Soulfly - Prophecy

There are a couple of bands that keep making the same music, album after album. And (almost) every album is a great one. Soulfly is one of them. But Prophecy is perhaps the best Soulfly album up till now. Their tribal-nu-thrash-heavy metal works every time for me, especially on this album.

The thrash-heavy parts are definitely dominant on this album, but also present are a lot of long tribal jams. Other styles are used on this album too, there’s even a reggae/ska and a R&B track on it. My personal favourites (up till now) are definitely “Living Sacrifice”, “Execution Style” and “Mars” which are the best thrash-heavy songs on the album. There are even some thrash riffs that give you a shiver down your spine, like when you hear the intro to Slayer’s “Raining Blood”.

The track “Moses” amazed me the most, a reggae/ska track with metal in it on a Soulfly album, how weird is that. But when you think of it, it actually isn’t because Max’s biggest musical hero is… who would have thought that, Bob Marley! There’s also a short reggae part in the end of “Defeat U”, mixed with flamenco guitar. That is by the way a great addition to Soulfly’s sound, the guitar of Marc Rizzo (ex-Ill Niño), who also plays the flamenco guitar on the album several times which impresses me a lot. Another thing that amazes me is that Max actually speaks/sings on the track “I Believe”. A lot of new innovative influences on this album with new bandmembers (old and new ones), great!!! Give it to me anytime!

There are some things I have to mention. Like there aren’t, for the first time in Soulfly’s history, two lounge tracks on the album. This time we have to settle with one, Soulfly IV. Next is the R&B track, which I can’t judge good or bad for the simple reason that I know jack shit about R&B, I just know I hate it. But I’ve been told that Max is a big fan of the woman on vocals, so be it. The last thing is that I’ve noticed that Max keeps singing the same lyric parts, like “Living Sacrifice” and “Porrada”, heard ‘em both before. But no one really cares probably.

For the rest there are only compliments. The heavy riffs kick ass, the jam parts relax and enjoy me and the toying with new styles pleases me quite well too. Even the live tracks are fantastic, not only are they recorded quite well, but one of them is a track of Soulfly’s debut album, namely “The Song Remains Insane”, which is the fastest and most brutal track ever written by this band. There’s even a blastbeat in it! So, besides of a few details, this album is absolutely fucking great!

Now stop reading and go out and buy this record!!!!!!



Line-up:

Max Cavalera – voice, 4-strings, berimbau, soul, sitar
Marc Rizzo – guitars, flamenco guitars
Bobby Burns – Bass on all tracks, except were noted
David Ellefson – Bass on “Prophecy”, “Defeat U”, “Mars”, “I Believe” (outro only) and “In The Meantime”
Joe Nunez – drums, percussion


Tracklist:

1. Prophecy
2. Living Sacrifice
3. Execution Style
4. Defeat U
5. Mars
6. I Believe
7. Moses
8. Born Again Anarchist
9. Porrada
10. In The Meantime
11. Soulfly IV
12. Wings
13. Back To The Primitive (live)
14. No Hope = No Fear (live)
15. Spit (live)
16. Jumpdafuckup/Bring It (live)
17. The Song Remains Insane (live)
18. Roots Bloody Roots (live)