Soulfly - Omen [Special Edition CD + DVD]

Yes, I've decided to review this again. After the album's official release I felt it neccessary to purchase the special edition of "Omen" for completion purposes, only to find out that this album isn't (quite) as bad as I initially thought.

I still find some aspects of the main record extremely disappointing ('Bloodbath and Beyond') or just plain awful (Greg Puciato's vocalsĀ for the first two thirds of 'Rise of the Fallen', most of the song titles in general) but overall, the album has grown on me after repeated listens, with 'Jeffery Dahmer' quickly becoming a favourite of mine. On top of this, the bonus tracks and the DVD are well worth the extra pennies you'll be spending on this edition of the album - the cover of Led Zeppelin's 'Four Sticks' is a little bit hit-and-miss, but the band's cover of Excel's 'Your Life, My Life' is - surprisingly - totally spot on. I as dreading this cover as I feared the band would ruin it, bu they managed it quite well... and I was also dreading the re-recording of one of Max's classic songs from his duration with Sepultura. And again, I was left pleasently surprised with Soulfly's faithful rendition of 'Refuse/Resist' which is just as good as the original wilst having a few nice little quirks of it's own (the production really does it justice here as well).

Onto the DVD, which is pretty much a standard affair now - it's very similar to the accompanying DVD that came with the special edition of 2008's "Conquer" album in terms of quality, which is fair enough. The tracklisting is nice and rounded, though I was a little disappointed to see no Nailbmb tracks make an appearance, and the band is on fucking FIRE during the entire performance with a nice rounded audio mix and some fun angles here and there. Also included is the music video for 'Unleash' from the last record, which is a nice bonus but the video is somewhat hilarious. I can't watch it with a straight face.

So a short-but-sweet review here, given a chance Soulfly's "Omen" can prove to be better than it seems and the special edition is probably the definitive one. The DVD is a fun watch and the bonus tracks are an extremely welcome and surprising addition to an already good album - it's still far from perfect, and still not quite at the same level as "Dark Ages", but definitely a worthwhile buy so long as you get this version.

CD:


1. Bloodbath and Beyond
2. Rise of the Fallen
3. Great Depression
4. Lethal Injection
5. Kingdom
6. Jeffery Dahmer
7. Off With Their Heads
8. Vulture Culture
9. Mega-Doom
10. Counter Sabotage
11. Soulfly VII
12. Four Sticks [Bonus Track]
13. Refuse/Resist [Bonus Track]
14. Your Life, My Life [Bonus Track]


DVD - Live at With Full Force 2009:


1. Blood Fire War Hate
2. Sanctuary
3. Prophecy
4. Back to the Primitive
5. Seek 'N' Strike
6. Living Sacrifice
7. Enemy Ghost
8. Refuse/Resist
9. Doom
10. L.O.T.M.
11. Molotov
12. Drums
13. Warmageddon
14. Policia
15. Unleash
16. Roots Bloody Roots
17. Eye for an Eye
18. Unleash [Official Music Video]


Roadrunner Records
Reviewer: Dave Ingram Jr.
Jun 13, 2010

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