Soulfly: Heavy Metal’s Spirit Animal
When Max Cavalera hung up his SEPULTURA boots at Brixton Academy on December 16th 1996, he was stepping into the great unknown. Grieving the death of his stepson, he feared the end of his career. To channel his pain into catharsis, if nothing else, he formed SOULFLY. But did he really think it’d be as impactful or as influential as SEPULTURA were proving to be?
“I just wanted to survive that first record, the main goal was like ‘let it be good, oh please let it be good so I can continue to do what I love,” Max reflects humbly from his home in Arizona. “There’s a mix of fear and excitement that exists on that record I don’t think I’ve come across ever since or never before.”
Considering Max is the man who’s written the likes of Roots Bloody Roots, Refuse/Resist and Territory into heavy metal history, the late nineties were a minefield of self-doubt and imposter syndrome. “I just wanted to survive leaving SEPULTURA and starting a new chapter. I knew how hard it is and I know that a lot of other people have failed trying that, so it was a huge task but I just knew SOULFLY was going to be different, from the members changing all the time to the music changing record to record,” he says. “But as far as my heart is in it and I’m feeling joy about what I’m playing, I’m okay with it and that’s been the case on all SOULFLY records, even the one’s I don’t think are as strong as the others like Omen or 3 that I feel are less inspired, I still think all SOULFLY records are incredibly important.”
Hit the fast forward button 25 years and SOULFLY are alive and well. They not only survived their self-titled album, but they’ve also now got 12 albums to their name, with new album Totem yet another step towards a brave new world of sound. After four decades revolutionising what metal means over and over, Max has sought out the sounds that started it all to make the next bold step. But it wasn’t by chance, it was by universal design. Following the tragic death of ENTOMBED’s L.G. Petrov, Max soundtracked his days in the studio with their music.
“I remember the day that he died, I just listened to all of their records, and it was sad, but I wanted to celebrate L.G. Petrov in a special way, so I just listened to everything. Totem really reminds me of Dark Ages because when we did that, Dimebag [Darrell] died, which is why it was called Dark Ages.”
From there on in, he ran down a rabbit hole of old school death metal. MORBID ANGEL, CARCASS, GODFLESH, OBITUARY and DEICIDE were driving forces behind SOULFLY’s descent into a progressive take on death-thrash on Totem. “I’m in love with old school raw two-minute tracks from albums like Reign In Blood and Beneath The Remains so Side A of Totem is my homage to the era, and I have the credit to do that because I come from that scene, and I think after the pandemic, people are ready to embrace something brutal like that.”
Totem isn’t just about old-school death metal though. It takes its venom from the neck-break pace and groove of new school thrash. Ironically, it’s another late musician who’s music has inspired Max, and he has producer Arthur Rizk to thank for that. “One of my favourite things Arthur’s done is Nightmare Logic by POWER TRIP – he created a thrash record that sounded like it came out of 1987 sounding amazingly old school but with a brand-new energy and power,” Max enthuses with awe, clearly swept up in a new way of teaching old dogs tricks. But don’t worry, it’s not all ripping your face off. There’s plenty to sink your teeth into on Totem.
“SOULFLY’s been getting heavier and heavier through the years, and there’s still a lot of groovy percussion stuff throughout Totem and there’s even experimental stuff on Side B – there’s songs like Soulfly XII which is gothic rock, like THE CURE or SISTERS OF MERCY kind of instrumental, and Spirit Animal is a 10-minute journey with different passages, time signatures and tempo changes.”
Max doesn’t see Totem as your typical one-and-done record. It’s a Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde vibe, showcasing two sides of the same SOULFLY coin. “I was thinking more towards an old school approach of Side A and Side B; Side A is one of the most raw power, savage; the first five songs when we play live we have to play all five of them straight up. Side B has Ancestors and Ecstasy Of Gold which have all these experimental passages and outros, and then there’s Spirit Animal and I was totally out of my comfort zone, and maybe I’m out of my depth but I went for it anyway – I hope people like it because it’s so unusual and different.”
Being unusual and different meant breaking tradition. For the first time since 2004’s Prophecy, SOULFLY have made a record without guitarist Marc Rizzo. For Max, Marc was blocking the path to pushing SOULFLY forward into the future. “Me letting Marc Rizzo go was an opportunity to make SOULFLY different going forward in the future with different ideas. On the record, I’ve had the opportunity to have these old school heavy metal solos that are normally not heard on a SOULFLY record, because some of the older players like Lucio and Logan and Mike Dolan weren’t for that, so I saw it as an opportunity to bring new fresh blood, and excitement, back to SOUFLY, and we’ve achieved that.”
Just as SOULFLY have spiralled into heavier territories, so too has their themes, celebrating heavy metal’s connection to mother nature. “To me, Totem is a very metal name; when you go to see a concert, the backdrop is always the totem of that band, and symbolism in metal is so important,” he says. “I noticed a lot of the songs were towards nature and the spirits of the forest, like Superstition is about this mountain here in Arizona called Superstition Mountains and they’re very mysterious; Ecstasy Of Gold is about man’s quest for gold that drives you insane and Ancestors is about the colonial brutalisation of countries like Brazil and South America in general, and then I read about Totem, and I thought that connection was amazing.”
It’s those little connections that Totem builds itself around. Whether you’re raging in the mosh pit to Rot In Pain or gliding through the cosmos on Spirit Animal, you’re expected to ditch your devices and discover the world. Whether you join Max for his Arizonian desert walks or his brother Igor for New Years celebrations at Stone Henge, it’s metal’s connection with nature that SOULFLY want you to find.
“What I wanted to pass on with this record is that metal and nature are connected, maybe in a subconscious way, but it is connected. I love the power of nature, and it’s more connected to metal than what we think; travelling a lot over the world I’ve seen all these cool forests in Norway, the fjords in Iceland, and deserts in Egypt; the world is a big, amazing place and I wanted Totem to celebrate that spiritual power that comes from nature.”
With 25 years of SOUFLY under his belt, and survival well and truly secured, it’s the spiritual power of the world around us that fuels this heavy metal legend’s mission to share this discovery. It’s what connects the dots between their past, present, and future. “In this day and age of technology, I think we need to get closer to nature as much as we can, and Totem is a good starting point for all that.”
Totem is out now via Nuclear Blast Records.
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