Soulfly - Omen [2010]

Whoa, style change. "Bloodbath & Beyond" kicks the album off to a much quicker thrashy start than previous albums, and with no sign of the tribal influence at all. "Rise of the Fallen" is a creatively interesting song. There are some progressive elements that manifest in a really cool guitar part towards the beginning and later riffs bring in a large Black Metal influence much to my surprise. "Great Depression" brings back the thrash and heaviness. The middle songs are filled with heavy romps and bouts of thrashing. This is even more of a return to the thrash/heavy metal roots of Sepultura. However, I'm missing the creativity that I loved in Soulfly. "Rise of the Fallen" was pretty creative, but that's the last of it besides "Soulfly VII" and the ending of "Off With Their Heads". There's no more tribal influence at all. Some of the material is pretty catchy (mostly the beginning and ending songs of the album). I'm a bit disappointed in the lack of creativity.

Rating: 7

http://www.soulfly.com/

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Soulfly - Conquer [2008]

Wow, really didn't expect that intro to the first track at all. Continues on with the more thrash feel of TDA, but it's definitely less catchy and uses even less of the creative tribal stuff. Props for deviating from their own style, though. Plus, the good songs are really good. The MM cover is just fucking hilarious.

Rating: 8

http://www.soulfly.com/

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

Soulfly - The Dark Ages [2005]

More of what I'd expect from Soulfly. It feels like a return to Max's thrash roots, but it doesn't sacrifice too much of the unique ethnic instruments and tribal feel. That said, it's definitely not as creative as previous efforts. However, it's really cool to hear Max go back to a thrashier style.

Rating: 8.5

http://www.soulfly.com/

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

Soulfly - Prophecy [2004]

Continues on with the heavier song writing of 3. Slightly better production quality than 3. However, the real difference is in the individual riffs, they're much more catchy overall and less of the album feels like filler.

Rating: 8.5

http://www.soulfly.com/

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

Soulfly - 3 [2002]

Much heavier songs and production. The tribal stuff isn't quite as prevalent throughout this album, but there's much more thrash influence. However, some of the catchiness falls off sharply in between the good songs.

Rating: 8

http://www.soulfly.com/

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

Soulfly - Primitive [2000]

Here's the heavier production that I was looking for. As with the previous album, there's plenty of tribal elements incorporated into the music. However, these elements seem to be more closely blended into the actual metal parts than before. There is also a significant amount of reggae influence usually found in sections that break up the action and drop into a really calming and beautiful section. There's a myriad of guest stars on this album (Tom Araya, Corey Taylor, etc). Strangely, it helps to keep things fresh on a vocal level. Overall, the creativity is actually a bit lower on this one than on Soulfly. One unwelcome addition is the rap influence. It's usually unobtrusive and even decent, but "In Memory Of" takes it to very intrusive levels. Admittedly, if rap were as creative as that song, I'd probably be much kinder to it. So there are a few trade-offs.

Rating: 8

http://www.soulfly.com/

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

Soulfly - Soulfly [1998]

I remember when I first got this album. At the time, it was the most unique thing I had every heard. After going back to this album many years later, I can still attest to it's uniqueness. This is certainly one of the most creative bands around. Extremely high amounts of creativity and awesome blending of tribal rhythmic beats into metal. The self-titled song is beautiful. This is a great album with lots of variation ensuring that boredom is impossible. The production could stand to be a bit heavier (mostly in the heavy parts when guitar distortion kicks in). There are also a lot of drop-offs in the energy, but this is almost always due to creative exploration… so it's really not a negative.

Rating: 8.5

http://www.soulfly.com/

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.