Customer Reviews

Dark Ages

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Four and a half stars

I must say, since I first heard this album yesterday, I have been beside myself anticipating the free time I would have to write a review for this unexpected gem.

Arise was really the first album I purchased that made me feel like I listened to "heavy" metal. I ate up all the other Sepultura releases, and though I love Beneath the Remains, Arise, and Chaos A.D. quite a lot, Roots has always been one of my favorite albums of all time.

Soulfy, while interesting, never really captivated me much, though I enjoy the occasional spin of Primitive and Prophecy. This new venture, Dark Ages, I am welcoming with open and eager arms, and you should too.

Aside from the second track, Babylon, this album sounds nothing like any other Soulfly release, except occasionally with the tribal drumming (though this staple of Max's started more with the Chaos A.D. album). No folks, instead of pulsating nu-metal stadium jumping tracks, Max and co. serves straight up death/thrash which oftentimes echoes the stylings of his Sepultura masterpieces.

Another welcome change is the abundant solos. Marc Rizzo absolutely shreds through his leads, and quite honestly, lays down the best solos I have ever heard in Max Cavalera songs. Couple Marc's lead abilities with the reaffirmation that Max has plenty of tasty real metal, and not just nu-metal, riffs left up his sleeves, and you end up with an album that will have your vertebrae re-experiencing the kind of punishment it received in the early-90s.

Though I will agree with many other reviewers here that the progression of songwriting is lacking with the focus shifted back to a heavier sound, the songs are in no way stagnant, and in many ways remind me most of Sepultura because of the multitude of neck-breaking catchy riffs in each song. If you want simplistic, monotonous songwriting, go for the early Soulfly albums; you are not going to find such static repetition here. In addition, tracks like "Inner Spirit" are undeniably menacing, but still contain moments of the varied stlye which was so prominent on Prophecy.

To me, the nail in the coffin for this album is the outright rage that spews forth from each track. Without a doubt, Dark Ages finds Max as pissed as ever, and though spirituality remains a prime focus, it seems that the unfortunate and tragic episodes of Max's life have reached a boiling point. Never one to shy away from harsh and dark social and political commentary, Max seemed to have tempered the expression of these messages in the Soulfy releases in favor of exalting his spiritual passions. Dark Ages, as the name so perfectly suggests, finds a return to the sick of it all ranting, and this mood undeniably seeps into the music as well.

Luckily for the world of music, this recipe results in a tasty treat for Sepultura-only, Soulfly-only, and Sepultura and Soulfy fans. Though at times the lyrics are annoyingly juvenile and antagonistic, fans of Max will recognize them as the manifestation of a great man's struggle with the actions and ignorance of his fellow brothers and sisters. Thank God, as you know Max would want you to, that he has again found a way to send his message with the effect of chilling you to the bone with sheer brutality and purely visceral adrenaline. Welcome back Max.

The album that every Soulfly and Sepultura fan has waited for... Dark Ages is heavier, faster, and more powerful than all the of the other Soulfly c.d. put together. The greatest quality of Dark Ages unlike the last four Soulfly albums is that it is consistant! not with all the good and bad, soft and heavy songs all mixed up. its all heavy! the only soft song is of course the last song, the instrumetal "Soulfly V". Other than that Dark Ages is truly an incredible album that never lets up and never slows down.

Some reviewers have compared this album to early Sepultura, but i think that Dark Ages is too heavy and not thrashy enough to really be compared to any Sepultura cd's. Sepultura is bar none the best thrash metal band. No other band will ever make better thrash metal than Sepultura, that including Soulfly. And plus Dark ages kinda has an errie industrial sound to the songs instead of that tribal metal sound they have always had, which is another big difference that Max has made in Dark Ages.

With awesome screaching guitars, militaristic drumming, enraged shout along chorus's(on and on and on! into the babylon!) what problems could this cd possibly have?! well the guest vocalist on "Innerspirit" and "Staystrong" is a little irritating at times, but other than that... flawless.

Dark Ages is relentless in its full on heavy metal assault but it also has a soft side too; the new "Soulfly V" is a great chill out song to listen to when relaxing after 50min of nonstop headbanging!

All in all i highly recomend you buy Dark Ages right here right now without hesitation. This is far from any Soulfly Album you've ever heard, thats for sure. Just like how other roadrunner record bands like Chimaira, Opeth, and Devildriver are achieving huge sucess w/ their new albums, Dark Ages is sure to do just that for Soulfly. Also be sure to get this and the new Exodus cd: "shovel headed kill machine" and you will be good to go. Cheers for Soulfly. may Max continue in this direction of creating all out extreme metal and never go back from it ever again. buy Soulfly's new album Dark Ages. support true metal.

