Soulfly
Archangel
Nuclear Blast
2015
What the hell happened to this band? They started so fine and they got lost along the way. This is also the last album which features Tony Campos on bass. Tony left after the recordings to join Fear Factory.
“Archangel” is an album which balances among death metal, thrash metal, hardcore & modern (nu)metal. Bits of deathcore are also present on this album. The band has lost its groovy tribal character but that’s not the only case here. The guys seem to have mostly focused on their extreme side and they have lost all sense of melody and groove. It’s extremeness for the extremeness alone. Tracks like “We Sold Our Souls to Metal”, “Sodomites”, with Todd Jones (Nails) on vocals, “Live Life Hard!”, with Matt Young on vocals, and “Mother of Dragons” (with Richie, Igor Jr. & Anahid) are rather ridiculous in general. Matt, specifically, sounds like Duffy Duck gone death metal! The production is totally powerful & heavy. Matt Hyde (Behemoth, Slayer tec.) has done a great job once again.
The album features several guest appearances mostly by Max’s sons & relatives. Richie Cavalera & Igor Cavalera Jr. both participate in “Mother of Dragons” along with Anahid (Master of Persia). Roki Cavalera participates in the bonus track “You Suffer” and Roman Cacakhanyan in the bonus track “Soulfly X”. The problem ain’t that Max is trying to promote his sons’ work in general and put them into the metal map. Several well-known artists are doing so. People will be the judge in the end. The problem with “Archangel” (just like “Savages”) is that it is utterly uninspired, tedious and monotonous. It may catch the interest of some youngsters who seek extremeness just for the sake of it but overall it lacks originality and creativity. I see that now it’s the time for Max to call it a day with Soulfly, take his brother Igor and return to Sepultura so as to make them at least a decent act and save them from the bottom they have hit to date…
“Archangel” is an album which balances among death metal, thrash metal, hardcore & modern (nu)metal. Bits of deathcore are also present on this album. The band has lost its groovy tribal character but that’s not the only case here. The guys seem to have mostly focused on their extreme side and they have lost all sense of melody and groove. It’s extremeness for the extremeness alone. Tracks like “We Sold Our Souls to Metal”, “Sodomites”, with Todd Jones (Nails) on vocals, “Live Life Hard!”, with Matt Young on vocals, and “Mother of Dragons” (with Richie, Igor Jr. & Anahid) are rather ridiculous in general. Matt, specifically, sounds like Duffy Duck gone death metal! The production is totally powerful & heavy. Matt Hyde (Behemoth, Slayer tec.) has done a great job once again.
The album features several guest appearances mostly by Max’s sons & relatives. Richie Cavalera & Igor Cavalera Jr. both participate in “Mother of Dragons” along with Anahid (Master of Persia). Roki Cavalera participates in the bonus track “You Suffer” and Roman Cacakhanyan in the bonus track “Soulfly X”. The problem ain’t that Max is trying to promote his sons’ work in general and put them into the metal map. Several well-known artists are doing so. People will be the judge in the end. The problem with “Archangel” (just like “Savages”) is that it is utterly uninspired, tedious and monotonous. It may catch the interest of some youngsters who seek extremeness just for the sake of it but overall it lacks originality and creativity. I see that now it’s the time for Max to call it a day with Soulfly, take his brother Igor and return to Sepultura so as to make them at least a decent act and save them from the bottom they have hit to date…