By David E. Gehlke

Max Cavalera has so many bands going at once (SOULFLY, CAVALERA, GO AHEAD AND DIE, NAILBOMB and KILLER BE KILLED) that no one would find fault if you couldn’t keep them straight. His ubiquity, though, is now backed by SOULFLY’s recent output that has atoned for some iffy studio albums throughout the aughts and the early part of the last decade. The previous three SOULFLY forays have been good-to-excellent, including their latest “Chama”, which finds the former SEPULTURA frontman handing the production controls over to his drumming son Zyon for a record that is both modern, yet features many a subtle ode to the simplicity of nu-metal. It’s also aggressive without losing control. Furthermore, it’s pissed off without sounding juvenile. And that’s where Cavalera is often at his best: When the man has a target for his rage, the results usually speak for themselves.

Cavalera is now in his mid-50s and has repeatedly said he has no plans to slow down or retire. And why should he? His zeal for metal is matched by his willingness to tour — no matter the size of the venue. Lo and behold, BLABBERMOUTH.NET caught up with Cavalera hours before he was to hit the stage in Tacoma, WA, with GO AHEAD AND DIE and SOULFLY, a double-duty that finds him up front and center with the fans in a small club, which is precisely where he wants to be.

Blabbermouth: How much of a kick in the pants has Zyon given you over the years? And now you have him producing the new album.

Max: “It’s been great. I think the whole production idea, where he was put in charge of producing the album, was really exciting. He really wanted to do an album that sounded different from the other SOULFLY records, one that stood out on its own and combined all of the elements that make SOULFLY what it is. We still have all the tribal grooves and the other elements, but it’s still heavy as balls. It’s still aggressive and fast, with noise elements. I think, to me, the coolest thing about ‘Chama’ is the mix of tribal elements and electronic elements and how they blend together. It makes for quite a crazy diversion of sounds that are not supposed to be together, yet they coexist on this record. That totally came from Zyon’s mind, producing the album and having all these ideas to add layers of noise on top. It makes the whole record exciting to hear.”

Blabbermouth: There are SOULFLY albums, especially “Totem” that are more metal. Do you think “Chama” is your heaviest, though?

Max: “I think this record has a lot of really cool moments where it has a real sense of darkness and heaviness coming into the songs. Then there are moments of it where I think it’s beautiful, like the end of ‘No Pain = No Power’ and the end of ‘Chama’. To me, one of the coolest things about the record is the song ‘Chama’. We’re playing it live every night now. It’s an amazing song to play. I didn’t think too much of it when we made the record. We put it as the last track; we closed the album with it. Now, it’s a monster song to play live, especially the beginning of it. I was watching last night when we kicked into the intro, and I saw a few people in the crowd, their faces were melting. It was great. [Laughs] It was the power of that groove in the beginning. It’s totally intoxicating and makes you want to headbang and move your head. It’s really cool.”

Blabbermouth: Did you go back to the first records at all when writing “Chama”? That’s when the groove was such an important element for SOULFLY.

Max: “A little bit. We jammed them; we listened to them. The idea was not to try to make a record that sounded like those albums. It was more of a record that was inspired by the attitude of those albums. I think, to me, ‘Soulfly I’ and ‘Primitive’, the coolest thing about them was the attitude that they had, more than the music. To me, the idea of having that attitude back in SOULFLY was more pivotal for this record. I think we achieved that because of this record; there’s something about it. I don’t know exactly what it is. There’s that ‘it.’ There’s whatever you call it: ‘magic’ or a ‘vibe.’ I don’t know, but this record came out, and it kind of set the place on fire. It made SOULFLY feel like where we belong again. I love that. I think that’s tough to do after 13 records. A lot of people are running out of ideas, slowing down. Having all those ideas in one record at this point was quite cool and amazing. I’m very happy that we got to it.”

Blabbermouth: “No Pain = No Power” seems to be emerging as the early anthem for the record. Do you want to go into all the people who contributed to it?

Max: “That song had a special treatment. We started with me, Zyon and Dino [Cazares, guitar, FEAR FACTORY] in the studio. We made the whole song there, and then I wanted something for the chorus vocals. I didn’t want to sing on it. I thought, ‘Let’s do something special.’ It already had a vibe that it was a different song, so I invited Gabe [Franco, UNTO OTHERS] and Ben Cook [NO WARNING] to sing on it. It’s so cool to hear those voices. Two of them — not just one of them on one chorus. It was a two-for-one! [Laughs] It was incredible. I love the song; I love the video. The UFC video came out great. It’s a standout track on the album for sure. I love that the record has that, and then you have something like ‘Black Hole Scum’, which is a total beatdown, heavy on the grooves. It’s relentless all the way through. Then, another song, one of the craziest songs, is ‘Ghenna’. It’s pure chaos.”

Blabbermouth: “Chama” is also pretty short — it just gets over 30 minutes. It’s sort of the “all killer, no filler” approach. Was that the idea from the start?

