Soulfly

Soulfly

Soulfly is a heavy metal band started by Max Cavalera in 1997 after his decision to leave Sepultura. The band, which incorporates elements of thrash metal and nu metal as well as Brazilian and African world music influences, has released five albums so far; Soulfly, Primitive, 3, Prophecy, and Dark Ages.

History

Soulfly, Primitive, and 3 - previous lineups

Brazilian thrash metal singer Max Cavalera formed Soulfly after he left the band Sepultura in 1996. He recruited a lineup of Roy Mayorga on drums (formerly of Thorn), Jackson Bandeira on guitar (formerly of Chico Science & Nação Zumbi) and former Sepultura roadie Marcello D. Rapp (Marcello Diaz formerly of The Mist) on bass with Cavalera on guitar and vocals.

File:SoulflyBand01.jpg

Soulfly's first lineup.

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 thrash metal bands, he had to deal with the unsolved murder of his stepson and best friend Dana Wells. The first self-titled album, Soulfly was released in the spring of 1998 and reached number 79 on the Billboard 200.

Besides fronting Soulfly, Cavalera has branched out into other areas usually not associated with heavy metal musicians. He became a much-sought-after speaker at music conventions, as evidenced by his appearances at CMJ's New Music Marathon in New York and Holland's Crossing Boarder Festival, both in late 1997, and signed on to sing a TV commercial for Sprite in his native land of Brazil.

Soulfly played on the 1998 Ozzfest mainstage alongside Ozzy Osbourne, Megadeth, Tool, Limp Bizkit, Sevendust, and Coal Chamber.

Max Cavalera also guested on the Deftones breakthrough album Around the Fur in 1997 on a song called "Headup" about Wells' death (he got the name for the band from the lyrics of this song as there is a part that goes "Soulfly, Fly high, So fly, Fly free"). Chino of the Deftones appeared on Soulfly's first two albums contributing to the tracks "First Commandment" and "Pain". The influence of nu metal appeared on 2000's Primitive, 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.

Prophecy, Dark Ages, and Beyond - current lineup

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. In August of 2005 Roadrunner Records reissued their self-titled first album as part of the label's 25th anniversary celebration.

That fall, on October 4, 2005, Dark Ages was released. Many critics have described Dark Ages as a return to Cavalera's thrash 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 still consisted of 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 is travelling the world with various bands such as Deftones, Korn, Skindred, and Gizmachi that has stretched from North America, through Europe, and onto Asia.

In a recent interview regarding the follow up to Dark Ages, Max had this to say about the new album: "I have some really exciting songs. I was working with Mark Rizzo, my guitar player. We get along great and love a lot of the same stuff. Bands like early Sepultura, Slayer, Destruction. We also like a lot of grindcore like Napalm Death and Bolt Thrower. We have been writing some stuff like that. We also have some material with a Soulfly vibe and the Soulfly grooves. One thing I like about Soulfly is we have the grooves in between the heavy parts. There are no names yet. I have been joking though as the new material makes ‘Dark Ages’ sound like a pop album. This new stuff is pretty heavy."

Max Cavalera recently arranged The 10th Annual D-Low Memorial show, and played with several guest artists. The band was joined on stage by Danny Marianinho of North Side Kings, Richie Cavalera of Incite, Dave Ellefson, and their former longtime drummer Roy Mayorga who currently plays with Stone Sour. But most notably, Max was reunited onstage for the first time in 10 years with his brother Igor Cavalera. Max and Igor formed Sepultura together in the early 1980s, but have not played together since Max's departure in 1996. Igor joined the band mid-way through the set for a jam on the drums and stayed onstage to play the Sepultura classics "Roots Bloody Roots" and "Attitude" with the guys.

On Tuesday, May 1, 2007, Max Cavalera will be premiering a new 4-track demo from Soulfly's upcoming new album which is expected to be ready for a release by the end of the year. "Inflikted" will be available via soulflyweb.com and myspace.com/soulfly until June1, 2007.

Band members

File:Soulfly Logo.jpg

Current members

As of 2006 the current lineup of Soulfly is:

• Max Cavalera (guitar and vocals) (1997-)
• Marc Rizzo (guitar) (2003-)
• Bobby Burns (bass) (2003-)
• Joe Nuñez (drums - also on Primitive) (2000-2001, 2003-)

Former members

Former members of the group include:

• Jackson Bandeira (guitar - Soulfly) (1997-1998)
• Logan Mader (guitar - first album tour) (1998-1999)
• Roy Mayorga (drums - Soulfly and 3) (1997-1999, 2002-2003)
• Marcello D. Rapp (bass - Soulfly, Primitive, 3) (1997-2003)
• Mikey Doling (guitar - Primitive and 3) (1999-2003)
• David Ellefson (bass - Prophecy) (2003-2004)

Discography

Main article: Soulfly discography

Studio albums

Year	Title	Label
1998	Soulfly	Roadrunner Records
2000	Primitive	Roadrunner Records
2002	3	Roadrunner Records
2004	Prophecy	Roadrunner Records
2005	Dark Ages	Roadrunner Records

External links

• Official Web Site
• Official MySpace Page
• Roadrunner artist page
• Soulfly Argentina
• Soulfly France
• Soulfly Poland
• Soulfly Brasil
• All Music Guide Soulfly page
• UnRatedMagazine.com: Interview with Marc Rizzo of Soulfly
• Interview with Marc Rizzo at RockSomething
• Interview with Max Cavalera at Room Thirteen
• Video Interview with Max Cavalera in Germany