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SOULFLY will launch its twelfth album, “Totem”, on August 5 through Nuclear Blast. The follow-up to 2018’s “Ritual” was recorded at Platinum Underground in Mesa, Arizona by John Aquilino and Arthur Rizk with help from John Powers. Produced by frontman Max Cavalera alongside Arthur Rizk (KREATOR, MUNICIPAL WASTE, CODE ORANGE),the LP boasts visitor appearances from John Powers (ETERNAL CHAMPION),Chris Ulsh (POWER TRIP),and John Tardy (OBITUARY). Rizk was additionally chargeable for taking part in lead guitar on the document. The paintings for the album was created by James Bousema.
The official lyric video for the album’s first single, “Superstition”, created by Aimed & Framed alongside 3D character artist Álvar Gómez Padilla, will be seen beneath.
Max Cavalera feedback: “‘Totem’ is a celebration of the non secular nature. It was a two-year journey writing with [my son and SOULFLY drummer] Zyon. This album is about all the enjoyment, the enjoyable and the anger in metallic.”
“Totem” monitor itemizing:
01. Superstition
02. Scouring The Vile
03. Filth Upon Filth
04. Rot In Ache
05. The Injury Executed
06. Totem
07. Ancestors
08. Ecstasy Of Gold
09. Soulfly XII
10. Spirit Animal
In a latest interview with the “Rez Steel” podcast, Max acknowledged about “Totem”: “It was created a bit bit completely different. The bulk was simply me and my son Zyon taking part in collectively, so we type of wrote the majority of the fabric. After which I had an important producer buddy, Arthur Rizk; he labored with POWER TRIP and CODE ORANGE. Arthur is nice, man. And I used to be curious how Arthur would make a SOULFLY document sound if he was in cost [of] it. And we created one thing that, to me, feels type of like… It is nearly like a biography of Max music. We cowl every thing from the early days all the way in which… So there’s some black metallic issues, there’s some dying and thrash, there’s some groove metallic — there’s every thing. So the document actually goes deep into all completely different areas of metallic. So due to that, the album feels very numerous. On the finish of the day, I simply wished to make a stable, full-on perspective document that simply says, ‘We’re right here to fuck shit up.’ That is what we do. For this reason I really like taking part in metallic, due to the vitality it provides me.
“The document is definitely actually linked to nature, which is basically cool,” Max defined. “I believe that is the largely SOULFLY document that’s actually about the entire mystique of nature, as in forest spirits and spirit animals and issues like that. In order that was cool.
“We labored lots on numerous the tracks. And I believe Arthur did simply a tremendous job.
“I do not wanna describe the document an excessive amount of — I would fairly have folks hear it and see what they suppose — however to me, it seems like that is only a actually, actually energetic SOULFLY document,” Cavalera added. “It is type of cool to have that type of… After so many information, in the event you can nonetheless put an lively document out, it says one thing about your profession; you are not slowing down — you are going, truly, the alternative approach. So I am extra within the trenches than ever with this one. It seems like [I’ve been] rejuvenated; I really feel like a younger child once more taking part in metallic. These are nice parts to have. Particularly while you’re getting older, lots of people go extra gentle and decelerate. I am not a kind of folks. I wanna simply get much more wild, get heavier. However all the time with the SOULFLY groove, ‘trigger I believe that is a key component of SOULFLY; it is all the time been the groove. So we pay actually shut consideration to the… We truly added numerous percussion to it, so it type of goes again to information like ‘Primitive’; among the grooves return to songs like ‘Primitive’ and ‘Growth’, however among the different stuff is tremendous aggressive and it is like numerous the present excessive metallic that I hearken to proper now from numerous different bands.”
SOULFLY carried out “Superstition” and “Filth Upon Filth” on its latest U.S. tour.
Final summer time, Cavalera instructed “The Steel Teddy Bear Expertise” present, which airs on the 90.3 WMSC radio station, that “Filth Upon Filth” was “a killer track” which reminded him of “previous SLAYER; it feels like SLAYER ‘Hell Awaits’ period meets SOULFLY, which is all the time a great factor,” he mentioned.
Requested if there’s an total lyrical theme on the brand new SOULFLY album, Max mentioned: “A few of it [is] coping with, truly, the non secular world and issues like that, which is basically cool. I believe it is all the time been type of a SOULFLY theme anyway. There is a track referred to as ‘Spirit Animal’ that is actually cool.
“[There isn’t gonna be] an total theme,” he clarified. “It isn’t gonna be a theme album like perhaps [SEPULTURA‘s] ‘Roots’ was extra like a tribal theme type of document. That is extra like a [mixture of subjects]. There is a track concerning the surroundings and the way we’re destroying the earth and all that, referred to as ‘The Injury Executed’. And that got here out actually good. So, yeah, [it’s] simply my approach of writing. It is fairly easy. I do not attempt to get fancy with it. I do know what I do. It is like my riffs — I understand how to do them. I do not attempt to fancy them up. That is how they’re — they’re easy however direct, they usually work. And that is what I really like about it.”
In April 2021, Max instructed Chris Enriquez of Saint Vitus Presents: Age Of Quarantine that Rizk took the brand new SOULFLY undertaking “tremendous significantly. He mentioned, ‘Hey, Max, I do not wanna do exactly one other SOULFLY document. I wanna do the most effectiveSOULFLY document,'” he recalled. ‘I used to be, like, ‘All proper. I take the problem. Let’s do it, man.'”
As for the musical path of the brand new SOULFLY materials, Max mentioned: “It is full-on. I believe it is bought type of like the most effective of all of the years. I believe it is a compilation Max Cavalera document of the entire 50 years. [Laughs] That is what it seems like — it is bought previous stuff, it is bought center stuff, it is bought very SOULFLY vibes. It is bought numerous groove. It is bought numerous quick stuff.”
In December 2020, Max instructed the “Sappenin’ Podcast With Sean Smith” concerning the songwriting course of for the brand new SOULFLY album: “The cool factor about Zyon, the way in which he performs drums, is he is a bit like a wild animal — he has no restraint, man, and he simply unleashes on the drum package. Pure, pure brutality energy drumming, and I really like that. In order that takes me again to numerous the early information that I like — numerous the previous ENTOMBED stuff and CARCASS and NAPALM DEATH; out-of-control shit. So I believe we now have that type of spirit occurring on numerous the brand new tracks.”
In August, SOULFLY parted methods with longtime guitarist Marc Rizzo attributable to private variations. A everlasting alternative guitarist has but to be introduced. FEAR FACTORY‘s Dino Cazares performed guitar for SOULFLY on the summer time 2021 U.S. tour and as soon as once more dealt with second-guitar duties on the band’s most up-to-date run of reveals.
In June 2020, SOULFLY launched a brand new digital EP, “Stay Ritual NYC MMXIX”. The hassle was recorded at The Gramercy in New York Metropolis on February 11, 2019 whereas SOULFLY was on tour in help of its most up-to-date full-length album, “Ritual”. The audio for the EP was blended and mastered by Charles Elliott (ABYSMAL DAWN) from Tastemaker Audio. Cowl paintings was comprised of reside pictures taken by Rodrigo Fredes.
“Ritual” was launched in October 2018 through Nuclear Blast. The follow-up to 2015’s “Archangel” was produced, recorded and blended by Josh Wilbur (KILLER BE KILLED, LAMB OF GOD, GOJIRA).
