Soulfly III [PA]

Soulfly includes: Max Cavalera (vocals, guitar, sitar, berimbau); Mikey Doling (guitar, percussion); Marcelo Diaz (bass, percussion, sound effects, background vocals); Roy Mayorga (drums, percussion).
Additional personnel includes: Otto D'Agnolo (keyboards); Greg Hall (drums).
Recorded at Chaton Studios, Phoenix, Arizona.
Personnel: Max Cavalera (vocals, guitar, berimbau, sitar); Matthew Clark, Jose Angel Navarro, Igor Cavalera, Susan Clark, Michael Cook (chant); Mickey Doling (guitar, percussion); Wiley Arnett (guitar); Otto D'Agnolo (keyboards); Roy Mayorga (drums, percussion); Greg Hall (drums); Meia Noite (percussion); John Naylor (programming).
Audio Mixers: Max Cavalera; Otto D'Agnolo; Terry Date.
Recording information: Chaton Studios, Phoenix, AZ.
Photographers: Neville Garrick; Kevin Estrada; Glen LaFerman; Max Cavalera.
Arrangers: Meia Noite; Max Cavalera.
Sorcerers of speed metal, protectors of the mighty thrash, knights of the double kick drum--Soulfly are out to take no prisoners with their third album--titled, of course, III. Ex-Sepultura mainman Max Cavalera pulls out all the stops with a jawdropping melange of churning, screaming guitars, throaty Cookie Monster vocals, and polyrhythmic percussion that, occasionally combined with sampled effects, is simultaneously hypnotic and overwhelming. "Downstroy" starts as the band means to continue--full-tilt, while the climax of "Enterfaith" incorporates a bowel-loosening kick drum attack that makes one thankful for the comparatively low-key "One" that immediately follows. There's a Portuguese language track ("Brasil"), followed by a charmingly mesmerizing downtempo interlude in the first couple of minutes of the extended "Tree of Pain," which of course soon metamorphoses into a more literal musical representation of agony. With a pedigree like Cavalera's musical satisfaction is practically guaranteed, and the melding of speed, thrash and nu-metal with imaginative sampling and Brazilian rhythms here conveys a musical depth that makes III a consistently absorbing experience.

• Format: CD
• Genre: Heavy Metal