Soulfly

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Brazilian heavy metal singer Max Cavalera formed Soulfly after leaving Sepultura in 1996. He recruited a lineup of Roy Mayorga on drums (formerly of Thorn), Jackson Bandeira on guitar (formerly of Chico Science) and former Sepultura roadie Marcello D. Rapp on bass with Cavalera on guitar and vocals.

On the band's website, Max Cavalera said that he founded the band "with the idea of combined sounds and spiritual beliefs." As well as leaving one of the world's most popular heavy metal bands, he had to deal with the unsolved murder of his stepson and best friend Dana Wells. The first self-titled album was released in 1998 and reached number 82 on the Billboard 200.

Max Cavalera featured on the Deftones album Around the Fur in 1997 on a song called "Headup" about Wells' death. As payback, Chino of the Deftones recorded a song on the album Primitive, in the song "Pain." The influence of nu-metal appeared on 2000's Primitive, which did not please all of the band's fans. However, it was the most successful album by the band in the US reaching number 32 on the Billboard 200 and number 11 on the US independent charts. Joe Nunez replaced Roy Mayorga on drums for Primitive. Max Cavalera produced the third album 3, released in 2002, which reached number 46 on the Billboard 200 in that year. Mayorga was back behind the drumkit for 3.

Cavalera recruited a whole new lineup for the Prophecy album. Joe Nunez was back behind the drumkit with Marc Rizzo formerly of Ill Niño on guitar. There are two bassists playing as members of Soulfly on Prophecy - David Ellefson formerly of Megadeth and Bobby Burns of Primer 55. Cavalera claims to have done this to have a mixture of old and new school metal on the album.

Max Cavalera explains on the bands website that he wants to use different musicians as part of the group for each album. "This is an approach that I've wanted to do for a while. I never wanted Soulfly to be a band like Metallica, with the same four guys. On every Soulfly album, we've changed the line up and it will probably continue that way. In order to do that, I had to start from the inside out and bring in people who caught my attention, that I had never played with before, and create this."

In Sepultura, Cavalera had shown an interest in world music as shown in Roots, featuring elements of the music of Brazil's indigenous peoples. This approach continues on the Prophecy album with Cavalera travelling to Serbia to record with traditional musicians. On the track "Moses", an explicit statement of his religious beliefs, he works with Serbian band Eyesburn featuring reggae influences from one of his heroes Bob Marley. Other tracks on the album feature instruments from the Middle Ages, sheepskin bagpipes and Serbian gypsies.

Prophecy was released on March 30, 2004 and as at April of that year had reached a peak of number 82 on the Billboard 200 although it has reached the top 50 of the Australian album charts.

In February of 2005, Soulfly released their first DVD, entitled The Song Remains Insane. This was a biographical look at the band which contained live footage from all over the globe, interviews, and all of the bands music videos.

That fall, on October 4, 2005, Dark Ages was released. Many critics have described Dark Ages as a return to Cavalera's thrash and death metal roots of the early Sepultura days, however the world metal influence found on the first four Soulfly albums is definitely present. In fact, this time, Cavalera traveled to five different countries - Serbia, Turkey, Russia, France, and the United States - in order to record all the sounds that he desired to have on the new album.

The core band on Dark Ages was still comprised by Max Cavalera, Marc Rizzo, Joe Nunez, and Bobby Burns, but on this album, Dave Ellefson came back to lend his talents to a couple tracks, Eyesburn vocalist Coyote sang on "Innerspirit", Stormtroopers Of Death vocalist Billy Milano and Russian singer Paul Fillipenko screamed on the hardcore influenced "Molotov", and Max's stepson, Ritchie Cavalera from Phoenix based Incite, sang on "Stay Strong".

Soulfly is currently supporting Dark Ages on a world tour and will be soon going to Europe with Skindred in the spring of 2006.

As of 2006 the current lineup of Soulfly is:

Max Cavalera (guitar and vocals)
Marc Rizzo (guitar)
Bobby Burns (bass)
Joe Nunez (drums - also on Primitive)

Former members of the group include:

Jackson Bandeira (guitar - Soulfly)
Mikey Doling (guitar - [Primitive and 3)
Dave Ellefson (bass - Prophecy and Dark Ages)
Logan Mader (guitar - first album tour)
Roy Mayorga (drums - Soulfly and 3)
Marcello D. Rapp (bass - Soulfly, Primitive, 3)

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As BLABBERMOUTH.NET first hinted on August 14, brothers and former SEPULTURA bandmates Max (guitar, vocals) and Igor Cavalera (drums) were reunited for the first time in 10 years at the 10th annual D-Low Memorial Festival Thursday night (August 17) at the Marquee Theatre in Tempe, AZ. Igor came out and joined headliners SOULFLY (featuring Max on guitar/vocals) for renditions of the SEPULTURA classics "Attitude" and "Roots Bloody Roots". Other guest musicians at the show included former MEGADETH/current F5 bassist David Ellefson, ex-SOULFLY/current STONE SOUR drummer Roy Mayorga (who played on "No Hope = No Fear"), Danny Marianinho of NORTH SIDE KINGS ("Defeat U") and Max's stepson Richie Cavalera (INCITE; on "Bleed" and "Stay Strong").

SOULFLY bassist Bobby Burns told BLABBERMOUTH.NET early this morning: "The show was *bleep*in' insane! Roy Mayorga came out and did 'No Hope = No Fear' with us. Dave Ellefson did 'Prophecy' and 'Defeat U'. And the one and only Igor Cavalera came out and did 'Attitude' and 'Roots' with us!!! It was far beyond badass, trust me... Best D-Low show yet..."

The D-Low concert, which is held every year in memory of Max Cavalera's stepson Dana "D-Low" Wells, who was killed in a 1996 car wreck (article), is SOULFLY's biggest show of the year and draws fans from all over the United States. In 2004, SOULFLY filmed portions of their "The Song Remains Insane" DVD at the event.

In a June 13, 2006 interview with BLABBERMOUTH.NET, Igor had the following to say regarding the possibility of ever playing with SEPULTURA again: "It's hard to say. The thing that I always left really open and I always spoke very clearly about to everybody was the way that I wish I could play with my brother again. Even when I was in SEPULTURA — that was something that I never hid from anyone. And I think it's still the same. I think one day I will be able to play with him again. I don't know what format — if it's SEPULTURA, if it's a new thing — but the desire is there, and it's always been there, and I never made that a secret to no one."

Igor Cavalera and his wife Laima will make two DJing appearances in Los Angeles, California this coming weekend:

Aug. 18 - Tokio Club
Aug. 19 - Brooklyn Projects Party

Check out a flyer for the event at this location.

(Thanks: Nick Wakefield / Rockaway Records)