Soulfly – "Totem"

Back to the Primitive

Lemme check... Yeah, it really has been fucking 14 years since I heard anything outta Soulfly – 2008's splendid "Conquer" album. And seeing as how that was their 6th, that means I've been missing out on HALF of their back catalogue, with "Totem" being their 12th full-length.

And after having heard "Totem" more than once, let me just state up front how sorry I am about that.

Yes, regardless of what's run under that proverbial bridge since then, Soulfly are at the top of their game here. Having long weeded out the most critical aspects from nu-metal, they're really more of a groovy thrash outfit at this point. And above all, they're as rough and aggressive as all the world's savage warrior tribes.

Opener and lead single "Superstition" thrashes toward the horizon as if it had nothing to lose. But even in all its brutality, the vocal lines are kinda catchy. And this effective combination of the hard-hitting with the simple and easily-recognizable is a songwriting trait in terms of which vocalist/guitarist and all-round mastermind Max Cavalera seems a bit underrated when he excels like he does here.

"Scouring the Vile", featuring a fittingly nasty contribution from Obituary vocalist John Tardy, might be seen as formulaic within the realm of groove metal, but it's hella dirty and confrontational, and that's what it's all about. And keep in mind, these fine tracks are coming from a man who was a vital part in shaping both thrash, groove, and even death metal on a global basis before anyone from that "Five Finger Death Punch" thingy had ever gotten their bone on.

Indeed, had the title track here been on one little record called, say, "Arise" ('91) or, I dunno, "Chaos A.D." ('93), it woulda been a classic on par with half of those classics that make up half the setlist at post-Max Sepultura shows since they're the only reason anyone has ever wanted to go see that band for the last quarter of a century.

And indeed, there are even heavier and sicker moments here, one such being the straight-up death metal riff opening in "Rot In Pain" – so death metal that it sounds unmistakably like the bridge in this one little 1989 track called "Immortal Rites" by this little band called Morbid Angel. And then there's the dissonant riffing in "Ecstasy of Gold" which, at times, is almost more Slayer that Slayer ever were (R.I.P.).

Just prior to that one, "Ancestors" – while by no means a bad track, mind you – is perhaps the least interesting one this time around. The coolest thing about "Totem" is that it thrashes so much more than I'd expected, so the mid-tempo groove tracks outstay their welcome a bit.

Having long weeded out the most critical aspects from nu-metal, Soulfly really are more of a groovy thrash outfit at this point. And above all, they're as rough and aggressive as all the world's savage warrior tribes.

However, this hardly counts for much downright critique. And anyway, it's around the end where we get one of those instrumental tracks named after the band itself (I'm just gonna assume there's been one on each record), which makes for some variation. "Soulfly XII" could have easily been much slower, more meticulous, and featured fewer elements, but, y'know, that's not why anyone's here.

Also, the ending "Spirit Animal" evolves into an actual dub song, which is cool. Apart from Cavalera's aforementioned flair for effectively combining brutality and simplicity, it's creative, genre-spanning ideas like this that make him and his band stand out on the global metal stage.

And while some of us are still awaiting that reunion of the actual Sepultura, it's records like this one that kinda make it worth the wait. (I mean, for all we know at this point.) And in any case, the Soulfly of 2022 – and, I imagine, several years before that – is more Sepultura than Sepultura's been since before we all had cell phones and anyone knew who Monica Lewinsky was.

Kinda makes you think.

Rating: 5 out of 6

Genre: Thrash/groove metal
Release date: 5/8/2022
Label: Nuclear Blast
Producer: Max Cavalera + Arthur Rizk