Kingcrimsonprog Omen was the seventh-full length studio album by Soulfly, it was released in 2010 and ended up being the final album to feature Bobby Burns on bass and Joe Nunez on the drums.

For some fans, it will be appear a lot more straight-forward and direct than any previous Soulfly record, and continuing further down the same path that they have been following for the previous few records towards a faster, heavier and much more streamlined version of their original style.

The band had stated in interviews that it was similar to Slayer’s Reign In Blood but those similarities aren’t all that noticeable in all honesty beyond mere succinctness. The opening track ‘Bloodbath And Beyond’ and ‘Vulture Culture’ have an almost Hardcore-Punk sound to them in parts, and most tracks are generally fairly short in length but otherwise the music is very much like the previous couple of Soulfly albums.

This directness is a double-edged sword however, because a lot of what made Soulfly stand out from the crowd when they first came out is now missing, and some fans who loved the band’s first two albums may be saddened to find that the tribal drums, new-aged guitar sections and big simple Nu Metal riffs are gone.

Not all of Soulfly’s calling cards have been lost however. As with all Soulfly albums, some outside musicians make a guest appearance, in this case Greg Puciato of The Dillinger Escape Plan on ‘Rise Of The Fallen’ and Tommy Victor of Prong on ‘Lethal Injection.’

In addition to the guest appearances, Max’s lyrical style is very much the same, with all the same topics covered and usage of puns, contractions and portmanteaus. Furhtermore, Mark Rizzo’s lead guitar style continues in the same vein it has since he joined the band.

Album highlights include the brief but perfectly formed ‘Jeffery Dahmer’ and the Thrashy ‘Off With Their Heads’ as well as the album closer ‘Soulfly VII’ which takes the usual sound of one of their self-titled tracks and pushes the envelop a little bit.

In summary; if you like the general sound of Soulfly and aren’t yet sick of it, then Omen is one more record for your collection, however if you have tired of Soulfly’s style or if you only liked their early work then it isn’t utterly essential listening.

Kingcrimsonprog Fronted as always by Max Cavelera, Soulfly have lived through enough line-up changes in the past to carry on strong no matter who joins or leaves their fold and deliver more of the same Thrash, Groove and World Music inspired Metal that the band have been creating since their inception a decade and a half ago.

Enslaved is the band’s eighth studio album. It was released in 2012 and finds the band recording with a new rhythm section as bassist Bobby Burns (who had been in the band since 2003) and drummer Joe Nunez (who was in the band since 2000, except for one album) get replaced by Tony Campos of Static-X and David Kinkade of Borknagar.

Lead guitarist Marc Rizzo is now the band’s second longest lasting member behind Max himself, and has become more and more integral to the band’s sound and direction since joining in 2003 (in addition to appearing in alongside Max in his other band Cavelera Conspiracy.)

Where Enslaved fits in with the rest of the band’s catalogue is definitely closer in style to the sound found on the faster and darker albums like Dark Ages than the fun and bouncy tribal sing along albums like Primitive. It is probably the most straight forward, serious and un-experimental sounding album the band have ever done, which counter-intuitively lends the record a really interesting an vital sound.

The style at this stage is completely absent of any Nu Metal influence, with the drumming and guitar generally a lot more clinical and thrash influenced than ever before, however the manage to do so in a manner that feels entirely modern and nothing like homage to the 1980s. The main riff of ‘Treachery’ for example feels almost like it could have been written by Chimaira’s Rob Arnold, and the huge string bends at the beginning of 'Chains' sound a little like recent Cannibal Corpse tracks in a subtle sort of a way.

Enslaved also carves its own position in the Soulfly catalogue by having removed all traces of the World Music interludes, intros and outros that had peppered all of the band’s previous work to at least some extent. Furthermore, the band even went as far as not including a Self-Titled instrumental track in the main album like they had always done on previous records (although one does crop up on the special edition. )

One thing that Soulfly have never been able to stop themselves doing however is include guest appearances by other famous musicians, and on Enslaved this once again proves to be the case as Dez Fafara of Devildriver sings on the track "Redemption Of Man By God," while Travis Ryan of Cattle Decapitation appears on the surprisingly Death Metal influenced lead single ‘World Scum.’

Overall, Enslaved is a strong, well written and immaculately produced album by a confident and mature band. The direction is dark, precise and heavy modern metal music with a lot of shredding, a lot of speed and no messing around. If your favourite Soulfly albums were the first two and you don’t usually enjoy any Thrash or Extreme Metal then it might not be what you wanted, but if you have enjoyed the direction that the band have been heading in for the last three or four albums then you will be happy to find them charging further down that path and sounding good doing it.

Kingcrimsonprog Soulfly didn’t get enough respect when they arrived back around the turn of the century, people viewed them as a side-project and just wished founder Max Cavelera would re-join his old band Sepultura. People also didn’t care for Soulfly’s revolving door approach to band line up, and cared even less for their frequent guest appearances.

The bands undeniable talent slowly won over more and more fans with each release, and the band also became more focused and heavier with each release and after the bands fifth album ‘Dark Ages,’ the public finally treated the band with the respect they deserved.

Soulfly chose to continue on the formula with Conquer, they changed very little at all and kept guest appearances to a minimum. The style of the album is very similar to ‘Dark Ages,’ with more Thrash Metal tenancies, a few more of the brief Death Metal moments, but all of the catchy choruses and interesting guitar solos that made the band famous in the first place were still present, but with less of the ‘tribal,’ sound that some people found off putting. Conquer, more so than any other Soulfly record is just straight up metal with no messing around.

