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Soulfly - Soulfly review



Reviewer:
7.9

281 users:
7.4
Band: Soulfly
Album: Soulfly
Release date: April 1998


01. Eye For An Eye [feat. Burton C. Bell & Dino Cazares]
02. No Hope = No Fear
03. Bleed [feat. Fred Durst & DJ Lethal]
04. Tribe
05. Bumba [feat. Los Hooligans]
06. First Commandment [feat. Chino Moreno]
07. Bumbklaatt
08. Soulfly
09. Umbabarauma [feat. Los Hooligans]
10. Quilombo [feat. Benji Webbe & DJ Lethal]
11. Fire
12. The Song Remains Insane
13. No [feat. Christian Olde Wolbers]
14. Prejudice [feat. Benji Webbe]
15. Karmageddon
16. Cangaceiro [Limited Edition bonus]
17. Ain't No Feeble Bastard [Discharge cover] [Limited Edition bonus]
18. The Possibility Of Life's Destruction [Discharge cover] [Limited Edition bonus]

Of course most people know Soulfly's front man Max Cavalera came from his former project Sepultura. Soulfly's self-titled debut really shows that it is Max Cavalera's band, as he projects all of his new found anger and he also really explores tribal music from his native Brazil as was started in Sepultura's later albums "Chaos A.D." and "Roots".

This album is full of decently heavy riffing which does a fairly solid job of portraying Max's anger towards both the death of his loved ones and the overall oppression in Brazil. However the guitar work is not by far anything ground breaking in general, as it is, for the most part, very basic heavy riffing. This portrays the angry emotion, but that's it. Although I did say for the most part; there are times where the guitar work is very exceptional and uses quite varied effects, such as at the end of "No Hope=No Fear" and the beginnings of "Bumba" and "Umbabarauma". Furthermore though, the highlight of varied musicianship falls into the title song. Soulfly offers a complete paradigm shift from the generally heavy, thrashy riffs and replaces them with blissfully soothing melodies, albeit for only five minutes. As the guitar is much different in this song, so is the drumming. Much of the drumming on the album is very generic, but on a few songs the drums are heavily tribally influenced, especially on "Soulfly". For the first 60% of the album, the musicianship really manages to stay solid and tight, and is helped quite a bit by the meaningful lyrics. These songs, as I said earlier, expresses Max Cavalera's anger, especially in songs like "Bumbklaat", "First Commandment", and "Eye For An Eye". Really the only disappointing song in that whole part of the album is "Bleed", and that's because it features Fred Durst on it. Yeah I said it, Fred Durst. But despite that, the song still pulls through with the other aforementioned parts.

It is however, a little disappointing to get to the second half of the album after a very solid first half. After Umbabarauma, the songs simply get very boring. The lyrical content just goes nowhere in these songs, and the musicianship really doesn't either. The riffs are "different", but still follow the same style as the rest of the album as is the same with the drumming. It just gets repetitive. There is a much calmer interlude during the middle of "Fire" and at the end of "No", and even during the first half of "Karmageddon", but unfortunately these parts also get quite repetitive. In addition, the track "The Song Remains The Same" is as horrible, as it is very generic.

To sum up, the first part of Soulfly uses some varied guitar and drumming patterns, being heavily influenced by Brazilian tribal drumming, making it almost a Folk Thrash Metal album. Yet because of this success on the first half of the album, the second half cannot continue the momentum and fails. While this album shows a lot of emotion, it is nothing compared to that of bands like The Old Dead Tree.


Rating breakdown
Performance: 7
Songwriting: 8
Originality: 8
Production: 9

Written by Marcus | 07.07.2008




Guest review disclaimer:
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.


Comments

Comments: 11   Visited by: 107 users
08.08.2008 - 08:47
Rating: 7
Uirapuru
Liver Failure
I really like this album.. it was one of the first metal works that i've listen to.
But i have to agree with you in some parts: ''The Song Remains Insane'' is a terrible song, and ''Bleed'' is the poorest part of the album (besides the fast berimbaus at the end, wich was very cool ).

