Dark Ages, Soulfly's latest album is quite different from the other albums Soulfly has released. Max Cavalera seems to have gone back to his Sepultura roots and dug out the good ol stuff. Some people complain that Soulfly has gone nu-metal which to most people is a moral crime (which I think is ridicilous) but this album has proved them wrong.
Perhaps the reason for the new style is that the line-up of Soulfly has changed dramatically. Max Cavalera stayed put as lead singer and guitarist, he also aquired Marc Rizzo, formerly of Ill Nino, on guitar, Joe Nunez on drums and Bobby Burns, formerly of Primer 55, on bass.
While I always enjoyed Soulfly's old albums, this album is arguably their best so far. The more complex riffs, the more advanced drumming and insane bridges make this album quite an experience. To make it easier to explain I will judge each song of the album. (Bear with me, I'm not a fan of song-by-song reviews either, but I'm a hypocrite
)
1. The Dark Ages - 0:48 --The intro, full of ambient noises and a constant rattling. Hearing distant guitar echoes in the background, with a heavy bass-thump really gets you in the mood to go crazy. Very effective intro.
2. Babylon - 3:53 -- This song continues from the intro and blasts into a heavy riff. While the riff is simple, it is purely meant to get the crowd into a massive mosh pit at concerts. I went to their concert a few months ago, and this song was played twice and each time the crowd went berzerk. The chorus is very catchy but the song isn't anything special when you listen to it at home.
3. I and I - 3:15 -- This song is something special. It starts out of with a simple but brutal riff, and as Max lets out a deep "Huff" the songs speeds up even more. The tempo constantly changes up and down and the guitar goes higher and higher and the riff goes faster and the climax is about to come..and WHABAM!!!..at 1:30 into the song the song all of a sudden turns into a calm buddhist haze of acoustic guitar echoes and soothing ambient noises.
so much for climax! But the ambient noises quickly end and an insane guitar solo flies by and you are left thinking: "What the hell just happened?".. this song definatly caught me off-guard but it was masterfully done.
4. Carved Inside - 3:35 -- Being from Sweden, this song struck me immediatly with it's typical "Swedish riffs". A little odd for a Latin/Hispanic band to play Scandinavian metal, but once again it's flawless. You lose interest quickly in the verses, but once the chorus arrives, you quickly forget about the mediocre verses and rejoice. Being a fan of Joe Nunez, I quickly fell in love with his drumming in the chorus, how simple it may be, it still leaves that warm feeling in you whenever it comes on. This song also has a calm part around in the end where a tom solo and a bass are all that can be heard..and once again a crazy guitar solo comes and steals the show.
5. Arise Again - 4:10 -- Ah this song is interesting because it has one of my favorite intros in any metal song, but 4 minutes is too long for this song and you quickly get bored with it. The intro starts out with crying belches from the guitar, with the drums joining with a slow beat, and as the guitar goes deeper, Max comes in with his deepest, longest, most dark tribal scream I've heard and the riff just blasts in. That's damn cool in my book one of the heavier songs in the album, but it lacks variety. However this song is a perfect example of Soulfy's change in style as the guitar reminds a lot of Kerry King and his trash guitar style. (Kerry King's style BEFORE "Seasons in the Abyss" just to make that clear)
5. Molotov - 1:57 -- Does Chaos A.D. ring a bell to anyone?? Welcome back Sepultura!! This song is a good example of how Max is coming back to his roots. This track has that hardcore sound to it and really gives you flashbacks to the good old Chaos A.D days.
6. Frontlines - 4:34 -- This song is a generic metal song that lacks content in the first 2 and a half minutes. However when obligatory guitar solo halfway through the song ends and the insanely fast drumming comes to a halt at 2:45 and all that is left is a spine-chilling one-string melody that echoes through all other silence. It was kind of a relief after listening to through the first 2 minutes and it sent shivers down my spine. From here on the song gets better and eventually ends after a beatiful 1-minute long acoustic serenade. Most people do not have the patience to listen through 80 minutes of pure metal, and this acoustic break was really well-placed as you start to lose focus on the songs.
7. Innerspirit - 5:15 -- Simply put. The brother of "Arise Again" same formula, once again with that dark tribal scream that is perfectly suited for an intro. However this is a notch better as the song has more variety in it, and is the first song which has calmer singing in the chorus and not just screaming which makes a good change. After 3 minutes you really get the Latin feeling as their hispanic roots take over and they bust out a spanish guitar with the complimentary background sound of a strumming acoustic guitar.
8. Corrosion Creeps - 4:26 -- One of the heavier songs. It has a very dark feel, especially due to the backing guitar noises that make those gothic noises during the chorus. Extremely similar to "Dehumanization" by Meshuggah.