ALL THESE REVIEWS ARE GOOD AND RIGHT ON THE MONEY, BUT IN SHORT TERMS, THIS IS THE BEST SOULFLY CD SO FAR, IT HAS SOME CHAOS AD, NAILBOMB, ROOTS AND ARISE INFLUENCE INTHERE BUT YOU CAN ALSO TELL IS SOULFLY BY JUST LISTENING TO IT, SO IS ALL GOOD.
MORE THRASHY AND METAL. IF YOU LIKE ALL THE ABOVE ALBUMS THEN BUY THIS ONE... MAX AND COMPANY, GOOD JOB GUYS, KILLER ALBUM, THANKS AGAIN!
THE BOSTON MA AND HARTFORD CT CONNECTION

OK, before we get to this album, let's clear up a few things surrounding ol' Max Cavalera and a lot of the critiscism that's been leveled at him since the beginning of Soulfly.

1)"His lyrics have gone all Christian" So the guy's beliefs don't match up with your own? So what? Why's that going to stop you enjoying his music? I adore Emperor, even though Faust was a neo-Nazi homophobic nutjob - that has nothing to do with the music. And besides, Max's lyrics aren't strictly speaking Christian. They suggest that Max believes in some kind of higher power and deity but they also hint at a strong belief in oneself, an idea which has far more in common with romanticsm, paganism, even some traditional strands of satanism and other beliefs incorporated by bands like Bathory rather than the strict, narrow-minded monotheistic belief systems favoured by artists like James Hetfield and Dave Mustaine...but that's never stopped you playing 'Master Of Puppets' and 'Rust In Peace' a million and one times, now, has it?

2) "He keeps messing around with tribal elements and pointless instrumentals" The tribal element was an important part of Sepultura from day one. Granted, it wasn't always so blatant as it is in Soulfly, but these rythyms have been a part of all Max's work (with the possible excpetion of Nailbomb, but even then he still brings a little in). As for the instrumentals, well, I personally love them, and think it's awesome that a relatively mainstream metal musician in this day and age is willing to broaden their pallete and experiment with such things.

3) "He dyed his dreads pink and brought in a stupid ammount of guests!" Again, like the first point, the fact that he did anything to his physical appearance is irrelevant. You know those toddlers that enjoy pop bands purely based on their image? If you're refusing to listen to Max because of anything as trivial as the colour of his hair then there is nothing seperating the two of you, don't be so ridiculous. And yes, the number of guest appearances did get a bit silly during Primitive, and yes, this did produce some terrible music. But a lot of them worked and sounded really cool, and lets not forget Sepultura began collaborating with a lot of various different tribal artists after a while, with very impressive results.

4) "He did a song with Fred Durst!" OK....you've got me there. I see no way of justifying that, but hey, everyone makes mistakes, right? Need I remind you that Limp Bizkit nabbed House Of Pain's DJ...are you going to stop listening to House Of Pain because of that? So, are you gonna ignore all of Max's astonishing work with Sepultura and all the great music he went on to make because of one poor collaboration? I'm not saying you have to listen to this song (I've only been able to listen to it once or twice without wanting to wretch myself) but don't judge an artist based on one song.

5) "He doesn't write thrash anymore!" Enter 'Dark Ages'...

Without a doubt, this is THE best Soulfly album Max has ever written. It's much better than the new Sepultura stuff, even. After the hit-and-miss sludgery of the debut, the below-par 'Primitive' and not-too-hot '3', you'd be forgiven for maybe thinking Max was past it, but then 'Prophecy' began to pick up the pace again with a set of songs not too similair from Sepultura's 'Roots' but with a definite Soulfly feel. Well, this is Soulfly's 'Chaos AD'. Epic, triumphant thrash successfully married to tribal rythyms, Eastern folk, dub and reggae amongst others. If you were ever a Sepultura fan, you owe it to yourself to check this out. Very impressive.

From the moment Max Cavalera was out from the band he fronted for more than 10 years (Sepultura, of course...), he was facing the dilemma that pursues anyone who steps aside from an established act. He could stick to the proven formula (after all he was the principal songwriter of the band) and continue working in his familiar style. Otherwise, he could build his new band from scratch. He chose another part - taking the modus operandi of the last Sepultura albums Chaos A.D. and Roots - he broadened and expanded it, further establishing the tribe-metal style. However the first lineup of this outfit lacked the crucial ingredients for further buildup. The major drawback was absence of a stable lead guitarist. The only constant bandmember these years was the bass player Marcello Diaz (former Sepultura roadie).
Prior to the recording of the Prophecy album Max came with the inevitable change. Entered ex-Ill Nino flamenco-shredder Marc Rizzo. For me he is complimenting Max the Riffmeister much better than Sepultura axeman Andreas Kisser. Their teamwork proved itself well in the band's two last outputs.
Dark Ages is the most recent Soulfly record, released in 2005. The overall vibe is very much Sepultura-like, pushing forward thrashing riffs instead of decorating with them fusion experiments that were prominent on previous releases. Outstanding songs for me would be I and I that fuses Max's trademark diesel riffs with a nice mellow passage, solid thrashers Babylon, Carved Inside, and Arise Again (a nod to the Sepultura glory days?). Several misses I found here are: the stupid singing in Russian on Molotov song (F^&*k the war, maneuvers are the main thing -?!!!!) that is pretty lame anyway, the familiar tribal drumming and chanting about Zumbi the hero - we've been in this movie already. Finally, the too long instrumental Soulfly V. In general, this is the finest Soulfly album (apart from its predecessor maybe - the excellent Prophecy). Hopefully this lineup of the band will produce more great music!!!

