Soulfly consists of Marcello D. (bass), Max Cavalera (vocals), Mike Doling (guitar), Roy Mayorga (drums).
Soulfly is an alternative metal band started by Max Cavalera in 1997 after his decision to leave Sepultura. The band has released five albums; Soulfly, Primitive, 3, Prophecy, and Dark Ages.
Brazilian heavy metal singer Max Cavalera formed Soulfly after leaving Sepultura in 1996. He recruited a lineup of Roy Mayorga on drums (formerly of Thorn), Jackson Bandeira on guitar (formerly of Chico Science) and former Sepultura roadie Marcello D. Rapp on bass with Cavalera on guitar and vocals.
While many Sepultura fans also listen to Soulfly, some of them (especially those who didn't like Sepultura's last two albums: Chaos A.D. and the commercially most successful Roots) would call Soulfly " mallcore".
On the band's website, Max Cavalera said that he founded the band "with the idea of combined sounds and spiritual beliefs." As well as leaving one of the world's most popular heavy metal bands, he had to deal with the unsolved murder of his stepson and best friend Dana Wells. The first self-titled album was released in 1998 and reached number 82 on the Billboard 200.
Max Cavalera featured on the Deftones album Around the Fur in 1997 on a song called "Headup" about Wells' death. As payback, Chino of the Deftones recorded a song on the album Primitive, in the song "Pain." The influence of nu-metal appeared on the Primitive album of 2000 which did not please all of the band's fans. However, Primitive was the most successful album by the band in the US reaching number 32 on the Billboard 200 and number 11 on the US independent charts. Joe Nunez replaced Roy Mayorga on drums for the Primitive album. Max Cavalera produced the third album 3 released in 2002 which reached number 46 on the Billboard 200 in that year. Mayorga was back behind the drumkit for the 3 album.