9. Riotstarter - 5:00 -- Ah my favorite song on the album..the song starts with tribal instruments and tribal chants..and of course Max pulls off the obligatory "Zumbi eo senhor das guerras" chant that is a Soulfly trademark by now. Then the tribal music comes to an abrupt end and a deep menacing bell noise combined with a delayed high-pitched guitar riff that is oh-so candy to my ears. A fast-paced song that really grabs you and ensnares you for the duration of the track. While it does lack in variation the riff and that damn bell really mind-fucks with you. And speaking of going back to their roots, this song sounds like it's taken straight out of the old Sepultura album "Roots".
10. Bleak - 4:56 -- Woooho Riotstarter just ended and here comes the heavy steak beef 100% metal. Riff, drumming, bass, singing, lyrics, its all there, its all good, its just a frikkin good song.
11. The March - 1:18 -- What the hell is this? Well I guess I can't expect to have 3 extremely good songs in a row...instead they put in a random electronic sounds with a fast drum machine which really sucks. But it does build up the mood to want to have another heavy song fast, so in a way it's effective.
12. Fuel the Hate - 4:12 -- My god what a good 4 sec intro! An old recording of a voice saying: "Monday, July 16th 1945, 5:30 am." millions of things rush through your head for the split second before the bone-crushing riff smacks you in the face back to reality..and before you know it the song slowly speeds up, and ONCE AGAIN the climax is reached and the song gets slower and slower, almost like a DJ spinning his records to give them that slow-mo effect. And then we visit that ambient place again where all is calm and loving and all the little squirrels are alive and not taken in by sadistic little kids who love to torture them.......this track really makes you think about a lot of things
13. Staystrong - 8:13 -- Wow, what can I say, such a good song that went to waste..at 1:35 the song goes spine-chilling again with a brutal guitar slash and deep screaming and heavy drumming...but then they decided to mix the ambient place with crying/whining vocals, which sounds REALLY HORRIBLE!! AND WHY THE HELL WOULD YOU PUT THAT IN JUST AFTER THE BRUTAL GUITAR SLASH?? After about 4 minutes the song enters the ambient place again (lets call it Wonderland shall we?) and it just goes on for 4 minutes..sure its soothing but to me I find it quite depressing after a while..
14. Soulfly V - 10:53 -- To be honest I never liked any of the "Soulfly I-V" songs, and I don't think I ever will, they are just not suitable on a metal album. Think of Wonderland, but like 10 minutes, and they are so boring!!!
Ah so to conclude..fans of Sepultura will love this album, fans of soulfly will probably be shocked, and opinions will be split as it doesn't have that "funk" feeling like the previous albums did. Either way its a great album, but it could definatly have been better..but hey "perfect" albums are very rare to find..
Perhaps the reason for the new style is that the line-up of Soulfly has changed dramatically. Max Cavalera stayed put as lead singer and guitarist, he also aquired Marc Rizzo, formerly of Ill Nino, on guitar, Joe Nunez on drums and Bobby Burns, formerly of Primer 55, on bass.
While I always enjoyed Soulfly's old albums, this album is arguably their best so far. The more complex riffs, the more advanced drumming and insane bridges make this album quite an experience. To make it easier to explain I will judge each song of the album. (Bear with me, I'm not a fan of song-by-song reviews either, but I'm a hypocrite
)1. The Dark Ages - 0:48 --The intro, full of ambient noises and a constant rattling. Hearing distant guitar echoes in the background, with a heavy bass-thump really gets you in the mood to go crazy. Very effective intro.
2. Babylon - 3:53 -- This song continues from the intro and blasts into a heavy riff. While the riff is simple, it is purely meant to get the crowd into a massive mosh pit at concerts. I went to their concert a few months ago, and this song was played twice and each time the crowd went berzerk. The chorus is very catchy but the song isn't anything special when you listen to it at home.
3. I and I - 3:15 -- This song is something special. It starts out of with a simple but brutal riff, and as Max lets out a deep "Huff" the songs speeds up even more. The tempo constantly changes up and down and the guitar goes higher and higher and the riff goes faster and the climax is about to come..and WHABAM!!!..at 1:30 into the song the song all of a sudden turns into a calm buddhist haze of acoustic guitar echoes and soothing ambient noises.
so much for climax! But the ambient noises quickly end and an insane guitar solo flies by and you are left thinking: "What the hell just happened?".. this song definatly caught me off-guard but it was masterfully done.4. Carved Inside - 3:35 -- Being from Sweden, this song struck me immediatly with it's typical "Swedish riffs". A little odd for a Latin/Hispanic band to play Scandinavian metal, but once again it's flawless. You lose interest quickly in the verses, but once the chorus arrives, you quickly forget about the mediocre verses and rejoice. Being a fan of Joe Nunez, I quickly fell in love with his drumming in the chorus, how simple it may be, it still leaves that warm feeling in you whenever it comes on. This song also has a calm part around in the end where a tom solo and a bass are all that can be heard..and once again a crazy guitar solo comes and steals the show.
