Band:	Soulfly
Album:	Omen
Style:	Groove thrash metal
Release date:	May 25, 2010
Guest review by:	omne metallum

Disc I [CD]
01. Bloodbath & Beyond
02. Rise Of The Fallen [feat.Greg Puciato]
03. Great Depression
04. Lethal Injection [feat. Tommy Victor]
05. Kingdom
06. Jeffrey Dahmer
07. Off With Their Heads
08. Vulture Culture
09. Mega-Doom
10. Counter Sabotage
11. Soulfly VII
12. Four Sticks [Led Zeppelin cover]
13. Refuse/Resist [Sepultura cover]
14. Your Life, My Life [Excel cover]

Disc II [deluxe edition DVD Live at the With Full Force Festival, Germany - July 3, 2009]
01. Blood Fire War Hate
02. Sanctuary
03. Prophecy
04. Back To The Primitive
05. Seek 'N' Strike
06. Living Sacrifice
07. Enemy Ghost
08. Refuse/Resist
09. Doom
10. L.O.T.M.
11. Molotov
12. Drums
13. Warmageddon
14. Policia
15. Unleash
16. Roots Bloody Roots
17. Eye For An Eye
+ Unleash [video]

Eight albums and counting, [Band]Soulfly[/band]'s Omen sees ex-Sepultura main man Max Cavalera turn from musician into a music factory, producing music regularly like a machine, but with diminishing effort and human warmth put into each subsequent record. Omen would be Cavalera's third album in two years and the beginning of a run that would see him release six albums in five years between his various projects.

That little factoid helps understand the main issue with Omen, in that all the songs feel rushed or seem to be missing one or two ingredients to take them to the next level. If the question is of quality or quantity, Cavalera's chips are firmly on the latter, to the detriment of albums such as this. A lot of these songs seem to fit the same mould, with often pnly little tweaks separating them from each other.

Added to this hectic recording schedule, you also have the tours fitted in-between all this; on the one hand it's admirable, on the other, it leads to the band sounding almost on autopilot on this record. It's all well played don't get me wrong, it just sounds mechanic with little emotion seeping through, making it seem like the band are going through the motions. Songs like "Off With Their Heads" read like a mad lib with some basic music thrown over the top; "Vulture Culture" is intense, but once the adrenaline wears off, you realize it's a very generic paint-by-numbers track. Both songs have good elements, but it always feels like they were rushed out before they were finished.

That is not to say there aren't strong songs to be found on here; Omen isn't devoid of good moments, it's just they're spread thinner over the record. "Bloodbath & Beyond" is effectively "Vulture Culture" again, but it leans more to hardcore than metal, which is its saving grace; ditching the token metal flair, its focus is on what it is, not what it is trying to ape. "Rise Of The Fallen" and "Kingdom" are both strong, and were probably the songs with the most time put into them (along with "Soulfly VII").

It's an ok album at the end of the day, but it is one that you will feel could have been so much better had the songs had more time put into them and added to. It is the audio equivalent of writing your homework on the bus before school; a mixture of talent and luck keeps it from being a fail, but it will bear the mark of the teacher in the margins:

"Must Try Harder"