Tag Archives: Soulfly Ritual Album Review

This October 19^th, 2018 Brazilian metal veterans Soulfly are set to release their 11^th full-length album, ‘Ritual’ via Nuclear Blast.  In recent interviews, frontman/guitarist Max Cavalera has described the new album’s sound as “tribal-death-thrash.” In the early years, Soulfly could be described as more of a nu-metal act that incorporated elements of thrash, tribal percussions, and reggae into the mix, so the direction of ‘Ritual’ was intended to be something of a return to earlier form for the band which has taken on more of a traditional groove-thrash approach as of late. Max, who left the legendary Sepultura to pursue Soulfly as his main musical outlet in 1998 has traditionally invited a number of guest artists to feature on each album, while the main band lineup itself has been something of a revolving door for a number of years – aside from lead guitar shredder Marc Rizzo since 2003. In 2012, Max’s son Zyon Cavalera joined the group as drummer and has continued on as a permanent member ever since, while providing progressively more impressive skills behind the kit with each new album release. Appearing for the first time on album with the band and signing on in 2015 is Mike Leon on bass. Staying true to tradition, ‘Ritual’ features powerful guest performances from metal heavy-hitters Randy Blythe (Lamb of God) and Ross Dolan (Immolation). Continue reading →