5. Arise Again - 4:10 -- Ah this song is interesting because it has one of my favorite intros in any metal song, but 4 minutes is too long for this song and you quickly get bored with it. The intro starts out with crying belches from the guitar, with the drums joining with a slow beat, and as the guitar goes deeper, Max comes in with his deepest, longest, most dark tribal scream I've heard and the riff just blasts in. That's damn cool in my book
one of the heavier songs in the album, but it lacks variety. However this song is a perfect example of Soulfy's change in style as the guitar reminds a lot of Kerry King and his trash guitar style. (Kerry King's style BEFORE "Seasons in the Abyss" just to make that clear)5. Molotov - 1:57 -- Does Chaos A.D. ring a bell to anyone?? Welcome back Sepultura!! This song is a good example of how Max is coming back to his roots. This track has that hardcore sound to it and really gives you flashbacks to the good old Chaos A.D days.
6. Frontlines - 4:34 -- This song is a generic metal song that lacks content in the first 2 and a half minutes. However when obligatory guitar solo halfway through the song ends and the insanely fast drumming comes to a halt at 2:45 and all that is left is a spine-chilling one-string melody that echoes through all other silence. It was kind of a relief after listening to through the first 2 minutes and it sent shivers down my spine. From here on the song gets better and eventually ends after a beatiful 1-minute long acoustic serenade. Most people do not have the patience to listen through 80 minutes of pure metal, and this acoustic break was really well-placed as you start to lose focus on the songs.
7. Innerspirit - 5:15 -- Simply put. The brother of "Arise Again" same formula, once again with that dark tribal scream that is perfectly suited for an intro. However this is a notch better as the song has more variety in it, and is the first song which has calmer singing in the chorus and not just screaming which makes a good change. After 3 minutes you really get the Latin feeling as their hispanic roots take over and they bust out a spanish guitar with the complimentary background sound of a strumming acoustic guitar.
8. Corrosion Creeps - 4:26 -- One of the heavier songs. It has a very dark feel, especially due to the backing guitar noises that make those gothic noises during the chorus. Extremely similar to "Dehumanization" by Meshuggah.
9. Riotstarter - 5:00 -- Ah my favorite song on the album..the song starts with tribal instruments and tribal chants..and of course Max pulls off the obligatory "Zumbi eo senhor das guerras" chant that is a Soulfly trademark by now. Then the tribal music comes to an abrupt end and a deep menacing bell noise combined with a delayed high-pitched guitar riff that is oh-so candy to my ears. A fast-paced song that really grabs you and ensnares you for the duration of the track. While it does lack in variation the riff and that damn bell really mind-fucks with you. And speaking of going back to their roots, this song sounds like it's taken straight out of the old Sepultura album "Roots".
10. Bleak - 4:56 -- Woooho Riotstarter just ended and here comes the heavy steak beef 100% metal. Riff, drumming, bass, singing, lyrics, its all there, its all good, its just a frikkin good song.
11. The March - 1:18 -- What the hell is this? Well I guess I can't expect to have 3 extremely good songs in a row...instead they put in a random electronic sounds with a fast drum machine which really sucks. But it does build up the mood to want to have another heavy song fast, so in a way it's effective.
12. Fuel the Hate - 4:12 -- My god what a good 4 sec intro! An old recording of a voice saying: "Monday, July 16th 1945, 5:30 am." millions of things rush through your head for the split second before the bone-crushing riff smacks you in the face back to reality..and before you know it the song slowly speeds up, and ONCE AGAIN the climax is reached and the song gets slower and slower, almost like a DJ spinning his records to give them that slow-mo effect. And then we visit that ambient place again where all is calm and loving and all the little squirrels are alive and not taken in by sadistic little kids who love to torture them.......this track really makes you think about a lot of things
13. Staystrong - 8:13 -- Wow, what can I say, such a good song that went to waste..at 1:35 the song goes spine-chilling again with a brutal guitar slash and deep screaming and heavy drumming...but then they decided to mix the ambient place with crying/whining vocals, which sounds REALLY HORRIBLE!! AND WHY THE HELL WOULD YOU PUT THAT IN JUST AFTER THE BRUTAL GUITAR SLASH?? After about 4 minutes the song enters the ambient place again (lets call it Wonderland shall we?) and it just goes on for 4 minutes..sure its soothing but to me I find it quite depressing after a while..
14. Soulfly V - 10:53 -- To be honest I never liked any of the "Soulfly I-V" songs, and I don't think I ever will, they are just not suitable on a metal album. Think of Wonderland, but like 10 minutes, and they are so boring!!!
Ah so to conclude..fans of Sepultura will love this album, fans of soulfly will probably be shocked, and opinions will be split as it doesn't have that "funk" feeling like the previous albums did. Either way its a great album, but it could definatly have been better..but hey "perfect" albums are very rare to find..
