01. Indigenous Inquisition
02. Storm The Gates
03. Nihilist
04. No Pain = No Power
05. Ghenna
06. Black Hole Scum
07. Favela – Dystopia
08. Always Was, Always Will Be
09. Soulfly XIII
10. Chama

Everybody loves Max Cavalera. For those who didn’t get the memo, the Brazilian’s contribution to the metal world over the last 40 years has been vast and far-reaching. From his days in SEPULTURA to his relentless metal mission with SOULFLY and an assortment of other noisy bastards, he has consistently been one of the purest souls and most militant devotees to the whole notion of heavy music. These days, he has no shortage of projects to work with, from historical reworkings with brother Iggor in CAVALERA, to the dirty punk-metal of GO AHEAD & DIE and the revived hostility of NAILBOMB. But what fans have often craved, particularly over the last decade or so, is a new SOULFLY album that hammers home the original ideas that the great man took with him, post-“Roots”, into the next major stage of his career back in the late ’90s. Recent albums have been great, 2022’s vicious “Totem” included, but the eclectic nature of records like “Soulfly” (1998) and “Primitive” (2000) has been steadily replaced by a more all-encompassing, death/thrash hybrid that, while undeniably effective, has also stripped much of the originality from the band’s sound. As a result, while the likes of “Ritual” (2018) and “Archangel” (2015) were warmly received, they were soon largely forgotten by all but the most devoted fans. “Chama” is the 13th album to bear the SOULFLY name, and as Max has regularly hinted, it is the first album in more than 20 years to adhere to the principles that made the band’s first releases so revolutionary. Not so much a return to basics, but a restating of the code that informed some of his finest work, “Chama” is the most startling SOULFLY album in many years.

Anyone expecting a rerun of early songs like “Tribe” and “Quilombo” will be sorely disappointed by “Chama”, but the tribal aesthetic that propelled them has been revived and given several thousand volts up its jungle-dwelling backside. Now effectively a duo, with Max accompanied by drumming son Zyon, SOULFLY have rediscovered groove, momentum and the wild spirit of esoteric heaviness. As an added bonus, all the death metal intensity and chaos of recent albums have been retained, possibly out of sheer spite, and the resultant hybrid is fucking monstrous. They have never been this heavy before, and it goes without saying that Max is in his absolute element throughout.

From the moment that “Indigenous Inquisition” bursts into life, with scabrous riffs and a general air of apocalyptic pugnacity, “Chama” is a grand reclaiming of territory. “Storm The Gates” was released as a single, and it’s not hard to hear why. With loping, mutant riffs, underpinned by ferocious drums and topped with the frontman’s all-out roar and a hefty dose of post-“Roots” exuberance, it sounds like early SOULFLY, but heavier, nastier and more firmly rooted in underground grubbiness. The grotesque, grinding “Nihilist” features guest vocals from NAILS’ Todd Jones, but whereas albums like “Primitive” creaked under the weight of cameo appearances, “Chama” is furious and focused solely on wreaking havoc by any means. “No Pain = No Power” (a very SOULFLY title) is so determined to make fans bang their heads that it should come with a warning about potential concussions. When the invigorating clatter of ethnic percussion permeates the rolling barricade of riffs, it is a spine-tingling moment to savor.

Next, the two-minute “Ghenna” is a raging blast of disquiet, delivered with mad-eyed zeal; “Black Hole Scum” is a jarring pileup of riffs, screams and two-stepping brutality with a raw, death metal heart, and a nauseous, slow-burn sludge riff that spits and seethes amid howls of feedback and extraneous noise; and the hair-raising speed ‘n’ spite of “Favela – Dystopia” throws some gruesome thrash riffs into the mix, bolstered by intuitive tempo shifts and a huge, cavernous drum sound that rattles the rafters. Max’s incensed vocals sit at the heart of the chaos, echoing into the void like threats of violence from scurrilous shadows, and turning “Always Was, Always Will Be” into a bellicose riot of reptilian menace and abominable dynamics. There is a red line that stretches from “Chama” to the first couple of SOULFLY albums, but there was nothing as punishing or as deranged as this on either of them. Even “Soulfly XIII”, which continues the band’s tradition of having an eerie, non-electric mantra on every album, is weirder and more sonically daring than any of its precedents. The closing title track, which is unapologetically noisy and hostile, sums up the approach brilliantly. As it morphs into a dub-inflected scamper through disorientating darkness, the idea that Max Cavalera might have worn his ideas a little thin over the decades simply vanishes. SOULFLY sound genuinely dangerous again.

Everybody loves Max Cavalera, and whether you have spent the last 30 years moaning about his departure from SEPULTURA, or clinging to his every inspirational word, “Chama” is the kind of rabid, unfiltered response to the passing of time that will make you love him even more. The best SOULFLY album since the debut? Almost certainly.