Customer Reviews

Primitive

5 star:		(48)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

"Energy in the purest form" isn't only a line shouted by Tom Araya in "Terrorist", it's also the perfect way to describe this album. "Primitive" is nothing short of sheer grade-A energy and excitement. Full to the brim with roaring riffs, energetic vocals and bouncy drums. After the opening acoustic guitar of the opening track, Max and Co. push the pedal to the metal and don't let up until track six.

In a lot of ways, "Primitive" picks up where Soulfly's debut left off (with its hard hitting songs, four chord guitars and tribal drums), but this album also encorporates a few new elements into Soulfly's wall of sound: keyboards, samples, and a slew of guest vocalists (Chino Moreno of the Deftones guests on "Pain", John Lennon's son Sean Lennon contributes vocals and keyboards to "Son Song", Corey Taylor of Slipknot shows up on "JumpDaF**kUp" and Slayer's Tom Araya helps out on "Terrorist".) If you think it's clever of Max to blend these things into death metal, you haven't seen anything yet (check out Soulfly's latest album "Prophecy.")

Highlights include:

Chino begins his cameo on "Pain" with a spittle-flecked rap, but, as the song progresses, he really lets loose. He and Max trade off yelling "You can't mask. Pain! My pain! Our pain!"
"Bring It" begins as an unrelenting monster of a song, but midway through an almost reggae interlude intervines. Don't fear, though, because all of the heaviness comes back after the interlude.
"Jumpdaf*ckup" is probably a personal favorite. If there was ever a song that was made for the mosh, this is it. Corey Taylor croons gently throughout most of the song, until he erupts for the chorus.
"Boom"'s chorus ("Whachu got, whachuwachu got, whachu got, boom!") will be stuck in your head all day long.
"Terrorist" has shredding vocals by the aforementioned Tom Araya. But his voice sounds like Slayer circa 2001, not 1986 (he is not yelling so fast, here, that you can't make out the words.)

The only two songs I could have done without are "Soulfly 2" and "In Memory of...". "Soulfly 2" is a six minute instrumental and, while it is nice to have an oasis after such hard hitting metal, this one is no where near as creative or pretty as "Soulfly 3" or "4." And "In Memory of..." has an almost hip-hop beat for a couple of guest singers (one of whom sounds like Fred Durst at one point) to rap over. This song has it's heavy points, but the rap just doesn't work, here.

Some skeptics say gathering a bunch of guest vocalists is a move a nu-metal band would make. I don't disagree with this statement, but "Primitive" is much more (and much more heavy) than a typical nu-metal album. I'd call it "tribal beat metal", "nu-death metal" or even "artsy metal".

To conclude, if you're looking for a fun, aggressive listen that gets your blood pumping, look no further than "Primitive".

Wow What A record! This is a moving, emotional and dare I say spirutual Cd. I have always been a fan of Sepultura and continueto support both bands in their musical quests. That said Primitive is an amazing cd. Max and his tribe tear it up on this cd without one bad song on the whole disc. Now I love Max's voice as much as the next guy but it sometimes can get repeative. But here's the beauty of this disc Max brings in new singers to duet with him adding a much needed variety to this album. Some surprizes are Corey Taylor ( Slipknot) on Jumpdaf**kup showing off alot better vocals then his current bands disc. Max also get a stunning performance out of Sean Leannon on Son's Song. Hearing Max and Sean combine vocals on a song about lost fathers is truly a lasting experience. All the songs carry different moods and tones and this is just 100 % better than the 1st disc. Plus the disc comes with two live tracks Eye for Eye and Tribe. One interesting industrial track Solfire and a reworking of the greatet instrumental ever Soulfly. By the way their is a straight rap song on this record but it is done to mourn the loss of friends and continues the highly regarded merger of rap and metal in the vein of Anthrax/Public Enemy. Their is also some lovely R&B singing on the Chrous of the last song. A true masterpiece plus the digipack is cheaper than the regular cd.

I have always been a big fan of Maxs work, from sepultura to nailbomb and soulfly. one of my all time fave groups is always gonna be sepultura, and hearing max was kicked out was somethin that i thought would kill the metal world. soon, he came back with soulfly, a decent album but nothing near the genius work with sepultura. the debut was full of agression yet something was lacking. i noticed this album, expecting the same ol fare, but i was shocked to hear a better album. The drums are clearer, even more aggressive than before. The bass stands out a lot better, making its mark on my ears. the guitar work is much improved as well. the songs are better also, the writing seems a little more focused than before yet still containing the aggressive tone of the past. Max is still in top form here, going from tribal chant to guttaral scream in seconds. standouts are tracks 1-6,8, and 12. the best is the one with corey from slipknot (another great band), second being terrorist with tom araya of slayer fame. all in all, worth all the pennies spent, a helluva release.

The revolution continues ! This second album proves (at least to me) that Max picked up from where Sepultura finished up and carried on with the most impressive heavy metal revolution in years. If you enjoyed their first album, you'll love this one. If this is your first SoulFly album, please proceed to open your mind before listening to it, this is something radically different from what you might be used to. There's a masterful mix of latin and tribal backgrounds with fast, "take no prisioners" heavy metal and even some rap. Portuguese mix with English in a way that leaves you wishing you spoke both languages fluidly enough to sing along. As it is seems to be the norm with late Sepultura / Soulfy, there's an all instrumental track that provides a well deserved rest to your ears just before the frontal assault continues. In short, Max keeps improving upon his previous masterpiece and proves once and for all that he's one of the premier heavy metal musicians of this new century.

