Max Cavalera has been delivering punishing, neck-snapping riffs since the 1980s, first as a founding member of influential Brazilian thrash legends
Sepultura, and later as the ringleader for the more cerebral, yet similarly punitive
Soulfly. Emerging in the late '90s,
Soulfly's sonic attack is built on a foundation of multiple subgenres of metal and worldbeat, drawing heavily from groove, thrash and nu-metal, and Brazilian tribal music. The band's eponymous 1998 debut was certified gold, and paved the way for subsequent high-end offerings like
Prophecy (2004),
Conquer (2008), and
Archangel (2015), all of which garnered both critical and commercial acclaim. Throughout the group's two decade run, there have been multiple personnel shifts, with
Cavalera being the only constant member.
Upon his exit from
Sepultura in late 1996,
Cavalera almost automatically set out to form his next musical endeavor. Besides leaving one of the most popular heavy metal bands in the world, which he'd co-founded in the early '80s, he also had to deal with the death of his best friend and stepson Dana Wells. Using music as therapy to overcome his depression,
Cavalera put together a band that included
Roy "Rata" Mayorga on drums (ex-
Thorn) and Jackson Bandeira on second guitar (ex-
Chico Science), while former
Sepultura roadie Marcello D. Rapp rounded out the quartet on bass. Their Roadrunner-issued self-titled debut album was released in the spring of 1998, and eventually went gold.
Soulfly's second album, 2000's
Primitive, was their highest-charting LP to date, and featured guest spots from
Corey Taylor of
Slipknot and
Stone Sour,
Sean Lennon,
Chino Moreno of
Deftones, and
Tom Araya of
Slayer, among others.
Cavalera handled the production for 2002's III, which featured the ballad "Tree of Pain," a heartfelt tribute to Dana Wells. 2004's
Prophecy featured a completely re-tooled lineup and adopted a more spiritual tone. 2005's
Dark Ages took a more brooding and savage approach, fueled in large part by the deaths of
Cavalera's eight-year-old grandson and close friend
Dimebag Darrell.
In 2007
Cavalera began collaborating with brother and former
Sepultura drummer
Igor on a project called
Cavalera Conspiracy. The duo made its live debut that August as the opening act for
Soulfly, and went on to release an album,
Inflikted, for Roadrunner in 2008.
Soulfly's sixth full-length offering, the punitive
Conquer, arrived in July 2008, and included guest appearances by
Morbid Angel's
David Vincent and
Throwdown's Dave Peters.
Omen, the band's seventh studio long player, arrived in 2010, followed by
Enslaved in 2012, the latter of which saw the group leaning into their death metal influences with the help of special guests
Dez Fafara of
Coal Chamber and
Travis Ryan of
Cattle Decapitation. Throughout that year the band toured their own "Maximum Cavalera" package tour featuring three bands all fronted by members of the
Cavalera family --
Soulfly,
Incite, and
Lody Kong. For the next album, the band moved from their longtime home of Roadrunner Records to
Nuclear Blast, and
Cavalera's youngest son
Zyon took over on drums. The effort, entitled
Savages, was produced by
Terry Date and released in October 2013. The band began recording a follow-up almost immediately with producer
Matt Hyde. The finished product
Archangel, was issued in 2015. Their shortest record at just over 36 minutes, it was also their last with longtime bassist
Tony Campos, who left to join
Fear Factory shortly after the album's completion. The band returned to the heavy, groove-laden sonic punch of past efforts like
Primitive and III on their 11th full-length effort, 2018's hard-hitting
Ritual. ~ Greg Prato