Soulfly
Dark Ages

THE REVIEW

The Soulfly adventure is a project that is the natural continuation of the band Sepultura. Both projects indeed revolve around the charismatic and original figure of Max Cavalera.

He, after parting ways with his band managed alongside his brother Igor, formed Soulfly. The two bands (for Sepultura when Cavalera was still there) are very similar due to the characteristic elements of Brazilian tribal music (Soulfly is nu (I hate this term) while Sepultura is death). After Cavalera's departure, Sepultura essentially started to suck. Now, more than death, they sound much more metalcore and have lost that original tribal vein of the first six or seven albums, carried forward by Soulfly. But even the latter with the last 'Dark Ages' have declined in quality. The last five or six tracks sound damned similar to some tracks released on the not-so-bright latest album by Slipknot. A band that is thematically and stylistically distant from Soulfly.

However, in 'Dark Ages', certain gems can also be detected. Among them, the splendid cover. Surely "Babylon" is worth noting with a chorus, even if simple, very effective. "I and I" is not bad, and the almost ambient slow part is interesting. Moving on to the fifth track, "Arise Again", which exudes energy from every pore. To sing in the shower. Molotov is bizarre and chaotic, but certainly the best of the album is "Frontlines". The time change midway through the song is exceptional, the subsequent palm muting (the characteristic technique of Thrash metal) is chilling. The last relevant track is "Riotstarter", the tribal piece of Dark Ages. In every Soulfly album, there's at least one tribal track. The rest you can do without listening to. Songs like "Bleak" (a slow and claustrophobic piece) and "Fuel The Hate" are useless episodes of violence. "(The) March" wants to be original but is very similar to some songs by Slipknot and it sucks. "Soulfly V" is a long instrumental piece that has no beginning or end, messy and boring, where the guitarist (good) shows off.

It's a shame that this album isn't top-notch because it had good potential to be great, but still, it was to be expected since the previous 'Prophecy' was one of Soulfly's best. Who knows if we will be able to listen to another like that. And meanwhile, there are fools like me who are waiting for an impossible reunion of Max with Sepultura.

Who knows if the Cavalera duo will return to make us dream again!!!