Soulfly
Conquer

[Before starting the actual review, I would like to point out to the site managers that the only existing review of "Conquer" is practically copied from the one written by Fabrizio Massignani on Metal Maniac, July/August 2008 issue with James Hetfield on the cover]

When it comes to Max Cavalera, I am probably the least objective and most biased person of all time, but it's not my fault. It's good old Max that with his ventures in the music world drives me to exaltation and a total lack of objectivity in thought.

Because Massimiliano Antonio Cavalera, from the early steps taken with Sepultura in 1985 (the super raw EP "Bestial Devastation") to today, has proven himself to be a true force of nature between solid and established careers (Sepultura, Soulfly) and improvised projects put together in a few months that obliterate what some bands have accomplished over many years of work (Nailbomb, Cavalera Conspiracy). A man-force of nature who sometimes even surpasses himself and dedicates to devastating double shots within a short period.

This happened between 1993 and 1994 when, just months apart, "Chaos A.D." by Sepultura and "Point Blank" by Nailbomb were released. It happened again in 2008 when "Inflikted" by Cavalera Conspiracy (practically Sepultura 2.0) and indeed "Conquer" by Soulfly followed each other. And it seems this time we won't have to wait another fifteen years to witness such an event again, because if the next Soulfly album "Omen" comes out in May, by the end of 2010 the Conspiracy (already in studio since April) will give birth to the follow-up to "Inflikted," a boom of inspiration and primal power to leave you speechless.

"Conquer," like everything Max, the new King Midas, touches is gold, is anger, power, protest, aggression, rebellion, insurgence, guerrilla warfare in the form of ethnic thrash metal and tropical hardcore, an evolutionary process of the Tribe Soulfly that has experienced various facets from the tribalism of the eponymous debut album (twin brother of the epoch-making "Roots" by Sepultura) to Max's renewed passion for that sound halfway between "Arise" and "Chaos A.D." which characterized "Dark Ages."

And it is precisely from "Dark Ages" that Soulfly resumes, speeding and extremizing the Cavalera talk, and his trusted troops (the astonishing Marc Rizzo, the lethal duo Burns-Nunez) go into action with a frenetic and pounding social delirium that alternates bursts of spirituality and moments of high tension.

From the initial nuclear assault of the thrash anthem "Blood Fire War Hate" which seems fished out from "Beneath the Remains" (complete with special guest, His Excellency David Vincent direct from Morbid Angel) to the conclusive, melodic and relaxing "Soulfly VI" (a band classic proposing a dreamy self-titled instrumental), examples of true mastery follow one another: the rough hardcore of "Doom" (whose intro cites "Hit the Lights" by Metallica) with a killer refrain and "Rough" (ending with some healthy electronics like in the good old Nailbomb days), thrash-death metal with gloomy Obituary-like slowdowns of "Fall of the Sycophants", the Sabbathian death-doom of "Touching the void" featuring an interesting dub-ambient conclusion, the Egyptian atmospheres of "For Those About to Rot" that almost refer to the brutal Nile, the pachydermic "Paranoia" and "Enemy Ghost", the battle cry chorus of "Warmageddon", the single "Unleash" which having Dave Peters from Throwdown as guest couldn't help but resonate with a Panther-like influence (also beautiful is the video focused on set designs and rituals from Central American civilization).

The limited edition not only comes with a beautiful bonus DVD capturing an entire Soulfly concert in the period between "Prophecy" and "Dark Ages," it offers three bonus tracks, one unreleased and two covers, "Mypath" is a furious thrashcore with an engaging refrain (I wonder why it wasn't included as a full title on the album), "Sailing On" and "The Beautiful People" two nice reinterpretations, the first by the masters Bad Brains and the second by the controversial Marilyn Manson.

A product like "Conquer" can only bring joy to every Cavalera-fan, but most importantly it is destined for lovers of good, heavy music, multi-ethnic and contaminated.