing; he worked with SLAYER before. So it's really cool; a really good team."

Max also talked about the new SOULFLY song "We Sold Our Souls To Metal", which he previously described as a "metal anthem." Asked about the mindset that is required to write a track like that, Max said: "It just happens. You can't explain it. It's one of those things… [When] you play it, it has an instant reaction on the listener."

He continued: "I was very curious about that, so I was playing around with the song, playing it for people, to see what kind of reaction it gets. And almost everybody, the reaction was, like, 'This is so crazy. I can't wait 'till you guys play this live.' It's got this kind of New York hardcore chant that we do in the chorus — like, gang vocals. It's really, really fun, and everybody gets to sing together. That's why I was thinking that it's gonna become an anthem — the chorus, all the fans are gonna sing it together, and it's saying something. 'Cause, 'we sold our souls to metal,' I think every metalhead feels like that — that we did kind of a pact and we sold our souls for this music that we love so much. So it's something that I think [they'll] sing that with some kind of pride. I think it's gonna happen when that song comes out, at least. And then it ends [in a] very PINK FLOYD [-like way], which is really strange; I don't know why we did that. I still don't know if it was the right thing, but it came out like that. Marc [Rizzo] just did some really crazy guitars at the end of it that is just, like… It goes from total metal into crazy PINK FLOYD, but it works. I mean, it's really wild. And we like wild stuff. I always was drawn to weird, weird stuff, and that's definitely weird, in a good way."

Regarding the musical direction of the new SOULFLY material, Max told The Front Row Report: "Some of the stuff is really fast, actually; like the first couple of songs on the album are all fast. And then it eventually slows down and there's some kind of really heavy stuff. But I think it's a really strong album that I'm very proud of, and I think a lot of people are gonna like it."

SOULFY's ninth CD, "Savages", was released on October 1, 2013. The CD was produced by Terry Date, who is known for his work with such acts as PANTERA, DEFTONES and SOUNDGARDEN, among many others.