Soulfly Recruits Mike DeLeon for Open Guitarist Position

It’s been a minute since Soulfly’s been operating at full capacity, but all that’s changed since the band took to their social media accounts yesterday to announce they were adding Philip H. Anselmo & the Illegals guitarist Mike DeLeon into the fold.

Soulfly has had a vacancy at the guitar spot ever since Marc Rizzo left the band in 2021. Fear Factory guitarist Dino Cazares was tapped to fill in when Soulfly was on tour, but there hadn’t been a permanent replacement until this week.

Since Fear Factory should be announcing a new album and lead singer very soon, it only made sense that Soulfly would have to find a full-time replacement — hence DeLeon. And while he’d never played with Max in any official capacity, DeLeon previously played with Richie Cavalera in the band Incite back in 2021.

Following his hiring, Soulfly posted the following:

After the amazing reception Totem got from fans, we’re very excited to bring this intense tour across America! Once again, we’re bringing new upcoming bands to our Tribe. Soulfly with Bodybox plus Half Heard Voices (January 25 – February 16), Skinflint (February 17 – March 5), Drift (March 6 – April 1). Support the underground!