Album Review: Ritual by Soulfly

The stalwart Max Cavalera-led metal ensemble's 11th full-length effort, Ritual commences with the familiar sounds of tribal drums and chants, which are eventually laid to waste by the four-alarm-fire wail of Marc Rizzo's Washburn seven-string. Add to the blaze the seismic heft of Cavalera's 60-grit vocals and the savage rhythm section of Mike Leon (bass) and Cavalera's son Zyon (drums), and you've got one of Soulfly's best opening salvos in ages. Steeped in the lurching, groove-laden thrash attack of the band's late-'90s/early-2000s heyday, Ritual evokes the savagery of Cavalera's tenure with Sepultura, eschewing some of the more overt world music predilections that have come to define Soulfly over the years with something leaner and more uncompromising -- some of that sonic fury can be attributed to producer Josh Wilbur (Killer Be Killed, Gojira), who has described himself as a Sepultura superfan.

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In the metal community, Max Cavalera's name carries attention-grabbing weight. Whether it's his legacy leading Sepultura, dragging nu-metal into the thrash world while avoiding a lot of the cringe-worthy aspects of '90s bro-metal, or any of his other consistently good projects like Nailbomb or Cavalera Conspiracy, the man has stayed busy and remains relevant. Although the past few Soulfly records have been somewhat forgettable, their latest, Ritual, is some of the best work the band have done so far.   The most notable thing about Ritual ….

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