Chama

With a title that translates to “Flame”, Soulfly’s 13th album sees ringleader Max Cavalera returning to his South American roots. <i>Chama</i> tells the story of a boy raised in Brazil’s favelas who seeks a higher power in the jungles of the Amazon. On opening invocation “Indigenous Inquisition”, Cavalera recites the names of extinguished native tribes before launching into the percussion-heavy “Storm the Gates”, a track reminiscent of his work on Sepultura’s groundbreaking 1996 world music/nu-metal fusion album, <i>Roots</i>. The star-studded “No Pain = No Power” features cameos from Fear Factory guitarist Dino Cazares, Unto Others mastermind Gabriel Franco and No Warning vocalist Ben Cook, while Arch Enemy guitar wizard Michael Amott lends a blistering solo to “Ghenna” and NAILS lead singer Todd Jones takes a vocal turn on “Nihilist”, a track dedicated to fallen Entombed vocalist L.G. Petrov.