In a new interview with Sofa King Cool Magazine, SOULFLY frontman Max Cavalera was asked who played guitar on the band's upcoming follow-up to 2018's "Ritual" album, tentatively due in July. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "We're keeping that kind of a secret right now. But, yeah, there's definitely different people. And I'm very excited. We already played two songs on the tour. We played a song called 'Filth Upon Filth' and we played a song called 'Superstition', which is not a cover song; it's an original song. It just has the same name as the other song 'Superstition', but it's an original. We played it, and it was great — a great reaction from the fans. So I think they're gonna dig the new record. We're just waiting a little bit to start releasing the songs. I think they're gonna start coming now in April. We're gonna start putting them out on Spotify and Apple Music and [SiriusXM's] Liquid Metal. But I'm very excited for the record, for sure, and I hope we get to get a good tour out of that when that comes out, probably in the summer." Fan-filmed video footage of SOULFLY performing "Superstition" and "Filth Upon Filth" on February 14 at Cornerstone in Berkeley, California can be seen below. SOULFLY previously played "Filth Upon Filth" on its summer 2021 U.S. tour. The band's upcoming album was recorded at Platinum Underground in Phoenix, Arizona with producer Arthur Rizk, who has previously worked with CAVALERA CONSPIRACY, POWER TRIP and CODE ORANGE. Last summer, Cavalera told "The Metal Teddy Bear Experience" show, which airs on the 90.3 WMSC radio station, that "Filth Upon Filth" was "a killer song" which reminded him of "old SLAYER; it sounds like SLAYER 'Hell Awaits' era meets SOULFLY, which is always a good thing," he said. Asked if there is an overall lyrical theme on the new SOULFLY album, Max said: "Some of it [is] dealing with, actually, the spiritual world and things like that, which is really cool. I think it's always been kind of a SOULFLY theme anyway. There's a song called 'Spirit Animal' that's really cool. And there's gonna be a couple of guests. I'm not gonna say who they are right now; I don't wanna spoil the surprise. But, again, there's gonna be some special guests singing on this record. "[There isn't gonna be] an overall theme," he clarified. "It's not gonna be a theme album like maybe [SEPULTURA's] 'Roots' was more like a tribal theme kind of record. This is more like a [mixture of subjects]. There's a song about the environment and how we're destroying the earth and all that, called 'The Damage Done'. And that came out really good. So, yeah, [it's] just my way of writing. It's pretty simple. I don't try to get fancy with it. I know what I do. It's like my riffs — I know how to do them. I don't try to fancy them up. That's how they are — they're simple but direct, and they work. And that's what I love about it." Last April, Max told Chris Enriquez of Saint Vitus Presents: Age Of Quarantine that Rizk took the new SOULFLY project "super seriously. He said, 'Hey, Max, I don't wanna do just another SOULFLY record. I wanna do the best SOULFLY record,'" he recalled. 'I was, like, 'All right. I take the challenge. Let's do it, man.'" As for the musical direction of the new SOULFLY material, Max said: "It's full-on. I think it's got kind of like the best of all the years. I think it's a compilation Max Cavalera record of the whole 50 years. [Laughs] That's what it feels like — it's got old stuff, it's got middle stuff, it's got very SOULFLY vibes. It's got a lot of groove. It's got a lot of fast stuff." In December 2020, Max told the "Sappenin' Podcast With Sean Smith" about the songwriting process for the new SOULFLY album: "The cool thing about Zyon, the way he plays drums, is he's a bit like a wild animal — he has no restraint, man, and he just unleashes on the drum kit. Pure, pure brutality power drumming, and I love that. So that takes me back to a lot of the early records that I like — a lot of the old ENTOMBED stuff and CARCASS and NAPALM DEATH; out-of-control shit. So I think we have that kind of spirit going on on a lot of the new tracks." In August, SOULFLY parted ways with longtime guitarist Marc Rizzo due to personal differences. A permanent replacement guitarist has yet to be announced. FEAR FACTORY's Dino Cazares played guitar for SOULFLY on the summer 2021 U.S. tour and once again handled second-guitar duties on the band's most recent run of shows. In June 2020, SOULFLY released a new digital EP, "Live Ritual NYC MMXIX". The effort was recorded at The Gramercy in New York City on February 11, 2019 while SOULFLY was on tour in support of its most recent full-length album, "Ritual". The audio for the EP was mixed and mastered by Charles Elliott (ABYSMAL DAWN) from Tastemaker Audio. Cover artwork was comprised of live photos taken by Rodrigo Fredes. "Ritual" was released in October 2018 via Nuclear Blast. The follow-up to 2015's "Archangel" was produced, recorded and mixed by Josh Wilbur (KILLER BE KILLED, LAMB OF GOD, GOJIRA).
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