I just don't think that after ''Umbabarauma'' the album gets boring, ''Prejudice'' is a very nice song (Benji Webbe's voice is very nice), and ''Karmageddon'' is an folkloric and nostalgic song (to me). Anyway, its a pretty fair review that you write
Now i'm curious about that ''The Old Dead Tree'' band.. ill check it out.
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member of the true crusade against old school heavy metal, early 80s thrash, NWOBHM, traditional doom, first and second wave black metal, old school death metal, US power metal, 70s prog rock and atmospheric doomsludgestoner. o/
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04.04.2009 - 09:46
flordimaria
Account deleted
FUCK THE NU-METAL!!!
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18.09.2010 - 00:47
Thrash del Sur

Written by Guest on 04.04.2009 at 09:46

FUCK THE NU-METAL!!!

I agree hehhe
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26.10.2011 - 08:27
sepulkisser

Bad copy of Roots.....
Any album with Fred Durst and Chino Moreno SUCKS!!!!!
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20.02.2012 - 02:59
Rating: 9
Boxcar Willy
yr a kook
People are too kvlt...

I like this album alot, Bumbklaatt is a great song.
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14:22 - Marcel Hubregtse
I do your mum

DESTROY DRUM TRIGGERS
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20.02.2012 - 03:20
Rating: 8
Marcus
Doit Like Bernie
Written by Boxcar Willy on 20.02.2012 at 02:59

People are too kvlt...

I like this album alot, Bumbklaatt is a great song.

Yeah.. that's what reviewing this taught me. Ha I remember when I first listened to it )I had to have been like 13), me and all my friends would call each other Bumbklaatts.
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20.02.2012 - 03:22
Rating: 9
Boxcar Willy
yr a kook
Written by Marcus on 20.02.2012 at 03:20

Written by Boxcar Willy on 20.02.2012 at 02:59

People are too kvlt...

I like this album alot, Bumbklaatt is a great song.

Yeah.. that's what reviewing this taught me. Ha I remember when I first listened to it )I had to have been like 13), me and all my friends would call each other Bumbklaatts.

Book Ya Gimme dat agony ya dirty rasclot!


That's my Partois saying at skool.


(google it)
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14:22 - Marcel Hubregtse
I do your mum

DESTROY DRUM TRIGGERS
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27.09.2017 - 23:47
et tal y cual

Written by Uirapuru on 08.08.2008 at 08:47

I really like this album.. it was one of the first metal works that i've listen to.
But i have to agree with you in some parts: ''The Song Remains Insane'' is a terrible song, and ''Bleed'' is the poorest part of the album (besides the fast berimbaus at the end, wich was very cool ).

I just don't think that after ''Umbabarauma'' the album gets boring, ''Prejudice'' is a very nice song (Benji Webbe's voice is very nice), and ''Karmageddon'' is an folkloric and nostalgic song (to me). Anyway, its a pretty fair review that you write
Now i'm curious about that ''The Old Dead Tree'' band.. ill check it out.

"one of the first metal works that i've listen to." same situation for me.
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27.09.2017 - 23:54
et tal y cual

Written by Guest on 04.04.2009 at 09:46

FUCK THE NU-METAL!!!

there are other musical registers than the one you evoke on that album.
personally, without even considering that theme, i like most of the musics of the album (not all musics, most of them, and especially quite traditional Brazilian moments (particularly the eponymous music, title song, as quiet as original (both traditional and original) and finesse).
besides all these strictly musical considerations, are you from Argentina?
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12.07.2020 - 16:13
Rating: 8
Tiago Rocha
Dark Lighthouse
I've just finished listening to this from top to bottom without interruptions and I gotta say this is indeed quite good and quite a ride too. Max managed very well the big mix of groove thrash, extreme nu-metal, alternative metal and tribal (and spiritual?) elements inside this big melting pot of a debut! The sound, songwriting and vibe throughout this record is quite similar to the one in Roots, so much, this could have easily been the second disc if Roots had been a double album. It's like this somewhat brother album to Max's last work with Sepultura. I dare to say, this would have been the record Sepultura would have released after Roots if Max hadn't quit the band.
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24.11.2020 - 20:11
Rating: 7
BlankFile

Soulfly´s debut álbum was similar to Sepultura´s "Roots". Heavy, Alternative and Tribal.

Not their best, but a good one.
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