It’s weird. I own a bunch of Soulfly albums. When recently checking my CD collection, I saw that I actually possess albums like Savages, Ritual, Archangel, Dark Ages, Omen, Conquer, as well as the band’s first three or four more tribal, famous/popular efforts, such as Soulfly, Primitive, 3, and Prophecy. 

But the thing is, because I’m a nostalgic poser, I really only revisit those first 3/4 albums. I cannot tell you a single goddamn thing or recall a single song from those latter, recent albums. I sort of know they dropped the tribal/nu metal/ jumpdafuckup elements (go back to my poser comment) in favor of more harsh straight-up thrash/death metal. Then, with more recent efforts like Ritual and their last album Totem (which I have neither heard nor do I own), they started bringing back a little of the band’s early elements.

So, I’m sort of coming at Chama almost as a new experience, and with expectations this won’t be Soulfly or Primitive, but I wanted to see what Soulfly (now just a duo of Max and his son) were up to these days. Especially now, since everyone is friends and has made up since his split with Sepultura.

Well, the answer is yes- as on Ritual and Totem, they are back to mixing their traditional tribal sounds with the Machine Head meets Arise era Sepultura grooving thrash, if the mix is certainly less tribal than the first 3 efforts.

At 32 minutes, Chama is short, and 2 of the songs are the tribal intro “Indigenous Inquisition” and the now requisite instrumental in the continuous “Soulfly” chapters (which I always skip), which take up 5 minutes or so. But those 28 remaining minutes are effective as fuck, and might be the best thing Max has done in the last twenty years or so under the Soulfly moniker.

First off, the production, whereas Totem went for a rawer thrash tone, it appears that Max’s son, Zyon, who handles the production here, discovered Entombed and some HM-2 pedals, as there is a distinct but subtle Stockholm buzz in the guitar tone. And this is cemented by the hefty opening intro “Indigenous Inquisition”, and “Nihilist,” which is dedicated to LG Petrov (RIP), features Tood Jones of Nails, and could have come straight from Wolverine Blues in tone and riffage. But either way, this thing sounds fucking massive throughout.

Other influences are front and center for tracks like “Storm The Gates”, which delivers a stomping jumpadafuck up number reminiscent of the band’s early stuff, “No Pain=No Power”, where Dino Cazares shows up, and the track obviously shows a heavy Fear Factory influence, and “Ghenna”, where Arch Enemy‘s Michael Amott show up in a furiously short blistering number, that shows the band’s prior direct thrash based efforts.

Then there is the massive industrial chug and lurch of “Black Hole Scum”, which has that Stockholm buzz wafting around, “Favela_Dystopia”, a feral hardcore meets beatdown number, with an ending that could be from any recent The Acacia Strain album and the moody “Always Have, Always Will Be”.

The hefty title track buttons the all too short effort up with a little of everything, I just wish there was a little more, as what’s on display here is top notch and sees Max (who sounds energized) and his son truly soaring again with Soulfly.

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