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Metal Assault in association with CWG Magazine presents

Soulfly: Omen
By Pandie Suicide

Release Date: May 25th, 2010
Record Label: Roadrunner Records

My rating points:



    Track Listing:
  1. Bloodbath & Beyond
  2. Rise Of The Fallen
  3. Great Depression
  4. Lethal Injection
  5. Kingdom
  6. Jeffrey Dahmer
  7. Off With Their Heads
  8. Vulture Culture
  9. Mega-Doom
  10. Counter Sabotage
  11. Soulfly VII
  12. Four Sticks (LED ZEPPELIN cover) (Bonus Track)
  13. Refuse/Resist (SEPULTURA cover) (Bonus Track)
  14. Your Life, My Life (EXCEL cover) (Bonus Track)

"Omen" is album number seven and the next chronicle in the evolution of Soulfly, if not Max Cavalera himself. It is out now on RoadRunner records, is a heavy, and minimally tribally-influenced record that continues on the Soulfly legacy from where 2008's "Conquer" left off. We could talk on and on about Sepultura, we could talk still more about Cavalera Conspiracy here, we could talk about a lot of things, but really, the music speaks for itself.

Production (undertaken as a combined effort by Max Cavalera and producer/ex-Machine Head guitarist and very briefly ex-Soulfly guitarist Logan Madrer) is close to perfect, capturing the raw, gritty essence of metal yet combining it with clear, delicious, recording, mixing and production that ensures nothing is lost in the assault of heaviness being thrown at us, while still maintaining the integrity of the style of music (something which we shall continue with shortly).

Breaking open with "Bloodbath and Beyond," track one of eleven, a heavy, sonic-blast of a face-splitter, we are prepared to be assaulted by the band in the best possible of ways. Tastes of the rainforest infused with ancient tribal melody, perhaps a hint of wardrums and the flavour of Brazil, to a degree, mix in with the shredalicious guitar-thrashing by Marc Rizzo and Max's throaty growls to come up with tracks like the thrashier growl-along-to "Off with their heads" and the deliciously-titled "Vulture Culture" and my favourite track on the album "Kingdom."

Special guests from The Dillinger Escape Plan, Prong and even Max Cavalera's own son Zyon Cavalera and bro Igor feature on various tracks (You'll hear Greg from Dillinger on track 2 "Rise of the Fallen" and Tommy from Prong on track 4 "Lethal Injection" while the Cavaleras are to be found on a Sepultura cover only on the Bonus Deluxe edition) But in a way, that delicate flavour of South America is a little lost here, under the covers of brutal, skin-melting beats, gats and those dark, scraping Cavalera screams, and by a little lost, I mean I don't know where the fuck it is.

Read the rest of the review here.

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