We do not need to investigate and analyze the reasons why Max Cavalera comes back full of anger and darkness with Soulfly’s latest release entitled “Archangel”. At the very first listening, “Archangel” seems to endorse an old fashioned death metal brutality and to lack a fancy dose of tribal allegory but you could get used to all this.
“We Sold Our Souls To Metal” is all fast and furious with thundering drums and old school guitar riffs building a breathless rhythm. Only later on, you will notice some artistic details and real emotions emerging through the chaos.
On the title track, you can easily perceive the dark soul of this album in Cavalera’s performance with scorned powerful growls layered over a dizzy murky rhythm where the occasional technical guitar solo finds its time to shine.
“Ishtar Rising” has a distinguishable groove easier to follow without suffocating or enraging side effects. The guitar riffs are all about building the right exasperating wall of sound that will trigger a proper headbanging in the occasional listener.
In the midst of the ever-growing anger against all that is uselessly violent and relentlessly unjust, on “Shamash” the lead guitar works to create a transcendental atmosphere that could mitigate the rough brutality of the rhythmic section.
On “Mother Of Dragons” every bit of passionate wrath or mystical deluge is concentrated in a delusional fast groove where the creative guitar solo smoothly brings an adequate sense of solace.
Overall, “Archangel” delivers a compact musical narrative that often pays homage to the most primordial thrash metal elements but lacks the enticing variety that could attract a wider range of listeners.