In a recent conversation with Australia’s “The Rockpit,” Max Cavalera offered an unusually reflective look at where his creative drive comes from today — and why he believes the most exciting moments may still lie ahead.
Asked whether there was a musical direction he had always wanted to explore but never pursued, Cavalera pointed to an unexpected source of inspiration. He explained that revisiting artists outside the metal world has helped reshape how he thinks about longevity and reinvention.
“Yeah, I was thinking about that the other day. I was actually watching a Paul Simon video. And it was really interesting because I’m a big fan of [his albums] Graceland and The Rhythm Of The Saints. And when he wrote Graceland, he was in his mid fifties, I believe. And people had kind of written him off; they thought his best days were all over, which was the stuff with Simon & Garfunkel and all the hits he had before. And so he made a second life with Graceland.”
For Cavalera, stories like that reinforce the idea that artistic momentum doesn’t have an expiration date. While he remains deeply proud of his past work — from Sepultura to his many later projects — he emphasized that the search for something new is what keeps music meaningful to him.
“I love watching things like that ’cause it kind of gives me hope that there’s better things coming in the future. There’s ways to get other things. And nothing wrong with what I’ve done. I’m super proud of the works, all the Sepultura records and Killer Be Killed and Nailbomb, Go Ahead And Die, Soulfly — it’s great — but the chase is what makes it interesting, that you can still find the magic to do something that surprises even yourself. And that never gets old. The chase never stops.”
He also drew a clear line between the mindset required for touring and the vulnerability that comes with creating new material.
“Touring is different. Touring, you don’t need to be that inspired, because you’re not creating a new body of music; you’re playing stuff that’s already written. So you just gotta worry about performing them very well. But I love both [touring and making music]. I don’t know which one I like more.”
When the discussion turned to future collaborations or unexplored ideas, Cavalera made it clear that nothing is off the table — as long as the timing feels right.
“I don’t have any projects set up yet, but, yeah, I’d like to do some stuff… There are some things that I thought about. It’s just gotta be done the right way at the right time. But, yeah, I love jamming.”
That openness, he said, is why he continues to juggle multiple bands and musical identities, including Soulfly.
“That’s why I have so many bands, as you notice: Killer Be Killed, Go Ahead And Die, Soulfly, Nailbomb, all that. I get to jump from one to the other, and it’s different guys on all those bands… And I just love to interact with all of them, man.”
At the heart of it all is Cavalera’s refusal to let industry pressures dilute his passion for heavy music — a mindset he says has stayed with him since his teenage years.
“I think in general I’ve always kind of been the same guy; I haven’t really changed much. So literally I’m actually a 17-year-old trapped in a 56-year-old body, because of that. I don’t let the other stuff outside of metal, the politics of music and all that, I don’t let that destroy the purity of why I fell in love with this music in the first place.”
That sense of curiosity, he added, remains essential to staying inspired.
“You’re always learning, man. You never stop learning. Always. There’s always somebody who can tell you [something] that you go, ‘I never look at it that way. That’s cool. I’m gonna apply that to my life.’”
Cavalera’s latest work with Soulfly, the band’s thirteenth studio album Chama, was released on October 24, 2025 via Nuclear Blast Records, underscoring his belief that the creative journey is far from finished.
Chama Tracklist:
- “Indigenous Inquisition”
- “Storm the Gates”
- “Nihilist”
- “No Pain = No Power”
- “Ghenna”
- “Black Hole Scum”
- “Favela / Dystopia”
- “Always Was, Always Will Be…”
- “Soulfly XIII”
- “Chama”
