Dark Ages (album)

Dark Ages is the fifth studio album by American heavy metal band Soulfly. It was released on October 4, 2005.

Dark Ages
Studio album by Soulfly
Released	October 4, 2005 (2005-10-04)
Recorded	2005
Studio	The Saltmine Studio Oasis, Mesa, Arizona
Genre	Thrash metal groove metal death metal
Length	66:25 78:29 (digipak)
Label	Roadrunner
Producer	Max Cavalera[1]
Soulfly chronology
Prophecy (2004) Dark Ages (2005) Conquer (2008)
Singles from Dark Ages
"Carved Inside" Released: September 25, 2005 "Frontlines" Released: February 7, 2006

Album information

The album explores aggression and dark themes to mourn the deaths of Max Cavalera's 8-month-old grandson, Moses, and his close friend Dimebag Darrell.^[2] Dark Ages was recorded in five countries – Serbia, Turkey, Russia, France, and the United States. Cavalera praised this album by calling it "unorthodox metal".^[3]

Songs

The album opens with an intro track "The Dark Ages", which continues into "Babylon", which explores worldwide chaos. "Arise Again" combines Metallica-like riffs and Sepultura-like echoes.^[4]

"Corrosion Creeps" is dedicated to Chuck Schuldiner of Death.^[5] "Fuel the Hate" begins with the lyric line 'Monday, July 16, 1945, 5:30am', exact time and date when 'Trinity' nuclear test occurred. It was around this time that the lyrical themes began to move away from the earlier spiritual themes and began incorporating more violent and aggressive elements. Richie Cavalera, Max's son, co-sings on "Staystrong" as a tribute to youthful deaths of Moses and Dana.^[2]

The outro for "Bleak" was recorded in an ancient temple in Istanbul to capture echoes to include as common sound effect on this album.^[3] "Molotov" lyrics are in Russian, Portuguese, and a final verse in English. The performance of Billy Milano, one of two guests for "Molotov", was recorded over the phone by Max.^[2] "Riotstarter" contains strong tribal chants, and "Innerspirit" blends clean and melodic vocals by the guest Coyote over the roars by Cavalera.^[6]

Reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[7]
Blabbermouth.net	8/10[6]
Blogcritics	[8]
Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal	7/10[9]

AllMusic had a positive response, because the album has greater complexity of metal than any of the previous album, thus refreshing the band with veterans present.^[7] Blogcritics had a very good response, as "Cavalera is screaming louder and harder than ever throughout. He's raging harder and in a higher range than he's been in years, and it's a welcome improvement."^[8]

Track listing

All lyrics are written by Max Cavalera except where stated; all music is composed by Max Cavalera.

No.	Title	Lyrics	Length
1.	"The Dark Ages"		0:48
2.	"Babylon"		3:53
3.	"I and I"		3:15
4.	"Carved Inside"		3:35
5.	"Arise Again"		4:10
6.	"Molotov" (feat. Paul Fillipenko & Billy Milano)	Max Cavalera, Pavel Fillipenko, Billy Milano	1:58
7.	"Frontlines"		4:34
8.	"Innerspirit" (feat. Nemanja "Coyote" Kojić)	Max Cavalera, Nemanja Kojić, Bojan Stojanovic	5:15
9.	"Corrosion Creeps"		4:27
10.	"Riotstarter" (feat. David Ellefson)		5:00
11.	"Bleak"		4:57
12.	"(The) March"		1:19
13.	"Fuel the Hate"		4:12
14.	"Staystrong" (feat. Richie Cavalera)	Max Cavalera, Richie Cavalera	8:14
15.	"Soulfly V" (instrumental) (includes an untitled hidden track at 7:15)		10:54
Total length:			66:25

Japanese & limited edition digipak

No.	Title	Lyrics	Length
16.	"Salmo-91"	(taken from Psalm 91)	4:24
17.	"Prophecy" (Live at Metalmania 2004)		3:27
18.	"Seek 'n' Strike" (Live at Metalmania 2004)		4:15
Total length:			78:29

Personnel

Soulfly Max Cavalera – vocals, 4-string guitar, berimbau, sitar, didgeridoo Marc Rizzo – lead guitar, flamenco guitar Bobby Burns – bass Joe Nunez – drums, percussion Additional musicians Nemanja "Coyote" Kojić – vocals on "Innerspirit" Pavel Fillipenko – vocals on "Molotov" Billy Milano – vocals on "Molotov" David Ellefson – bass on "Riotstarter" Richie Cavalera – vocals on "Staystrong" Stefane Goldman – sitar, mandolin, acoustic guitar, keyboards Alexander Yushin – bayan Alexsander Hrenov – balalaika, wooden spoons, treshchotka Vitaly Hrenov – contrabass balalaika John Gray – synth programming

Production Max Cavalera – production John Gray – recording, engineering, digital editing, mixing on "Molotov" and "(The) March", additional mixing on "Soulfly V" John Bilberry – assistant engineering Matt Marksbary – assistant engineering Justin Salter – assistant engineering Terry Date – mixing June Murakawa – assisting Milan "Bare" Barković – engineering Alexkid – engineering Darya Jubenko – engineering Gloria Cavalera – executive production Ted Jensen – mastering Monte Conner – A&R Management Gloria Cavalera – management Christina Stojanovic – management Artwork Michael Whelan – illustrations Mr. Scott Design – art direction Leo Zuletta – Soulfly logo

Chart positions

Chart (2000)	Peak position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[10]	41
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[11]	19
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[12]	64
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[13]	68
French Albums (SNEP)[14]	49
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[15]	29
Italian Albums (FIMI)[16]	91
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[17]	54
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[18]	44
US Billboard 200[19]	155