Max Cavalera says he has ideas for Soulfly‘s next album, calling Chama a blueprint for the next ten years.
Max Cavalera is already working on the next Soulfly record, ten months after Chama arrived. Speaking to “Laughing Monkey With Shawn Ratches“, the frontman said the 2025 album set a direction he intends to build on rather than move away from, and that the album after it carries more weight because of that.
He explained: “I have already some ideas for the new Soulfly, because I really believe Chama is kind of a record that is a really special record for me because I think it’s a record that set up the blueprint for what Soulfly is gonna become on the next 10 years. So I think the next record is even more important than Chama, because it’s a continuation of what we started, and I think it’s something that we can actually evolve with it. We can develop that further and go deeper into this idea.”
Cavalera also spoke about his son Zyon Cavalera, the band’s drummer, who co-produced Chama.
“I love the musicianship that’s going on. Zyon‘s playing his a** off right now. We nickname him ‘The Octopus’, because he looks like an [octopus when he’s playing]. People love to watch him, man. It’s cool. We play festivals and you see other bands’ drummers on the side of the stage, and they don’t even look at me. They just look at Zyon the whole night. It’s pretty cool,” he said.
Chama came out on 24 October 2025 through Nuclear Blast Records, the thirteenth Soulfly album and the follow-up to 2022’s Totem, which reached number five on the UK Rock & Metal chart. The Portuguese title translates as flame.
It was the first Soulfly record on which Max handed production and creative direction to Zyon, who produced it with Arthur Rizk. Rizk also mixed and mastered. John Aquilino, a longtime collaborator and family friend, engineered at Platinum Underground Studio in Mesa, Arizona, and Carletta Parrish provided the artwork. Igor Amadeus Cavalera played bass and Mike DeLeon guitar, with guest appearances from Dino Cazares of Fear Factory and Todd Jones of Nails. The album is built around a narrative about a boy from the favelas of Brazil who finds his way to the tribes of the Amazon.
Critics noted it as a step back towards the nu-metal end of the band’s sound after roughly two decades of a more death metal-leaning approach.
The current lineup is Max on vocals and guitar, Igor Amadeus Cavalera on bass, Zyon Cavalera on drums and DeLeon on guitar. DeLeon has been with the band for three years, having previously joined Philip H. Anselmo & The Illegals in 2015 as Marzi Montazeri‘s replacement, and stood in for Zakk Wylde at the first rehearsal for Pantera‘s autumn 2022 shows.
Soulfly open a 25-date US run on 18 September at Louder Than Life in Louisville, taking in Dallas, Salt Lake City and West Hollywood before finishing on 15 October at The Marquee in Tempe, Arizona, a hometown show.
Support comes from Incite, the Arizona band fronted by Max‘s stepson Richie Cavalera, and from Nailbomb, the project Max started with Alex Newport in 1993. Nailbomb released Point Blank in 1994 and only began playing live in the last two years, making this their first American tour.
The autumn dates cap a heavy year. The band spent the summer across Europe from 24 July in Hohenems, Austria to 1 September in Lille, France, followed by UK shows with Nailbomb from 3 to 7 September. Last November they completed the 17-date “Favela Dystopia West Coast” run with Go Ahead And Die, opening on 1 November in Roswell and closing on 23 November in Flagstaff.
