Soulfly - Dark Ages
Roadrunner Records
Thrash Influenced Tribal Metal
15 songs (66:25)
Release year: 2005
Soulfly, Roadrunner Records
Reviewed by Al
Major event

Sepultura. A band that contributed so much to my initiation into the world of metal that I can’t utter it’s name without a desire to shove Arise into my cd player and begin thrashing about like a rabid monkey on speed. As I’m sure many of you know, lead vocalist Max Cavalera left the band in 1996 to start up his own project, Soulfly. In my opinion, Soulfly, while producing some good music at times, has never come close to recapturing the brilliance of Sepultura. Obviously they are two different bands and therefore should be treated as such but I know I’m not alone in wishing for the day when Max returns to his roots (excuse the pun), stops the random experimentalism and 3 minute outros (shudder) and starts playing HEAVY METAL again.

I’m overjoyed to announce, that with ‘Dark Ages’, Soulfly’s fifth full length release, that day has finally arrived. For the first time the band has kept the same line-up over the course of two albums, after the complete disintegration and re-staffing that occurred in the wake of the release of ‘3’ with no changes to the line-up found on ‘Prophecy’. This has made a very big difference as the band has obviously had a chance to evolve as a unit. Ex Ill Nino guitarist Marc Rizzo fills in the lead guitar spot with Joe Nunez and Dave Ellefson on drums and bass respectively. The largest positive contribution comes in the form of Rizzo whose work far surpasses that on any other Soulfly release and is a big contributing factor to the quality of this album.

The sound of the record is far more similar to the Sepultura of old than to that found on ‘Primitive’ with the majority of it being straight as a dime, riff heavy, aggressive metal. The odd tinge of experimentation does still exist in the use of unusual instrumentation but this is used very sparingly. Also gone are the ubiquitous and largely pointless long outros found on so many previous releases.

The record kicks off with an intro track which blends into ‘Babylon’. Exhibiting a pounding tribal rhythm accompanied by a warbling riff. The music, vocals included, is far more aggressive than anything on the previous Soulfly releases and experimentation is absent.. A fantastic, positive way to start an album. The intensity continues through the start of ‘I and I’ which suddenly drops into an acoustic passage mid song before thundering back to life with one of the finest riffs and solos on the album. Yes, solos are present here, another positive thing in my view. The fine quality continues until the finest song on the album, ‘Arise Again’, thunders into life slowly at first, before bursting into typical Cavalera barks and a jilting riff that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Slayer record. A shining high point and one of the better tracks I’ve heard this year. However, all good things must come to, at least a temporary, end as the next track ‘Molotov’ sung in Russian does not come close to capturing the quality of the previous songs.

Things rapidly get back on track with ‘Frontlines’, The thrashiest sounding track on the album, and stay that way until ‘The March’ which is complete throwaway filler and will more than likely be skipped after the first listen, it’s only saving grace is that it’s only just over a minute long. The second low point comes in the form of the penultimate track ‘Staystrong’ which features vocals by Richie Cavalera who, simply put, cannot sing. That combined with uninspired riffing makes this the only weak ‘true’ song on the album. The album is closed off with ‘Soulfly V’ the next in the series of instrumentals present on each album, and is by far the best of it’s ilk. Acoustic throughout it’s actually relaxing and a good end to a superb album.

I’m happy to recommend this release to fans of Sepultura over fans of Soulfly and I think that if he keeps the line-up consistent, Max is taking a giant step towards recovering the genius of his past. The couple of weak tracks keep this from being truly amazing, but it is still one of the better mainstream releases this year.

Killing Songs :
All except The March, Molotov and Staystrong
Al quoted 89 / 100
Other albums by Soulfly that we have reviewed:
Soulfly - Archangel reviewed by Goat and quoted 60 / 100
Soulfly - Savages reviewed by Goat and quoted 65 / 100
Soulfly - Enslaved reviewed by Goat and quoted 88 / 100
Soulfly - Omen reviewed by Goat and quoted 79 / 100
Soulfly - Conquer reviewed by Goat and quoted 90 /100
To see all 9 reviews click here
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