SOULFLY ~ Totem

Wow, this album is just insane.  Brings me back to early Sepultura, mix Beneath The Remains, Arise and Chaos A.D. and add a modern touch.
My album of the year is here already.

I need to check this out. Not a huge fan but if it taps into those early Sep albums I'm interested.

Black Rider wrote:I need to check this out. Not a huge fan but if it taps into those early Sep albums I'm interested.

Agreed on all counts.

I have it on my list to buy. I’ve been following Soulfly since they dropped the nu-Metal sound (pretty much when Marc Rizzo joined). I was already a big Sepultura fan prior (especially the Arise album).

After listening, it's more riff heavy then I remember then, maybe because they added the guitarist from Sumerlands. It's pretty good, I can see listening to a couple songs here and there but still not something I'm going to go all in on.

Arthur Rizk was actually the reason I was apprehensive about this album. I’m generally not a fan of his production style. He did Power Trip’s first album and it is completely unlistenable to me. It’s drenched in obnoxious reverb like the band was playing in a tunnel, the drums are dull and the vocals are buried. 

From what I’ve heard of the Soulfly album, he still uses a lot of reverb but it’s not as bad as before. I can tolerate it. 

Reverb is great with surf rock music and a little bit is good when applied correctly for effect (like Alex Skolnick’s leads on Souls of Black) and the Ted Templeman era of Van Halen. But when it’s blanketed on the whole production, especially a thrash album… no thanks!

Oh man, I love that Power Trip album, each to his own I guess.

Black Rider wrote:Oh man, I love that Power Trip album, each to his own I guess.

Yep, just like the vocals on Nonexistent by LS.