''Ritual'' is the eleventh album by American heavy metal band

Soulfly Soulfly is an American heavy metal band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1997, and later based out of Phoenix, Arizona. Soulfly is led by former Sepultura frontman Max Cavalera, who formed the band after he left the Brazilian group in 199 ...

, released on October 19, 2018, through

Nuclear Blast Nuclear Blast is a record label and mail order record distributor with subsidiaries in Germany, the United States and Brazil. The label was founded in 1987 by Markus Staiger in Germany. Originally releasing hardcore punk records, the label mov ...

. It is the third Soulfly album with

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

's son Zyon behind the drum kit, and the last album to feature lead guitarist

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' ...

, and features musical guests

Randy Blythe Randy is a given name, popular in the United States and Canada. It is primarily a masculine name. It was originally derived from the names Randall, Randolf, Randolph, as well as Bertrand and Andrew, and may be a short form (hypocorism) of them ...

Lamb of God Lamb of God ( el, Ἀμνὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ, Amnòs toû Theoû; la, Agnus Dei, ) is a title for Jesus that appears in the Gospel of John. It appears at John 1:29, where John the Baptist sees Jesus and exclaims, "Behold the Lamb of God wh ...

Ross Dolan Immolation is an American death metal band from Yonkers, New York. They are considered one of the leaders of the New York death metal scene along with Incantation, Mortician and Suffocation. History Immolation was founded after the demise o ...

of Immolation, and Mark Damon of

The Pretty Reckless The Pretty Reckless is an American rock band from New York City, formed in 2009. The band consists of Taylor Momsen (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Ben Phillips (lead guitar, backing vocals), Mark Damon (bass), and Jamie Perkins (drums). The band ...

.Soulfly Return with New Album 'Ritual'
''Exclaim!''. Four singles were released from the album—"Evil Empowered", title track "Ritual", "Dead Behind the Eyes", and "Under Rapture". The album was produced by Josh Wilbur. Max Cavalera published the statement and said "For this one, we really tried to retain the groove of early Soulfly as well as my love for the heavy, fast stuff I'm into: like death and black metal and some hardcore. Working with Josh Wilbur for Soulfly this time around has been amazing. He's a huge fan and added a lot to the record. I would fight for the fast songs and he would always push me to add more groove. I think in the end we created a really cool mix of songs that covers a lot of ground in my career." ''Ritual'' sold 3,600 copies in its first week of release in the US and is the first Soulfly album to not debut on the Billboard 200.

Reception

Ritual received generally favorable reviews by critics, with the aggregate score of 75% on

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

. Prior to release, ''Wall of Sound'' writer Jim Birkin rated the album 9/10, stating: "There is undoubtedly some old school Cavalera creeping into his music these days and that can only be a good thing. May all future Soulfly albums contain Josh Wilbur in its production." This album was awarded a 2018 Metal Storm Award for Best Thrash Metal Album.

Track listing

Personnel

;Soulfly *

– vocals, rhythm guitar, sitar on "Soulfly XI" *

– lead guitar, flamenco guitar on "Soulfly XI" *

Zyon Cavalera Zyon Cavalera (born January 19, 1993) is an American drummer, best known as the son of ex-Sepultura frontman Max Cavalera and as the current drummer for Soulfly and Lody Kong. Background Zyon Cavalera was born on January 19, 1993. His father M ...

– drums, percussion * Mike Leon – bass ;Additional musicians * Nick Rowe – programming * Gary Elthie – drum and vocals on "Ritual", flute on "Blood on the Street" * Travis Stone – additional vocals on "Ritual" * D. Randall Blythe – additional vocals on "Dead Behind the Eyes" * Elizabeth Mictian – daf on "Dead Behind the Eyes" *

– additional vocals on "Under Rapture" * Josh Lomatewaima – drum and vocals on "Blood on the Street" * Chase Numkena – drum and vocals on "Blood on the Street" * Ron Taho – drum and vocals on "Blood on the Street" * Igor A. Cavalera – additional vocals on "Feedback!" * Mark Damon – saxophone on "Soulfly XI" * ;Production * Josh Wilbur –

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

, recording, mixing,

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

* Nick Rowe – engineering * Josh Brooks – engineering *

Brad Blackwood Brad Blackwood is an American audio mastering audio engineer, engineer. He has mastered albums for artists such as Maroon 5, Against Me, Lamb of God (band), Lamb of God, Black Eyed Peas, Sara Bareilles, and is a 17 time Grammy nominee and 3-time win ...

– mastering * Lana Migliore – assistant engineering * Jeff Sinclair – assistant engineering * Kyle McAulay – assistant engineering ;Artwork * Eliran Kantor – cover illustration * Leo Zulueta – band logo * Glen La Ferman – photography * Marcelo Vasco – package design, inner illustration

Charts

References

2018 albums Soulfly albums Nuclear Blast albums Albums with cover art by Eliran Kantor {{2010s-metal-album-stub