''Enslaved'' is the eighth studio album by American heavy metal band

Soulfly Soulfly is an American heavy metal music, heavy metal band formed in Phoenix, Arizona in 1997. Soulfly is led by former Sepultura frontman Max Cavalera, who formed the band after he left the Brazilian group in 1996. To date the band has release ...

. It was recorded in fall 2011, mostly in Tallcat Studios in

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona. With over 1.6 million residents at the 2020 census, it is the ...

Zeuss Christopher Harris (born April 1, 1972), known professionally as Chris "Zeuss" Harris or simply Zeuss, is an American record producer. Biography Zeuss is best known in the worlds of hard rock, heavy metal music, hardcore punk, and metalcore. H ...

produced this album. This is the first album to feature Asesino frontman

Tony Campos Antonio Campos (born March 8, 1973) is an American musician. He is the current bassist for the industrial metal bands Static-X and Fear Factory and the vocalist and bassist for the extreme metal band Asesino. He has previously played with Prong ...

on bass, and the only album to feature former

Borknagar Borknagar is a Norwegian progressive metal band with black metal and folk influences. It was founded in Bergen in 1995 by Øystein Garnes Brun primarily as a black metal band before later switching to a more melodic and progressive style. Borkn ...

drummer

David Kinkade David W. Kinkade (born August 25, 1983) is an American metal drummer. Biography David Kinkade was born in New Jersey in 1983. At the age of three, he started picking up drums after his grandfather gave him his first drum kit. He has become kn ...

on drums, and their last studio album to be released through

Roadrunner Records Roadrunner Records is a Dutch–American record label focused on Heavy metal music, heavy metal and hard rock music. Founded in the Netherlands in 1980, it is now a division of Warner Music Group and is based in New York City. Formerly seen as ...

Album information

Guests on the album include

Dez Fafara Bradley James "Dez" Fafara is an American vocalist who performs in the metal bands DevilDriver and Coal Chamber. Early life Fafara is of Portuguese and Italian descent. His father, Tiger Fafara, and his late uncle, Stanley Fafara, were child ...

Coal Chamber Coal Chamber is an American nu metal band formed by Dez Fafara and Meegs Rascón in Los Angeles in 1992, initially under the name She's in Pain. The original lineup also consisted of bassist Rayna Foss and drummer Jon Tor. Mike Cox replaced Tor ...

and

DevilDriver DevilDriver is an American heavy metal music, heavy metal band from Santa Barbara, California, Santa Barbara, California, formed in 2002, consisting of vocalist Dez Fafara, bassist Jon Miller, guitarist Alex Lee and drummer Davier Pérez. The b ...

on "Redemption of Man by God" and Travis Ryan of

Cattle Decapitation Cattle Decapitation is an American deathgrind band formed in San Diego, California, in 1996. The band's current lineup includes vocalist Travis Ryan, guitarists Josh Elmore and Belisario Dimuzio, and drummer David McGraw. Since 2001, none of th ...

on "World Scum", whose vocals were recorded at Frick'In Studios in San Marcos, California. Ryan was brought in to record vocals in place of Adam Warren of Oceano. One song features a guest violinist, among other new styles that they have incorporated into their sound. The album features more death metal influence than their previous releases.

Songs

" World Scum" is the album's only single released on January 25, 2012 with a video released on February 16. The song "Revengeance" features Max Cavalera's sons, and the lyrics are about the murder of his stepson Dana Wells. "Gladiator", leaked online several days before the release of the album, is a melodic song about Roman gladiators. "Plata O Plomo" features Marc Rizzo playing the

flamenco guitar A flamenco guitar is a guitar similar to a classical guitar, but with lower action, thinner tops and less internal bracing. It usually has nylon strings, like the classical guitar, but it generally possesses a livelier, grittier sound compared ...

, as well as use of Portuguese and Spanish lyrics. "Soulfly VIII" is the first Soulfly song to feature a violin, performed by Tim Sadow.

