SOULFLY has released a new digital EP, "Live Ritual NYC MMXIX". The effort was recorded at The Gramercy in New York City on February 11, 2019 while SOULFLY was on tour in support of its most recent full-length album, "Ritual". The audio for the EP was mixed and mastered by Charles Elliott (ABYSMAL DAWN) from Tastemaker Audio. Cover artwork was comprised of live photos taken by Rodrigo Fredes.
Vocalist/guitarist Max Cavalera comments: "New York is a mesmerizing city; the city that never sleeps! I always look forward to playing in NY.
"The Gramercy is a great venue and the SOULFLY crowd was in the trench frontlines of a battlefield, crowded and moving like some kind of tribe.
"I hope this unforgettable night of metal in NY can uplift you during this quarantine. Start a pit in your living room! I'm in quarantine too, and together, with metal, we will all get through this! Let the ritual begin!"
"Live Ritual NYC MMXIX" track listing:
01. The Summoning
02. Under Rapture
03. Fire
04. Porrada
05. Ritual
06. I And I
07. Back To Primitive
A live video for the track "The Summoning" can be seen below.
"Ritual" was released in October 2018 via Nuclear Blast. The follow-up to 2015's "Archangel" was produced, recorded and mixed by Josh Wilbur (KILLER BE KILLED, LAMB OF GOD, GOJIRA). Cover artwork was painted by artist Eliran Kantor (TESTAMENT, ICED EARTH, SODOM). Additional booklet art was handled by Marcelo Vasco (SLAYER, HATEBREED, KREATOR), who also handled the package design. The album features multiple guests, including Randy Blythe (LAMB OF GOD).
Max Cavalera told PureGrainAudio about "Ritual": "I know musicians [always] say their new record is their favorite, but [this new] SOULFLY [album] really hits home, man, because it's got a little of everything that I really love about SOULFLY. It's got some of the tribal elements back in the groove, and it's got a lot of fast stuff. It's almost like a 'tribal thrash' record, which is kind of… it's never been done before. So it's a real political and spiritual [album mixed] with tribal [and] thrash [sounds]. The tribal grooves go right in hand with fast thrash, death metal stuff. So it's pretty cool, man. I think people are gonna be turned up when they hear the new SOULFLY."
As for the disc's musical direction, Max said that it has "a little bit of a 'Chaos A.D.' [SEPULTURA] kind of feeling to it — that kind of groove, but also [with elements of] thrash. It's a contemporary record — it feels like it's done right now. I'm really stoked on it. I think it does kind of have that classic 'Chaos A.D.' feeling to it, which is great; I think it's really cool to have that kind of feeling on the record."
Max also praised his SOULFLY bandmates' contributions to the new album, saying: "Marc Rizzo [SOULFLY guitarist] is doing some amazing guitar stuff. All the players — Zyon [Cavalera, Max's son and SOULFLY drummer] did a great job on the drums. I tried really hard to have different topics and different lyrics, so my vocals are a bit different and I'm touching different subjects on the album. So all that together makes it into something special."
