SOULFLY / CAVALERA CONSPIRACY frontman / founder Max Cavalera is featured in a new interview with Peter Hodgson at the I Heart Guitar blog page. An excerpt is available below.

Q: The new album really kicks ass, and it’s full of lots of old-school energy. Was that a reaction to the more precise, thrashy style of the Cavalera Conspiracy CD?

Cavalera: Yeah, I think there’s the influence of that. It’s really Soulfly’s most metal and hardcore album, divided in the middle between those two styles. There’s a trash metal element in a lot of the other songs too. All of the elements that make music exciting right now. I love the hardcore scene, I love the metal scene, so I wanted to put them together in one album. That’s why Omen turned out this way."

Q: It’s great that you have the Conspiracy and Soulfly to explore these different aspects.

Cavalera: "Yeah, it’s good to have both bands to give me the freedom to do different things. On Conspiracy, I play with Igor and it’s more of a Max-and-Igor thing, and the connection with him, the way I play with him is very unique. And with Soulfly, Soulfly is my main band, so most of the things that take most of my time are connected with Soulfly. But I’m very happy to have both bands, and they’re both doing good. I’m just waiting for the release of Omen so I can go on tour and play this stuff live."

Q: I wanted to ask you about Marc Rizzo’s contribution to Soulfly. How does he come up with those crazy leads?

Cavalera: "Rizzo is in a category of his own, man! I think he’s one of the most exciting guitar players out right now, very innovative. He can shred, but at the same time he does different sounds, like on 'Rise of The Fallen' he does this Nintendo Game Boy kind of sound on the guitar that’s like nothing I’ve ever heard before. It’s almost like Tom Morello from RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE territory. And Rizzo is just Rizzo, man, just an exciting guitar player. He’s always trying to surprise me with new things in the studio. Just a great guy to be around. I always wanted to have a guitar player like that, and for a long time I looked for one, and I finally found it in Rizzo."

Go to this location for the complete interview.

Soulfly’s 7th studio album, Omen, is out on May 25th. Go here to pre-order your copy and get an instant MP3 of 'Rise Of The Fallen' now.