Soulfly Signs to Nuclear Blast Entertainment
Update, 3:02 pm: The original version of this story mistakenly identified Cees Wessels as Jonas Nachsin. My apologies for my error!
The fallout from last year’s massive layoffs at Roadrunner Records continues. Max Cavalera’s Soulfly has signed with Nuclear Blast Entertainment, and “will enter the studio this month to begin recording their as-of-yet-untitled ninth studio album” with producer Terry Date, according to a press release.
The signing would newsworthy regardless because of Cavalera’s stature in the metal world, but it’s especially interesting given that this will mark the first time he’s released an album on a label other than Roadrunner in twenty-six years, since Sepultura’s Schizophrenia in 1987. All subsequent Sep albums of the Max era, all Soulfly albums, Nailbomb albums, and both Cavalera Conspiracy albums have come out on Roadrunner — seventeen releases in all.
Not that it’s really shocking that Cavalera is going to Nuclear Blast Entertainment: this is, after all, the newish division of Nuclear Blast formed by overall NB owner Markus Staiger and former Roadrunner A&R guru Monte Conner, a.k.a. “the dude who signed Sepultura to Roadrunner in the first place and has been Max’s A&R guy ever since.” These guys obviously go way back — in fact, when I did a Google image search to try and find a photo of them together, guess what came up?
That’s Conner on the far left and Roadrunner founder and former CEO Cees Wessels right next to him at Max and Gloria Cavalera’s wedding in 1992. In other words Cavalera is going where his longtime friend is. Makes perfect sense!
