soulfly - prophecy
when max cavalera called his band’s last outing ‘soulfly iii’ many saw it as a sign of artistic bankruptcy and a lack of inspiration. if this was the case, he has definitely found a new muse; and it has arrived in the unlikely form of world music. for this record is steeped in the unfamiliar world of serbian folk music and the instantly more recognisable sounds of jamaican dub reggae and flamenco guitars. after the conventional (but punishing) thrash metal opening of ‘prophecy’ and ‘living sacrifice’ we see the first flourishes of progressive experimentation on this record. the track ‘mars’ (which honestly would have bordered on the gormless otherwise – such is its heaviosity) benefits from a three minute, classical flamenco outro played by new guitarist, ex-ill nino man, mark rizzo. and the two genres, implausibly, do compliment each other well. and most of the album benefits from this contrast in style. ‘i believe’ and ‘moses’ both make best use of a serbian hardcore band called eyesburn, who add a roots reggae dub aspect to the metal. admittedly, this doesn’t always work and by the time you get to the penultimate track, ‘soulfly iv’, which is cod spiritual new age bollocks, you just wish that they would turn everything back up to 11 and just rock the fucking joint. but generally this is a rewarding and progressive album. thrash is well into its middle years now and such safe and dull releases such as last year’s ‘st anger’, mean bands like metallica should be taking a leaf out of cavalera’s book. this is soulfly’s best effort to date.
(reviewed by john doran)