Soulfly - Prophecy

Mon 3rd May, 2004 in Music Reviews

Max Cavalera is a long-haired Brazilian man and he and the Soulfly hombres are back with their fourth plea to the metal jury: the aptly titled Prophecy.

The delivery is once again sincere, dedicated to God …’the most high Soulfly’, and at peace with infusion in the form of flamenco guitars (very nicely done, by the way), tribal drumming, reggae, french horns, and spooky artwork on the front cover.

And Max, brother of Igor, always on the warpath for that ‘different’ approach has once again opted for guest performances: this time from Dave Ellefson (former Megadeth) and Bobby Burns (former Primer 55) on bass and Mark Rizzo (former Ill Niño) on guitars.  The 2000 release Primitive) saw appearances from the likes of the mighty (and I mean mighty) Tom Araya (Slayer) and Sean Lennon, son of John.

Now those searching for all things onslaught, Sepultura, and exploding pineapples would be pleased to know that this nonsense is soon trounced with Max’s modus operandi of riff-driven fury (top 4 strings only), screeching leads, and blistering drums that should only be played in a rotating metal cage.  The opening and title pathway is saturated with the tribe’s familiar rhythm and is laced with elements of new millennium terror.  Living Sacrifice builds on the nostalgic momentum with a broken down mid-section that is, quite simply, a beautiful display of thick and dirty metal.  That Señor Ellefson didn’t have the bass duties on this beast brought a tear to my black eye.

Defeat U tells an story about destiny’s deceit but the guitar wall is a little ‘tu’ (like ‘nu’) fuzzed out and polished to rival its more hardcore and prophetic brethren.  I Believe (that is, in God and immortality) is a sequence of explosive riffs and includes an intimidating lead akin to early Korn.  Max’s guttural roar of ‘You can’t kill faith, You can’t kill God’ would even make his label-mate Glen Benton proud, but for one reason only.

Other fine moments on the palette include the thrash-metalled Execution Style and Porrada and the industrial Born Again Anarchist.  There’s also a respectful cover of Helmet’s seminal 1992 release In the Meantime, along with 6 bonus live tracks from a 2001 Swedish gig that includes Spit and Roots Bloody Roots.

This album is Soulfly and you should hear her roar.  I listened to this 4 times over the weekend and I do solemnly swear that the volume went up at every turn.