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Soulfly: Omen
29/06/10 || Altmer
In this review I could go and explain about the history of the Cavaleras, Sepultura, and all that. But since you already know about that, and about the original formation of Soulfly, I won’t go deeper into it – we already knew this band used to be a nu-metal abomination, and then went back a slight bit to their roots, bloody roots. The question that is really at hand is: is Soulfly now a listenable or perhaps even a good band? I mean, we haven’t forgiven them for their shit around the turn of the century, so has anything changed anno 2010?
Well, it has, mostly. It’s changed for the good too. Soulfly play mostly thrash metal nowadays, surprisingly – just not of the amazing variety. In other words, expect Sepultura circa “Roots” or “Arise”, but not as good. I can honestly say this doesn’t make me vomit (and I expected it to) which is a good thing. I like some of the thrashier guitar riffs that abound here and there and the nice little Sepultura style nods. There is actually some metal involved here, so there is some good shit all around.
The bad news – there’s still those annoying jumpdafuckup kinda moments. It kinda pisses me off when they have those stomping staccato rhythms with Max’s yelled vocals over it. They aren’t much in place, but they still pop up every now and then and Max needs to get rid of those simplistic moments because they ruin the flow of the album. Another problem is hiring Greg Puciato of The Dillinger Escape Plan to do vocals on “Rise of the Fallen”. Not only is it unnecessary (Max’s vocals fit better), the dude’s nasal tone is grating and annoying, even more over this music than over that of his own band. Seriously, the guy can’t fucken sing for shit so why having him do guest vocals is a good idea escapes me. The other dude (from Prong, I believe) that does guest vocals on here is all-right, but doesn’t really add anything either. More of an exercise in bromance than actual songwriting, I fear. Max’s vocals are not the most amazing but it works better in the context of the music.
Songwriting-wise, it’s mostly solid. The songs work in context and thrash their way through. Opener “Bloodbath & Beyond” features a fluent rhythm reminiscent of hardcore punk, and it works with the music. Many riffs remind me of things modern Slayer would write, and are in the same range of quality – it all works, but it’s nothing special. That’s what this album is – solid, but nothing special. Many people will shit over it, saying it’s a return to form for Max or whatever – it’s not. It’s not the same as it was in old Sepultura and it will never be. Soulfly, how surprisingly hard they may try, will never write an “Under Siege” or a “Territory” or “Altered State”. No way, Jose. And that’s ok because it keeps the suck out of his other bands – but you know, life is never going to be the same again. Max’s glory days are over and this semi-decent stuff will not excite anyone who’s been around the block more than once. If you know “Arise” – you don’t want an “Omen” to continue the legacy. And even though this record is all right we’ll never get that back. And that’s ok because nobody expects Max to ever go back to that level of awesomeness anyway – we’ve hit the status quo.
The last thing that irritates me about this album is that the outro is a useless piece of a psychedelic/blues/whatever guitar interlude that serves no purpose and should have been replaced by an actual song. If intros are already useless – outros are even worse at 4 minutes long. Half a point off for this unnecessary wankery and bullshit.
Recommendation: Reform Sepultura with the proper members, and go back to playing “Arise”/“Beneath the Remains” era material, instead of this semi-decent thrash.
- Information
- Released: 2010
- Label: Roadrunner
- Website: www.soulflyweb.com
- Band
- Max Cavalera: vocals, guitars
- Marc Rizzo: guitars
- Bobby Burns: bass
- Joe Nunez: drums
- Tracklist
- 01. Bloodbath & Beyond
- 02. Rise of the Fallen
- 03. Great Depression
- 04. Lethal Injection
- 05. Kingdom
- 06. Jeffrey Dahmer
- 07. Off With Their Heads
- 08. Vulture Culture
- 09. Mega-Doom
- 10. Counter Sabotage
- 11. Soulfly VII