Max: “We went for the ‘less is more’ approach. You can make things longer for no reason, or you can make a record that’s short and to the point. It’s very inspired by [SLAYER’s] ‘Reign In Blood’. Of course, ‘Chama’ sounds nothing like ‘Reign In Blood’, but in its essence, it has the same vibe. It’s short. You’re right: There’s no filler. Everything is there for a reason. Maybe it feels short, but it makes you want to go back to the first track and play it all over again, which I think is cool, rather than an album that most people can’t stay with because their attention span is short. For more than an hour of an album, people don’t stay with it. It felt like the right thing to do, not forced. Some of the songs became a little short, but it’s cool like that. I think that’s where metal is going right now. There are a lot of bands doing shorter songs.”

Blabbermouth: You snagged a guy who is currently one of the best at short songs, Todd [Jones] from NAILS, for the album as well.

Max: “I love NAILS and that Todd sings on ‘Nihilist’. There are some good examples of writing short songs, but great songs, that are powerful as fuck, in-your-face. I wanted ‘Chama’ to have that kind of urgency: ‘We’re going for your throat.’ It feels urgent. It feels a little bit desperate.”

Blabbermouth: Aside from being inspired, you still sound plenty angry. How much of that is still there at this juncture?

Max: “It’s a little bit more controlled anger than before. It’s still there. The world is a fucked up place; it’s still fucked up. It’s getting more fucked up. I like to think in metal there’s less prejudice, less racism, less sexism — we’re more open-minded people. If you can’t convey a message without preaching, I think it’s cool. There’s stuff that needs to be said in some of the songs. The record has some question marks. I’m a spiritual guy, but there’s a line on the album that says, ‘I don’t believe in anything.’ It’s a very contradictory line. I like that; it makes everything not so black and white.”

Blabbermouth: On “Favela Dystopia”, you are singing about the corrupt police in Brazil, as well as class warfare, where the gap is getting bigger. These aren’t new topics for you. Is it sad, in a way, that you’re still singing about the same things?

Max: “That song was a hymn to the favelas in Brazil, which is a place I know well. I’ve shot videos, I’ve done photoshoots there, and I’ve bought drugs there when I was a teenager. I wanted to make a song that really kind of fused being there. That’s why the chorus has the line, ‘Our life doesn’t mean shit to those telling lies.’ The government, the corrupt presidents, the police, the army and all that. It’s a song about a place that’s often looked at as an ugly place, a place of violence, but there’s a beauty in it. Amazing things happen in a favela. A lot of hope comes out of those places. In a way, the song is like metal. From the outside, metal looks ugly and fucked up, but when you go inside, it’s actually a beautiful thing. It’s an awesome thing.”

Blabbermouth: On a brighter note, you tour all the time and judging by recent pictures and videos, you’re looking as healthy as ever. What’s the secret now for you?

Max: “Yeah, lots of touring! I’m trying to lay off the sugar and the bad stuff to eat. Doing two shows a night keeps you in shape. I do 35 minutes with GO AHEAD AND DIE, then an hour and 15 minutes with SOULFLY every night. It’s quite a load. We’re going to Australia, where I’m going to do NAILBOMB and SOULFLY. I got to prepare for that. This is like boot camp for that. [Laughs] I feel really good, physically, mentally. I love touring. I love playing this stuff. This tour is cool because it’s smaller. It’s all small venues, so it’s packed. People are losing their minds on the new shit. It’s really cool, and I get to see the crowd coming up since GO AHEAD AND DIE plays early. I get to know how it is to be an opening band, which is great.”

Blabbermouth: Not to steal a phrase, but you haven’t forgotten your “roots.” You paid your dues as an opening band.

Max: “You do. This tour, more people have come early to check out GO AHEAD AND DIE, but it’s not packed. By the time SOULFLY comes on, that’s when the place is packed. It’s great. I love that I get to do that at this stage in my career. It’s fucking nuts that I’m still doing things like that. I love the big festivals. They’re exciting, but to me, the real place to see the real thing is the small shows. Everybody is connected. It’s almost like a religious experience; almost like a tribal pow-wow gathering. Everybody there knows the songs, loves the songs and is going apeshit. That becomes almost like a religious experience. It’s fucking crazy.”

Blabbermouth: You have your sons out on tour with you. You play with your brother, Iggor, in CAVALERA. Is that what you’ve always envisioned? Has it gone beyond your wildest dreams?

Max: “It exceeded everything. When I made the family, I told [wife and manager] Gloria, ‘We’re going to make our own tribe.’ She didn’t know what I was talking about. This is what I was talking about. This thing. They were little first, sleeping in guitar cases with Ozzy [Osbourne] singing in the background. There were years of that going on. Then they picked up the instruments and started playing. They got good, and now we’re sharing it together. Gloria has been there from the beginning. It’s like a mafia. Once you’re in, you can’t get out. [Laughs] I joke with people: ‘We’re like the mafia. Nobody is allowed to leave. Once you’re in, you’re in.’ I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Photo credit: Jim Louvau