MAX CAVALERA Says He Fell Into 'Total Depression' For First Three Months After Leaving SEPULTURA

Max Cavalera (SOULFLY, SEPULTURA, CAVALERA CONSPIRACY) was interviewed on the latest episode of "Rock Talk With Mitch Lafon". You can now listen to the chat below.

Asked what it was like to leave SEPULTURA in 1996 after the release of what turned out to be one of the band's most successful albums, "Roots", Max said: "The first three months were a total depression. I didn't wanna play music anymore; I was so disappointed about the whole thing. It's like you work your whole life toward some goal, and next you know, I didn't have the band anymore. It felt very desolate, very without hope. But I think little by little, people helped me get back on the game. I had encouragement from even people like Ozzy [Osbourne] — we had a dinner at Ozzy's house, and it was really cool for him to say, 'It's up to you to get back on your feet.' And Gloria [Max's wife and manager] was huge also [in] really getting me… pretty much getting me to get back and write some more. And then I wrote a demo that was two songs — 'Eye For An Eye' and 'No' — that totally blew away Monte Conner at Roadrunner. We played it for him on a cassette tape version, and he fucking loved it. And from that moment on, we never looked back. It was, like, 'This is it. We're creating something new.'"

Max also talked about the making of the self-titled debut album from SOULFLY, which remains the band's only full-length release to be certified gold in the U.S. He said: "I think that record struck a chord with the metalheads all over the world. Everybody pretty much I talk to loved that record; it's incredible. And I was in a real weird position — kind of like with no hope, in a desolation kind of place where I didn't care much anymore, didn't give a fuck. It was, like, 'This is me. Accept me or fucking trash me. I don't care.' And [to] my surprise, everybody just loved the record. And even today, it's one of people's favorite SOULFLY records. It's real hard to make another one [like that]. I don't think I'm probably gonna make any record like that again. Just from the situation — I'll never get to go back to that situation. Thank God, 'cause it was not fun; it was in pure misery that the record was written. But I think good art comes from suffering, so that's the only reason I can explain the album being good — because it was a labor of suffering."

As previously reported, SOULFLY is putting the finishing touches on its new album for a tentative summer release via Nuclear Blast. The follow-up to 2015's "Archangel" is being recorded with producer Josh Wilbur, who has previously worked with LAMB OF GOD, GOJIRA and ALL THAT REMAINS, among others.

Max is about to embark on the Canadian leg of the "Point Blank With Soulfly" tour, where SOULFLY is performing NAILBOMB's lone studio album, 1994's "Point Blank", in full.