Soulfly

Underground icon, pioneer of extreme metal, third world warrior and leader of a diverse and devoted tribe: Max Cavalera is a master of the guitar riff. The same voice, the same body and spirit with which Soulfly was founded in 1997 still cause this impossible musical violence today, currently to be heard on the ten new songs of Soulfly's twelfth album ‘Totem’. Max Cavalera is one of the most distinguished metal musicians. The man has made it onto stages all over the world with Sepultura from Brazil, and his fans and admirers include Ozzy Osbourne, the Deftones and Dave Grohl. He founded Nailbomb, Cavalera Conspiracy, Go Ahead And Die and Killer Be Killed; every album he has been involved in has been highly praised by critics and fans.

But no other project in his long career is as identified with him as Soulfly, whose self-titled Gold debut has long been a genre classic. The 1998 opus, with its countless guests and diverse instrumentation, set a standard for the albums that followed, as the band magically managed to combine world music with metal without sacrificing the raw, authentic sound of a rehearsal room band. 20 years later, the English cult magazine Kerrang! voted Soulfly's first album into the top 10 best nü metal albums of all time, alongside other successful albums by System Of A Down, Slipknot, Korn, Papa Roach and Deftones. The fourth album ‘Prophecy’ was voted into the Rock Hard yearbook in 2005. The thrash-heavy follow-ups ‘Dark Ages’ (2005), ‘Conquer’ (2008) and ‘Omen’ (2010) were celebrated just as much as the riff thunderstorm on ‘Enslaved’ (2012). On ‘Savages’ (2013), Max Cavalera's son Zyon was heard on drums for the first time on a Soulfly album. You can tell Max had a long-term vision of Soulfly as a band with a changing line-up, where you ‘shake the tree’ from time to time to add new creative blood. As a result, the band's discography features great musicians and many illustrious guests.

Photo Credit: Jim Louvau