Omen Cd Review

Front-man Max Cavalera fuels Omen with the same fiery Metal spirit that made him an icon with Sepultura (1997). Incorporating many styles of Metal from Brazilian Tribal to Thrash Metal and Punk, Soulfly have had all of their six studio albums debut on the United States Billboard 200. Following suit to 2008's Conquer...

Omen is Soulfly's seventh and more furious album where, according to Max, draws on Soulfly's past but is a taste of their future. It is the culmination of over a decade of growth.

The band has previously had special guest performances from the likes of Slipknot's Corey Taylor, Deftones' Chino Moreno as well as Slayer's Tom Araya. In Omen they have introduced again an interesting crew; Greg Puciato from Dillinger Escape Plan and Tommy Victor from Prong for song “Lethal Injection”.

Recorded with producer Logan Mader (Cavalera Conspiracy, DevilDriver and Gojira) the album highlights Max's unmistakable vocals, Marc's amazing leads, Bobby's bass and Joe's rumbles and blasting on drums. “Bloodbath and Beyond” is a killer opening tune with no intro and just hitting straight to the hardcore essence that is Omen. Influenced by Rage Against The Machine, the riffs are Thrashy and Punky with some broken-down late 80's Death Metal and melodic solos.

“Rise Of The Fallen” has very slight Electronic/Nintendo elements and fit in well with the song, where “Great Depression” is more thrashier with awesome tongue-gnawing solos and catchy tunes. “Vulture Culture” gets quite messy but starts sounding better with the harmonious melodies introduced later in the song. Songs like “Mega Doom” and “Counter Sabotage” sound very similar, but as soon as one thinks things are getting too monotonous Max throws in a massive curve ball - “Soulfly VII”.

The last track on the album is quite bizarre and doesn't quite fit well with the other tracks. It is an instrumental piece that sounds as though it could be the background music one hears when watching a dolphin show! It does stand out from the other heavily distorted and brutal 10 tracks though.

The entire album is a culmination of interesting harmonies and changeovers, awesome solos and is unquestionably head-banging material. This band is definitely still relevant to Metal fans.

Reviewed By: Tamlyn Grey

Omen Tracklist

01. Bloodbath & Beyond
02. Rise Of The Fallen
03. Great Depression
04. Lethal Injection
05. Kingdom
06. Jeffrey Dahmer
07. Off With Their Heads
08. Vulture Culture
09. Mega Doom
10. Counter Sabotage
11. Soulfly VII

Deluxe Edition Bonus Tracks:

12. Four Sticks (Led Zeppelin cover)
13. Refuse/Resist (Sepultura cover)
14. Your Life, My Life (Excel cover)

Soulfly Line-up

Max Cavalera - vocals, 4-strings guitar, sitar
Marc Rizzo - guitar, flamenco guitar
Bobby Burns - bass
Joe Nunez - drums, percussion
Branden Krull - keyboards
Greg Puciato - vocals on "Rise of the Fallen"
Tommy Victor - vocals on "Lethal Injection"
Zyon Cavalera - drums on "Refuse/Resist"
Igor Cavalera - drums on "Your Life, My Life"

Soulfly Weblinks

Buy/Downloads