Soulfly - Omen review
| Band: | Soulfly |
| Album: | Omen |
| Style: | Groove thrash metal |
| Release date: | May 2010 |
Disc I [CD]
01. Bloodbath & Beyond
02. Rise Of The Fallen [feat.Greg Puciato]
03. Great Depression
04. Lethal Injection [feat. Tommy Victor]
05. Kingdom
06. Jeffrey Dahmer
07. Off With Their Heads
08. Vulture Culture
09. Mega-Doom
10. Counter Sabotage
11. Soulfly VII
12. Four Sticks [Led Zeppelin cover]
13. Refuse/Resist [Sepultura cover]
14. Your Life, My Life [Excel cover]
Disc II [deluxe edition DVD Live at the With Full Force Festival, Germany - July 3, 2009]
01. Blood Fire War Hate
02. Sanctuary
03. Prophecy
04. Back To The Primitive
05. Seek 'N' Strike
06. Living Sacrifice
07. Enemy Ghost
08. Refuse/Resist
09. Doom
10. L.O.T.M.
11. Molotov
12. Drums
13. Warmageddon
14. Policia
15. Unleash
16. Roots Bloody Roots
17. Eye For An Eye
+ Unleash [video]
Max Cavalera has traditionally been one of the most prolific people in metal, churning out new albums not only with his main bands Sepultura and Soulfly but also with numerous side projects and guest appearances. All of this activity really seems to be taking its toll - with Omen it seems that Max is really tired, worn out and devoid of new ideas.
Omen is a showcase of a band going through the motions, performing recycled riffs and compositions without any fire or conviction. Can anyone really argue that "Great Depression" and "Off With Their Heads" have rehashed Soulfly riffs or that "Vulture Culture" is a near carbon-copy of "Wasting Away"? Furthermore, Logan Mader's clinical production is entirely inappropriate for music as simple as this, draining whatever remains of the potency the performers might have had during recording sessions. It all sounds technically perfect but some more dynamics or even some mistakes would make these songs far less boring. Max's predominantly rather unimpressive vocals and simplistic lyrics don't help matters much either.
Of course, even a mediocre Soulfly album still has some things that are commendable - the heaviness and occasional fun excursions into speedy thrash are still here. Tommy Victor's guest appearance is appealing and his song sounds like decent Prong, while "Jeffrey Dahmer" and "Mega-Doom" contain slightly better songwriting and more varied riffs and melodies. The instrumental "Soullfly VII" is, as usual, fairly solid.
Nevertheless, in the grand scheme of things, Omen is a painfully mediocre and spirit-less album. Soulfly experienced a boost in creativity for Dark Ages; however, this fire has all but burned out by now. The slower songs drag while faster material simply fails to exude that trademark Cavalera sense of urgency and stomping speed. There is plenty of thrash out there during the current revival that crushes Omen in every way. Max probably needs to take a break. I know I will - from listening to Soulfly.
 | Written on 14.06.2010 by With Metal Storm since 2002, jupitreas has been subjecting the masses to his reviews for quite a while now. He lives in Warsaw, Poland, where he does his best to avoid prosecution for being so cool. |
Rating:
6.7
6.7
|
Rating: 6.7 |
Eight albums and counting, Soulfly's Omen sees ex-Sepultura main man Max Cavalera turn from musician into a music factory, producing music regularly like a machine, but with diminishing effort and human warmth put into each subsequent record. Omen would be Cavalera's third album in two years and the beginning of a run that would see him release six albums in five years between his various projects. Read more ›› |
Comments
Comments: 14
Visited by: 300 users
| EzeKyeL Posts: 52 From: Canada  |
I think I will take a look on their myspace just to laugh about how true your review is. Never loved soulfly anyway... Edit: I think it's the worst thing I've ever heard... maybe not, but near
----
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| Elyar S. Gud är Död Posts: 323 From: Turkey  |
Nice album, liked it. Im really against Anti-Big band or Anti-Big Names thoughts. Iron Maiden, Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, My Dying Bride and ... etc suck in their recent works. so how a lot of ppl love these albums? it means that a lof of ppl doesnt know about music? or it means that a lot of other ppl are really sick of metal music? I really enjoyed this album, not a masterpiece but a good album cant say bad things about it.
---- Kiss my ass if you dont like me, I dont care.
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| pazuzuovbabel Pazuzu Posts: 301 From: Canada  |
Solid review ,, and almost like my same thoughts when i heared the album for the first time,bcz i wanted to hear more like Dark Ages and the previous albums, i disliked the all-thrashy-riffs approach here, cuz Soulfly meant to be kind of experimental, thrash with tribal & Nu metal touches, so why Mr. Max had taken Soulfly into more thrashy edge, while he just started a pure thrashy band Cavalera Conspiracy 
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| atrox Posts: 125 From: Estonia  |
To me the album sounded like.. standard Cavalera or smth.. ie. boring.
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| BudDa Posts: 887 From: Uganda  |
My same thoughts too. I haven't listened to alot of Soulfly but Omen pretty much sounded like a jaded album. I still go back to the album only to listen to 'Rise of the fallen'. nice track..nice review too..
---- Freeze! Step away from the hubris.
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| Athropos Burning inside Posts: 158 From: Switzerland  |
It's not a bad album, but it clearly lacks of creativity. When I listened to it for the first time, I had the impression that they just took riffs and solos from their previous albums. Omen is even quite shorter than their previous releases, which is I guess an evidence that they rushed it. I'm now quite worried about the next CC album, which has already been recorded...
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| Uirapuru Liver Failure Posts: 2955 From: Brazil  |
THANK YOU. Excellent review. My feelings exactly, got right even the ''highlights'' Mega-Doom and Soulfly.
----  ---- member of the true crusade against old school heavy metal, early 80s thrash, NWOBHM, traditional doom, first and second wave black metal, old school death metal, US power metal, 70s prog rock and atmospheric doomsludgestoner. o/
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| Dani5050 Posts: 76 From: USA  |
I liked the album, you might be right is an average album, but that doesn't mean its THAT BAD, I was never a soulfly fan, but for some reason I enjoy this album.
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| The great lich Posts: 13 From: Iran  |
No sign of max spiritual lyrics- tribal sounds- creativity. not a bad album but this work doesn't match with soulfly. maybe if another band made it , it gets better reception. Conquer and Dark ages are gods if you compare Omen with them. But I'm still a fan of Max Cavalera... ..
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| Uirapuru Liver Failure Posts: 2955 From: Brazil |
Written by pazuzuovbabel on 14.06.2010 at 07:48 Exacly. I thought the same thing. Cavelera Conspiracy should be the thrash side-project that could allow him take the experimentalism even further with Soulfly. But well, like the reviewer said... Max is really tired, worn out and devoid of new ideas. And it really look so. =/
---- ---- member of the true crusade against old school heavy metal, early 80s thrash, NWOBHM, traditional doom, first and second wave black metal, old school death metal, US power metal, 70s prog rock and atmospheric doomsludgestoner. o/
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| Riscannon Posts: 88 From: USA  |
Another solid Soulfly release. Make sure to check out Off Their Heads and Their Kingdom.
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| Sword_Chant Posts: 714 From: UK |
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| babylonandbeyond Posts: 1 From: UK |
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| sepulkisser Posts: 24 From: Colombia  |
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