Soulfly is back with another installment of the brazilian style version of metal. High expectations were the norm when compaired to the debut. Fortunately, you won't be disapointed in this release either. Max's usage of persussion and melodic latin influenced rhythms are unique as well as innovative. Couple those pulsating beats with low end, hauntingly deep bass lines and you will have an intense mix of aggro potency. The cd takes you on a journey through the mind of the oppressed as well as the victorious. Through max's growling, throaty lyrics, the listener is enveloped into a mixture of sonic noise until the music shifts into a lighter, flowing latin plain. Some of the songs contain a pop feel to them as well except for the painful crys of the guitar. The listener is bombarded with unpredictable noise from all directions. This cd requires more than one listen before completely comprehending the complexity and diversity within the realm of heavy metal. If you bought the first cd, you will not be unhappy with this cd.

This is a very unique album. It has the heavy metal laced with the tribal feel. These guys really know how to make it work. This cd is, pretty much, the heaviest you can get. Max is one of the most ferocious screamers to ever grace a metal album. The guest artists really help put some more color into this as well. I really liked hearing from Corey Taylor and Tom Araya, but the highlight of the guests artists has to be Sean Lennon on Son Song. I really think this one is a little more than your typical Nu-metal release. There are a few flaws in the album though. First off, the lyrics can be bad at some points. No disrespect or anything, but alot of these lyrics are terrible. For the most part it doesn't matter though, because most of these are screamed so powerfully that you don't realize or care what he's actually saying. Another thing, I could have done without "In Memory Of.." Incorporating rap on this album just doesn't work. Other than those few mishaps everything is great. The guitar work is creative. There are alot of cool effects and bouncy riffs. The drumming is also worth mentioning because it really captures that tribal feel. These guys are one of the very few bands that can incorporate the tribal beats with the metal guitar. There are also alot of acient instruments played throughout that work extremely well. To sum this all up, I think everyone should be warned of this cd's flaws ahead of time, it's only fair, but this really is a great album that is definitely worth owning.

The current onslaught of angry rap-metal bands, while purporting to be 'innovative' when the rap-rock combination has actually existed for close to twenty years, also have another problem: there's no melody to speak of. Slipknot has come the closest to integrating melody and raprock, but no one has been able to take the ultimately narrow genre to a new level until now.

The latest cd by Max Cavalera's outfit Soulfly combines, memorable hooks, native Brazilian percussion and instrumentation, guest vocalists and musicians, as well as ferocious guitarwork and vocals comprising Primitive, one of the best metal albums I've heard in the past couple years. 'Back To The Primitive', 'Mulambo', and 'Terrorist' are all strong examples of Cavalera's musical experiments succeeding, buy the real standouts are the six-minute instrumental 'Soulfly II' and 'Fly High', the latter song being a perfect combination of Cavalera's rage and Asha Rabouin's uplifting vocals in the chorus.

Lyrically, it's not great at times, with Cavalera ranting in very cliched terms, but perhaps his surprisingly strongest lyrics are in 'Terrorist'. A duet with Slayer's Tom Araya, the song is about the subversive qualities of rock music and the cathartic experience it can evoke. During the song Araya and Cavalera trade some of their older lyrics, Araya quoting Slayer's 'Criminally Insane', Cavalera quoting Sepultura's 'Inner Self', using the lyrics as examples of channeled anger while creating a new, intense sound.

Primitive is not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but at times it soars. Max Cavalera's effort is admirable, even though his lyrics leave something to be desired. With all the corn biscuit bands out there churning out the same old frat-boy mosh-mush, it's heartening to know there's someone in the new metal genre willing to take a chance and put out hard music with real soul.

First off, I'm not one of those guys who's like "oMg!1 mAx sOlD oWt wIf sOuLfLy && hE wEnT aLl mAlLxCoRe!11!! Waaaahhhh!!111one". Just thought I'd put that out, because bands should undergo change and people should stop being selfish.

Anyways, you really don't want this album. There's some decent tracks, like "Back To The Primitive", but the whole thing sounds like a mess, especially with the numerous number of guest vocalists ruining things up. One or two guest appearances is OK, but if you have like 8 of them, that's asking for too much. Also, if you really hate nu-metal with a passion (which I dislike most of it), you WILL hate this album. The tribal drumming is great, though. Also, there is repetition in quite a few of the tracks, like "Back To The Primitive", where Max says "Back to the primitive, f*ck all your *insert phrase here*" about 16 times. Haha. Just had to point this out.

If you want a good Soulfly album, check out "Prophecy" or "Dark Ages". If you want a better band, called Sepultura, check out "Beneath The Remains", "Arise", "Chaos A.D." and "Roots". Buy this one used, along with all the Sepultura albums with Derrick Green.

The 1st Soulfly CD was a Godsend. Max picked up where Roots left off. Very hard, very heavy, very tribal.

How can people say "Back to the Primitive" is better than Soulfly's debut? Quite frankly, this CD has too many guest musicians, pulling it into too many different directions, making it sound more like an experimental project. Rap and Pop have no place on a Soulfly CD. Hopefully, Max will get back to the basics and REALLY get back to the primitive on their next effort.

This is a solid metal album. Great catchy tunes and riffs. Awesome vocals from the great one Max Cavalera. Great guest vocals from the king Corey Taylor of Slipknot and the legendary Tom Araya from Slayer. It even has John Lennon's son singing in it..........A Must Buy!!!!!