SOULFLY – ENSLAVED
Released 12th March 2012 (Roadrunner Records)

Words: Gaz Martinez

I won’t lie, I cannot say that I am overly familiar with this band, I’ve heard the name tossed around a few times and I am aware of Mr Cavelera’s connection to Sepultura and his Brazilian flag guitar, but other than that, Soulfly has regrettably passed me by all these years until now, when I get a taste of their style…How the hell did these guys escape my ears for so long!

There seem to b many influences that one can hear throughout Enslaved, the first track, World Scum really shows off some black metal vibes with the tremolo riffing, the guitar solo in Intervention carries a very heavy Kerry King influence, Gladiator’s opening riff would not sound out of place on a Cancer Bats album, and I believe I even hear a sitar here for a moment as well, it’s strange to hear all of these kind of influences on the one record, but they definitely show us not only the different styles that Max Cavelera & Co are influenced by, but that they are also capable of pulling them of as well. It’s all very metal, but it keeps leaning one way or the other, which makes for good listening, to an extent, no song sounds like the one before. This said, Soulfly are more than capable of delivering the straight up metal.

American Steel thuds and thrusts its way through the first minute or so before dropping seamlessly into the half-time-but-not-quite but-groovy-as-hell section, probably my favourite track, mainly on account of the slow bass section with a funky effect slapped on top of it, what it is escapes me, but it sounds great regardless. Plato O Plomo, (Silver or Lead) punches through with unbelievable amounts of groove and gut wrenchingly dirty chords, somehow spliced with splashes of classical guitar…mind rape, but beautiful mind rape.

And these are just a few of the highlights of Enslaved honestly, for a metal album, it’s all here, the only thing I can suggest is listen to is yourselves, I only just managed to listen to Soulfly, and boy do I regret it!