If judged solely by the amount of albums he has released throughout his career and his seemingly never-ending touring schedule, Max Cavalera has to be one of the hardest working gentlemen in all of metal. And this has been the case for decades, as evidenced by his work with countless bands: Sepultura, Nailbomb, Soulfly, Killer Be Killed, Cavalera Conspiracy, etc. Max also created a Soulfly bio for Alternative Nation where he discusses burying an album with Deftones’ Chino Moreno.
And on October 24, 2025, Soulfly (for which Cavalera has been the singer/guitarist for since 1997) will issue their thirteenth studio effort overall, Chama, via Nuclear Blast Records. And shortly before the album dropped, Cavalera chatted with Alternative Nation about the LP, as well as a few important happenings that happened recently within the metal world, as well.
Alternative Nation: Let’s discuss the new Soulfly album, Chama. What makes it different from previous Soulfly albums?
Max Cavalera: Every record is different. There’s some that, for some reason, they have something in it that is hard to explain what it is, but it makes them stand out. And you kind of know that are going to stand out and it’s going to be a different kind of record right away. It’s weird how that works. I felt it on [1998’s] Soulfly I, [2000’s] Primitive, a little bit later, [2005’s] Dark Ages. And now, Chama has the same kind of thing. It’s almost like a rebirth, reinvention of itself. But I think it’s a combination of all of that.
And then, of course, the way the record was produced, having Zyon [Cavalera, Max’s son] producing the record and Arthur [Rizk] mix it. Those two together are two evil scientists. It was incredible. It was really cool to see them collaborate on the record together. Just feels very different. It feels new. It feels fresh. Feels raw. I feel very inspired right now for this record. It’s a really cool record in my career.
Alternative Nation: Your son, Zyon, produced the album. How was it working with him in a production capacity and what does he bring out in the music?
Max Cavalera: The coolest thing about having him as a producer is that he he’s not a producer. And that, to me, makes it exciting. Because it’s almost like you throw the rule book away, and you just do everything kind of by feeling.
And I remember telling him, ‘Produce this thing, but don’t be a ‘yes man.’ Like, if I show you a riff, don’t feel like you have to tell me that you like it if you don’t like it. I kind of want you to challenge me. Don’t go crazy either. If it’s a good riff, we’re going to vote, and accept that is a good riff.’ But I think that challenging thing was cool because it really pushed me to try to do better, try to make better sonic decisions. Better songwriting in general.
And I think the fact that he was so inspired and excited to produce the record, that was really amazing. I have worked with many producers before, and sometimes, some of them don’t…not that they don’t care, but it’s almost like it’s irrelevant for them what happens to the record. And for Zyon, it was the total opposite – he cares very much about what happens to the record.
We really tried to give this record a treatment that was different from everything else that I’ve done, too. So we record all the riffs, and then we did like a bunch of noise pedals, and we select those fast parts of those battles, guitar noises to put throughout the whole record. So I think you have a record that has a lot of tribal groove elements, but also has modern electronic noises on top of it that makes it relevant, makes it now, makes it modern. And that makes it unique. I think that that gives the record a special flavor.
Alternative Nation: What are your thoughts concerning the future of metal?
Max Cavalera: It’s key to try to come up with different stuff. A good example that to me I think would be Sanguisugabogg. They had a single that sounded kind of like Nine Inch Nails, Nailbomb, Godflesh. That’s cool. I love that. I was like, ‘Dude, this is interesting. This is cool.’ Like, they’re trying something new, something different, in that realm of heavy music, in the death metal world. I like that. I like people who challenge themselves, people pushing themselves. I think more bands are going to do that, and the more people do that, the better it is for metal in general.
The other thing that’s really cool, and I realized also on the Sanguisugabogg record [Hideous Aftermath] is a lot of guests. And that’s something that Soulfly always had from the beginning. The first record was full of guests, Primitive was jam-packed full of people, a lot of friends and musicians that I like. And Chama is the same – we got a really cool bunch of people that participated on this record to make it special.
Alternative Nation: Let’s discuss a few current occurrences in metal as of late: what’s your take on Megadeth’s recent retirement announcement?
Max Cavalera: I myself, I don’t understand retirement. Because to me, retirement is the death of purpose. It’s like, you got no more purpose. What are you going to do? To me, it’d be a horrible idea to retire, because I’ll just get in trouble. So I can’t retire, myself. It’s not an option. I don’t have that option in my table, thank God.
But if other people want to do it, more power to them. This life is not for everybody, for sure. It’s a rough road. A lot of people have a hard time dealing with everything that comes with this lifestyle. I’m not one of them. I love all of it. I love the drama, even. I love the chaos. I’m on board for the whole thing, man.
That’s why for me, there’s no such thing as retirement. I go home for two weeks, I get bored. I’m like, ‘I need to get out of here, man. I need to get back on the road.’ I spent most of my time on the road, anyway. So yeah, I feel comfortable on tour most of the time. I love it like that.
Alternative Nation: What were your thoughts on the Back to the Beginning show with Ozzy and Black Sabbath?
Max Cavalera: We were on tour, actually. We were in Europe. I think we were in Germany or France. So I didn’t really get to see anything. I saw quite a lot of people talking about it, of course – about the show and just comments and stuff. But I myself did not get to see it. And then, of course, a couple weeks later, I found out about Ozzy’s passing. It’s very sad.
Black Sabbath is a huge band that we owe a lot to it. All of us heavy metal musicians owe something to Black Sabbath. They taught us, they wrote the Bible of Metal, right? Like, the riffs and the topics, it’s a groundbreaking band that’s going to be missed. Ozzy is one of the greatest vocalists of all-time.
I had a chance to tour with him a bunch and hang out with him a bunch of times, so I’m going to always carry those moments in my heart forever. Those are great moments that I got to share with him. Also, it makes you realize your own mortality – your own life. Everybody’s time is going to come at some point. So, that’s why as long as I’m here, I want to do the best to keep creating, inspiring people – hopefully for future generations to come.
