They say there is no rest for the wicked and that is certainly the case for Max Cavalera and Soulfly this holiday period.
Soulfly has been spearheading the movement of groove metal for decades now, reaching into limitless directions while seamlessly retaining the expert quality and perfection that bears the Cavalera seal of approval. Coming straight from the deep jungles of Brazil to the arid expanses of Arizona, Max and company have just delivered their thirteenth album, the mighty, heart-pounding, tribally fueled Chama. Once again, a remarkable testament to the Brazilian songwriter’s natural affinity for slamming yet rhythmic riffs that defined his signature sound to listeners around the world. A true return to the spiritual upbringing of Soufly that somehow bears a modern-day edge and vitality. Something that could only be attained by a true master of the craft, and Max has stunned us all again per usual.
Not only have Max and co delivered Chama but they will soon be heading to Australia for a tour that will see Max double-up and play with Nailbomb as well. And as I soon learnt while sitting down and chatting with him he wouldn’t have it any other way.
“I’m very excited, man,” he says with that familiar Cavalera laugh. “I mean, that’s the best way to start the year. I can’t think of a better way to kick off the year like that. And I know the shows are going to be packed and there’s a lot of love for Max in Australia. I know that and I’m super appreciative of that.”
“I love Australia, I love the fans,” he continues. “I think the festival is going to be great too, the Froth and Fury festival. So I’m just totally excited for it. And on top of that, you got Nailbomb also, and the Nailbomb show is so powerful. It’s so intense. People will see that there is a difference between Nailbomb and Soulfly, Nailbomb plays with a click track and so everything is very industrial and very on the grid and Soulfly is totally off the grid. No click track, it’s all about the gems and the group bounce and the power of the riffs. But together they’re gonna make a powerhouse of a show and I’m just thrilled to be back in Australia again in January.”
Of course being thirteen albums into their career and with a tonne of fan favourites putting together a set list these days is no easy task but Max says he has started to put things together for the Australian tour.
“Yeah, I mean, we could even get some help from our fans,” he says again with a huge laugh. “You know, they can tell us what they would like to hear. The three things I think are really cool in this whole play set would be like all the classics, of course, you know – Bleed, Tribe, Prophecy, Primitive – and then some deep cuts as well – stuff like Umbabarauma and Carved Inside. And then you have the brand new Chama stuff in the middle of all that. So, I think we’ve been experimenting with a couple of different set lists through the Soulfly show but it always hits hard when you mix the classics with the deep cuts and the new stuff. It’ll be fun and there will be some surprises you know – there might be some cover songs, you know, songs that Australians will really want to hear.
The mention of Chama causes us to change direction and I ask him about the fact that there is obvious comparison with the band’s self titled debut album.
“I didn’t really have a real theme in mind,” he explains. “I just wanted to like recapture some of the magic from the early Soulfly. That was like the starting point of Chama – that’s where we write stuff like From The Gates and Indigenous Inquisition and then it evolves into other things. It went into other directions with stuff like No Pain = No Power and Ghenna but you know it happens with every record that I do… I can try to map a record in my head it will never come out the same it just always goes away from what you plan that’s what makes it cool. It’s an unknown – there’s a mystery to it. I’m just really pleased that the record is very inspired and I think that it hits real hard in some parts but it also has a lot of kinds of passages and soundscapes that are really cool, like between songs and ending of songs.”
“I love the ending of some songs like No Pain = Equals No Power and Chama itself,” he continues. “It is very melodic, almost like Pink Floyd-ish. So making a combination of all that and bringing back some of the tribal elements was fun. I might even do more of that on the next records coming up. But this one was cool to mix a little bit of that with some of the modern noise stuff that’s out there.”
Given that the original Soulfly album is one of my favourite albums of all time I had to ask whether he had ever thought of bringing back the tribal elements with Chama or whether that had just happened naturally.
“Yeah, it did happen naturally,” he says. “I don’t think I can ever match the first record. That was the craziest of situations I could ever find myself in. I had just quit Sepultura and my best friend’s stepson had been murdered and I found myself in a very crazy place. That was where I was when I wrote No Hope = No Fear – that’s exactly how I was feeling when I made that first record. That’s why I think that first record is so magic but that record left a lot of inspiration for me and that’s what I was trying to do in the terms of attitude. I think Chama is closer to the first Soulfly album in terms of attitude and music especially in some of the songs like Chama and Storm the Gates. But there’s some other songs that are totally different from the first Soulfly album – especially stuff like Gehenna and Black Hole Scum or even Always Was, Always Will Be.”
“I think using the early record as an inspiration but also trying to go to the future with what I think is good in music right now,” he says. “So, I think the album has plenty of peace and vinegar. It’s still very brutal, very angry, very raw. And I like that. We didn’t try to change the formula too much. This is the metal that I do. This is the metal I know how to do and I don’t want to try to really try to do something so different from that.”
Chama is out now.