Reception

The album debuted at number 83 on the

Canadian Albums Chart The ''Billboard'' Canadian Albums is the official record chart A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of Sound recording and reproduction, recorded music according to certain criteria during a given ...

. According to

Blabbermouth.net ''Blabbermouth.net'' is a website dedicated to metal and rock news, as well as album and music DVD reviews. It is run by the website's founder Borivoj Krgin. The first version of the website was launched in March 2001. In October 2001, the rec ...

, ''Enslaved'' sold 5,900 copies during the first week of its release in the US, thus reaching number 82 on the ''Billboard'' 200 chart. ''Enslaved'' received mixed reviews by critics. Then-drummer David Kinkade described the album as "'' Arise'' on crack." According to

PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, ...

, "every song fits into the structure and tone to create a memorable record packed with outstanding content." '' Q'' had a negative response because, according to them,

world music "World music" is an English phrase for styles of music from non-English speaking countries, including quasi-traditional, Cross-cultural communication, intercultural, and traditional music. World music's broad nature and elasticity as a musical ...

elements are getting stale. Greg Pratt of ''

Exclaim! ''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly ''Exclaim!'' print magazine publishes seven ...

'' wrote that "this album is the band's best yet, as well as the least caught up in "look at this!" eccentricities, adding up to a solid outing, one that never quite gets to death metal, even with blast beats littered throughout. Instead, it's just huge, thick, thrashed-out, aggro-dude metal, but with, like, 20-percent less neon-dread content."

Track listing

Personnel

;Soulfly *

Max Cavalera Massimiliano Antonio "Max" Cavalera (; born 4 August 1969) is a Brazilian musician. He co-founded the Heavy metal music, heavy metal band Sepultura in 1984 with his brother Igor Cavalera, and was the band's lead singer and rhythm guitarist unti ...

–

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a guitar technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse (music), pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., d ...

sitar The sitar ( or ; ) is a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music. The instrument was invented in the 18th century, and arrived at its present form in 19th-century India. Khusrau K ...

Marc Rizzo Marc Rizzo (born August 2, 1977) is an American musician, best known as the former lead guitarist of metal band Soulfly. He has featured on eight Soulfly albums: ''Prophecy'', '' Dark Ages'', ''Conquer'', ''Omen'', '' Enslaved'', '' Savages'', ...

–

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featur ...

on "Plata O Plomo" *

–

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

, vocals on "Plata O Plomo" *

–

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

;Additional musicians * Travis Ryan – additional vocals on " World Scum" *

– additional vocals on "Redemption of Man by God" *Richie Cavalera – additional vocals on "Revengeance" *Igor Cavalera Jr. – additional vocals and guitar on "Revengeance" *

Zyon Cavalera Zyon Cavalera (born January 19, 1993) is an American musician who is the current drummer for metal bands Soulfly and Lody Kong. He is the son of ex-Sepultura and current Soulfly frontman Max Cavalera. Background Zyon Cavalera was born on Janua ...

– drums on "Revengeance" *Tim Sadow –

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

on "Soulfly VIII" ;Production *

– production, engineering, mixing, mastering *Dan Frick – additional vocals recording on "World Scum" *

Monte Conner Monte Conner is an American music executive and artists and repertoire (A&R) representative. He was the former senior vice president of A&R for Roadrunner Records from 1988 until 2012, and is currently the head of A&R at Nuclear Blast Records. ...

– A&R ;Management *Gloria Cavalera – management *Christina Stajanovic – assistant *Bryan Roberts – assistant ;Artwork *Marcelo Vasco – cover art *Kevin Estrada – photography *Myriam Santos – Max live shot in purple *Leo Zuletta – Soulfly logo

Chart positions

References

External links

* {{Authority control Soulfly albums 2012 albums Roadrunner Records albums Albums produced by Max Cavalera Albums produced by Chris "Zeuss" Harris