Beyond the history of the band and style of the album, any record needs to be judged in terms of the actual quality. Usually Soulfly albums start of strong but tail off towards the end, but that simply doesn’t happen here, the album is good from start to finish.

The production is excellent, the lyrics have stayed at the same level they always have, the artwork is fantastic and the music is the strongest its ever been, the band really benefited from keeping the same line-up form the previous album. Mark Rizzo in particular shine on this release, filling the disk with virtuoso playing and a bouncy enthusiasm. The albums greatest strengths are ironically its greatest failings however, as the only negative point is that the album can feel a little samey, with no real variety or stand out moments.

Despite that flaw, for those who have written Soulfly off ‘Conquer,’ is the perfect album with which to win them back over, and for those who already love Soulfly this album is still going to be the best album in your collection. Highly Recommended.

Kingcrimsonprog Soulfly’s fifth studio album Dark Ages caused the public to reassess its negative views on Soulfly when it was released back in 2005, and begin to take the band seriously as an actual band and not just a side project.

The music is harder, faster and darker than previous Soulfly albums had been and sheds much of the bouncy fun riffs in favour of harsh thrash metal pounding and high speeds.

Lyrics on the album and interviews the band gave around the time spoke of the album’s connection to Sepultura’s Arise album in a (cynical?) attempt to draw in the very fans who’d been dismissing Soulfly all this time.

The album is much more thrash centric, with a few punky sections a few of the bouncy sections of old but with much less of the tribal jam sections that were on other albums for the last minute or so of most songs. It may actually have been a mistake however, as the album is kind of dull and the only variety (such as the dance influenced Riot Starter) is out of place. For all its attempts to draw a thrash audience, it isn’t a very successful thrash record and beyond that it is only a good Soulfly record, but uneven with a bit of what seems like filler and some experiments which just don’t work.

The album isn’t all bad however, highlights include the pounding ‘Arise Again,’ which is good despite its questionable motives and the unusual ‘Innerspirit,’ which mixes the band’s previous sound of clean bits and tribal sounds with a very dark style reminiscent of Machine Head’s The More Things Change album.

In conclusion; Dark Ages may be a lot of people’s favourite Soulfly album historically, or because of the hype around Max’s supposed return to thrash, but as with all Soulfly albums the first few songs are brilliant but the album as a whole doesn’t fully live up to the standard they set.

Kingcrimsonprog Soulfly’s fourth studio album, Prophecy, released in 2004 is my favourite Soulfly album to date.

The album opens really well with ‘Prophecy,’ ‘Living Sacrifice,’ ‘Execution Style,’ ‘Defeat U,’ and ‘Mars,’ which in my opinion is the best set of five songs in a row on any Soulfly record. The end of the album isn’t just as strong as the beginning, something all Soulfly albums had in common until Conquer, but overall the ratio of outstanding tracks to dull tracks is excellent.

Prophecy saw the band carry on with the style that they had developed with their previous album ‘3,’ only with additional classic thrash metal influences and a clarity and focus in the songwriting department which is unrivalled on any of the older Soulfly albums.

This was the first album to feature former Ill Nino guitarist Marc Rizzo, who adds many guitar solos to the proceedings. The album also saw the return of Joe Nunez on drums, who drummed on the band’s second album Primitive but was replaced by Roy Mayorga on the other two records, their debut and 3.

The aforementioned five tracks are obvious highlights and worth the price of the cd for alone. Considering the album as a whole, it is probably the album with the most definitive reflection of Soulfly’s overall sound; bridging as it does the band’s Nu Metal era roots, groove centered main style, tribal sections and some of the Thrash Metal influences which would creep more heavily into the band’s sound on subsequent albums.

I highly recommend this album to Soulfly enthusiasts and would highlight it for ideal selection of a prospective fan’s first Soulfly album, on the basis of its strong songwriting, general style and ratio of wheat to chaff

Kingcrimsonprog Soulfly’s DVD The Song Remains Insane from 2005 is a pretty strong release; consisting of all the bands music videos, assorted live footage from various sources, an entire concert and a fantastic documentary about the band.

The music videos are nice to have, but not what anyone would buy this for and the assorted live footage (featuring a cameo apperance from Biohazard during a tribal drum solo) is a great addition which contains host of songs not in the main concert and a DVD-highlight where Chino Marino joins the band on stage to perform ‘Pain,’ from the band’s ‘Primitive,’ album.

The main concert is well filmed, but unfortunately the sound is out of synch with the video and it is therfore pretty annoying, but if you just listen to it in the background the concert is still fantastic, this out of synch problem is a pretty large disappointment for the real meat of the DVD. If you want a full length pro shot Soulfly concert from the Prophecy era that is properly synched, one is available with Digpak editions of the band’s sixth album Conquer.

Thankfully this DVD is saved by an excellent Documentary, which is informative, interesting and well edited. The DVD is still a real good buy at the price, and would be worth five stars if the audio in the main concert was in synch with the video.

Even with that flaw in the main feature, the collection of music videos, a great documentary and the other excellent (and in synch) live material are well worth the interest of Soulfly fans. It may not wholly stand up visually to modern metal DVDs but is still worth exploration for fans.