Soulfly was the new band started by Max Cavalera in ’98, 2 years after he was unceremoniously kicked out of the band by his unfaithful band mates and younger brother one he had nurtured with his own hands. Surprisingly the band’s self-titled debut did much better on the charts and with the fans than Sepultura’s latest release proving that the reel charm lied in Max himself and not the others. Soulfly comprises of Roy Mayorga with his non stop pounding of the drums, Marcello Rapp with the heavy bass lines, Jackson Bandeira on the guitar and Max himself lending all the insane growling and the 4-stringed riffing. There are in addition to these a lot of Brazilian instruments used by the band. The album is truly jumpstarted by the song "Eye for an Eye" with their barbarous sound wonderfully blended with the Brazilian sounds. Dino Cazares from Fear Factory helps out with the riffing on it. Most of the songwriting for the album or as Max would appropriately put it "lyrical terrorism" is done more or less entirely by him only. "Bleed", a song full of pain has Max singing with full wrath & fury which is directed at the people involved in the murder of Dana Wells and the cover up of his death. Max gives his warning that judgment is coming after them with the famous phrase "what goes around, comes around"! Wishing to make them slowly bleed and suffer he wants a slow, agonizing death for them with Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit, doing his bit of threatening too on it. There is a lot of singing in Brazilian along with the Central American tribal beats taken the compositions to a higher level – the incorporation of new, experimental tribal sounds is more than on Sepultura’s `Roots’. A few songs later comes another one with open threats directed to Dana’s killers is "First Commandment", Max claiming it to be violated {thou shall not kill} in this instance. Most of the songs are full of sheer power and sung straight from the heart. "Soulfly", the song is a soothing break from all the overpowering sound and there are no points for guessing who’s played the sitar on this one! It beautifully merges into the next "Umbabarauma", a song about another great Brazilian passion, Soccer. The entire albums lyrics are written in such a way that they’re bound to inspire a feeling of pride in what you are and from which background you originate. Next song up "Quilombo" is about Brazilian refugee camp’s oppressed civilians who fought against the white men and their slavery, led by their brave hero `Zumbi’. "The Song remains Insane" is a short angry song whose intro is Brasilian national radio excerpt with the commentators talking about Max, Soulfly and Sepultura. Max sings the words to Sepultura song `Attitude’ on this one but making it 10 times faster. It ends with a narration of a Brasilian folk tale by `Chico Science’ and soon blasting into "No". "No" is a brutal song massacring the popular band `Hootie and the Blowfish’ and is about all the bad elements and habits in this world which one must always avoid. After that "Prejudice" much to the surprise of Max loyalists has rapping on it who chorus is very moving and thought provoking and goes like "Prejudice, Shame of all nations, Breeding Hate, don’t need no segregation." The album is finally brought to a gentle close with an eerie instrumental piece "Karmageddon". Overall an absolutely wonderful purchase {9/10} and this just goes on to prove how much charisma a single man can hold, but lets not take anything from Marcello or Roy or Jackson. The band also does its bit for Wildlife and Forest Conservation and helping Diabetic children by asking fans to contribute to funds started by them. Dedicated in loving memory of Dana Wells R.I.P.