I was, and still am addicted to the first Soulfly release. Primitive came out, and pissed me off. I grabbed a few tracks off of 3 that drove me nuts, and totally abandoned Prophecy. Only after searching for hard heavy metal music I decided to give an old band a visit thanks to related links, and I guess growing up a metal head it was before my time?

Well here I am now a total of 7 years later and I got all 5 albums in the front of my 'bible' of an album book. Got em all at once, and you can read my reviews on each one with Prophecy rating all four.

This album is dark. The vibe this album carries is jaw dropping. Having known Max for being hurt over his son's death, and then patriotic with 9/11, then just jamming hard and worshipping god and faith, this album is like a damn therapy album for him. It has to be...

From the very beginning this disc starts off with the Arabian instrumentation that I know nothing of, but love and then it roars with a memorable drum roll kicking off the second track. From then on it gets harder and harder. I'm pretty sure the line up on this album was the same guys from disc one? If not then shoot me, but it's got at least a couple...

Most of the reviews say it goes back to Sepultura's roots, which personally I was never a big fan of cuz I can only take so much thrashing, and repetitiveness. The instrumentation and prodduction provided a good change with classic to modern - with solos being thrown in and sounding accurate. Max's vocals seem to have lol finally developed and sounded at their best. He's got this grind in his throat that doesn't sound overdone, and he's deeper in tone, but not throat clearing you know?

The lyrics and the PULSE of each song is what totally won me over. It's dark, simply put. It's like being in the head of a soldier, or philosophical thought of an anti war person who knows from being there what the feeling is. Hatred, violence, death, murder, suicide, regret, and prayer. It seems as if after all his patriotism towards the war and god being on his side, he feels robbed. He's angry. He's confused, and he's very pissed off.

This is definately an album to look into more than just good hard rocking music because his lyrics actually have heart in them, more than before and he's crying out/admitting mistakes. The war politcally and medialy has turned sour, and he knows it. We're getting more bodies shipped with freight than 9/11 victims' identifable body parts. It's by no means a political record, but to me it seems that he too is just fed up with everything in life, the government and right now Dana's justice being served is kinda secondary, also considering the feds have never closed the case..

I could explain this album so much why it's definately my top 3 right now, but the editors won't take it. vIf you've read my reviews and they've helped you buy, this will sell too. This album is a change of style, this album actually sounds like a BAND rather than random tracks thrown onto a disc. This album has a flow, even a marching song before a battle!! It's got the same breaks of tribal elements down tuned beaten with upside down drumsticks and not just palmed bongos.. The disc is black, the art is black and white, skulls and bones, the whole gothic symbol of oh s--- this isn't good. Buy it, and it'll be hardest if not the best Soulfly album yet. I promise mo fo's...

I read the first guys review for dark ages, and man give them some credit. I like there are more solos and guitar work. The songs are longer and are mostly metal. What I mean by mostly, is that Max and the rest continue to break down into chill vibes here and there, which is what I and most soulfly fans admire about them. Though it's not like the album prophecy in ways, the mellower monments aren't as long, but it works well. I like the riffs and the the different bridges, Example "I and I". Also on every Soulfy album there is an instrunmental, this one is by far the BEST "soulfy 5" and it is a little over 10 minutes long. I also want to point out that SOULFY doesn't have to scream about satan and how they want the world to burn in hell because they were picked on as being different as kids. Don't get me wrong I'm not trying to set a stereotype for metal, because I love it. You know what i'm saying. Soulfly is spiritual, and they do preech about war and destruction, but that is what has been going on the past years, and Max is screaming what everyone wants to Fxxxing say! You know what I'm talking about, especially listening to this new album and the Prohecy album. I own and like all of their albums and their dvd. You should check out the dvd. After prophecy, Max felt the guys in this band, were what fit in Dark Ages and I agree. Though the others are exceptionally awaesome, These guys are the soulfly to stay.

Soulfly steers away from the defunct nu-metal bandwagon and proves that Max didn't sell out with "Dark Ages". This brings back the days of older Sepultura and, once again, no help from any musicians for the 3rd time. Marc Rizzo is a hell of an amazing guitarist and can shred really great. There's less tribal influence on this one, but if you're a fan of modern thrash/groove metal, pick this up. You will be blown away.

i really love the dark ages album, i listen to this album every day, sometimes two or three times.
this album sounds heavier, and more thrash than the previous Soulfly albums. Some reggae and tribal influences are here as well, and they fit very well to the whole result.
all songs are very good, but i like most "arise again", "frontlines", "innerspirit", "carved inside".
i saw Soulfly live two days ago, i visited Greece especially for this event, i'm happy it was more than worthy.
well, i would suggest that you should buy this album:)

I've been waiting for one half to finally play some metal, Sepultura hasn't put a good album since roots and Soulfly has never been the greatest band, though if they can keep releasing albums like "Dark Ages" I might have to retract that statement, this is one of the best thrash cd's in the last decade, it's good to see Max found his roots, now lets see if the other side can match up. in the meantime I'll be standing at the "frontlines" waving the soulfly banner high.