Entertainment
Andrew’s Judgmental Album Reviews: Soulfly – Totem (2022)
Soulfly just came out with a new album a few days ago! How does Totem rank in the JAR?

As an ironic twist of fate, the boss at my 9 to 5 and I were going over older bands and reminiscing a little. We got on a bit of a Soulfly rabbit hole and started making our way through the old stuff, of course starting with Bleed. This lead me to notice they had a new album coming out, so it was serendipitous timing if I do say so myself.
Much like with many bands I re-stumble upon, I haven’t really pay attention to Soulfly since Dark Ages, so that’s like 17 years. Soulfly has always been this interesting fusion of Thrash, Groove, Death and Metalcore (at times); so I either really dial in, or am totally uninterested depending on which track they take. That makes this whole album interesting to me. Will it stay in one vein? Will I appreciate any genre hopping? Are Max’s vocals something I’ve grown to like or hate more? Let’s find out!
Soulfly is: Max Cavalera (vocals & rhythm guitar), Zyon Cavalera (drums) & Mike Leon (bass)
- Artist: Soulfly
- Album: Totem (2022)
- Label: Nuclear Blast
- Total Track Time: 40:08
Superstition starts off with a very familiar fast attacking down riff like Soulfly has been known for and older Sepultura. The double bass blast beats aren’t over done because they actually punctuate the lyrics, coupled with this echoed, ethereal effect it adds to the other worldly superstitious concept. This definitely has more of an old Sepultura Arise vibe musically with the death metal elements but a lot of cool atmosphere and melody. It’s a damn strong start to an album I was unsure about. Scouring the Vile sounds like they got John Tardy from Obituary on the chorus, or someone that sounds a lot like him. Venomous and hate fueled lyrics paint a gruesome picture; ” Furious rage against the dying life, Close your eyes, receive the host, Neurotic waves, mentally enslaved, All lifе slips away, The tumor grows, spreads his wings, Degеneration of everything you know, A frame of mind, dismal soul, Immortalized in dying glow” – cancer, covid, disease in general, a lot of concepts can be encapsulated in this lyrics. Its definitely unbridled rage toward something medical that took someone away from him, which sadly makes this fairly relatable to everyone, eventually. Filth Upon Filth has an interesting vibe to it. It’s not as aggressive and unrelenting as most Soulfly, this feels like, Body Count, John Bush era Anthrax, something in that more classic metal vein. With lyrics that seem to be more discussing societies ever blooming discovery of more discord, hatred, and filth; piling upon itself.
Rot in Pain okay this is dark tonally and attacking in the right spots. It’s like an Entombed vocal style and Pantera dives in and out of triplets are just grinding this song into one hell of an old school Death Metal attack. The scream with the dive bomb helps for a cool haunting effect. I didn’t even read the lyrics, this is just cool. The Damage Done is a song that lyrically covers all of the damage done to the planet. So fires, mutations, ozone layer, climate change, those general concepts. So there is like this creeping stomp to the song, almost like the impending doom of the damage done. It’s such a great song that builds up, like if Princess Mononoke or FernGully was a horror movie. Totem follows some of the touches we’ve had already, where its a historical perspective from the Native point of view. Driving home some interesting totemic concepts of watching the horrors that have unfolded. All with this really interesting groove/doom musically direction that reminds me a little bit of like an Acid Bath at times, but a drum solo at about half way was really different as well. Just sonically there’s a lot of interesting elements and the spirits of the totems being the perspective of the song, is interesting. Ancestors okay this is an easy one to analyze lyrically, it’s about South American colonizers who shoved Christianity down the native people’s throats; “You speak to me through the grave, The dagger in the Devil’s hand, Force your culture down my throat, Like a preacher selling souls, Disillusion, compromise, Fuck your lies” – as a song this has a few more Doom vibes than Groove or Death Metal, but its still a very cool song with a point that gets across with ease.
Ecstasy of Gold now I know what you’re thinking, but no this isn’t a cover. It’s simple where it has Death Metal moments with a few Thrash elements, but the song seems to be in the vein of colonizers being gold crazy; “Pounding hate from my hands, my hands, Solar eyes have deceived you, Thirst for wealth bringing pain, pain, Ecstasy of gold remains, remains”, so ecstasy of gold is more to indicate gold fever than anything remotely positive. Soulfly XII as per tradition, there is always a Soulfly instrumental. This is a quaint little melodic piece, feels mostly atmospheric, but nice and somber. Spirit Animal is a monster of a song, nearly 10 minutes long when nothing else has been much over 5. This also has more of an interesting Punk intro into distorted Black Metal-esque vocals for a short time. Like 2 minutes in and it’s already unique. After the vocals kick in, it feels like there’s a few different people singing on this. A quick search led me to finding out that Max’s stepson Richie Cavalera is one of the guest vocals. But this has such an interesting, syncopated rhythm to it, that it’s probably as trippy as a vision quest. I should ask Aaron Rodgers if this song feels like his ayahuasca experience at all. For being nearly 10 minutes long, it’s different enough to keep me engaged and not staring at the clock. It is definitely a little on the experimental side, so I can see it not being everyone’s cup of tea, but it’s pretty groovy.
Now color me shocked. It seems I’ve gotten passed some of my biases from younger years and can see the forest through, well, these trees at least. For the most part the tone of the album was very dark and menacing, the latter half delving more into the native heritage and title of the album definitely helped to shape that perspective. But the balance of course vocals, clean vocals, tempo, style influences and everything just made for a generally very enjoyable listen. Not one damn song was bad, now Spirit Animal is just too long unless I’m looking for a Vision Quest, but it was still a fun ride.
Great album and might be enough to have me dive into full albums of theirs from the past instead of just cherry picking things I knew I didn’t hate.
Final Judgment: 9.25/10
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Launched in 2017, the Chairshot Radio Network presents you with the best in sports, entertainment, and sports entertainment. Wrestling and wrestling crossover podcasts + the most interesting content + the most engaging hosts = the most entertaining podcasts you’ll find!
 MONDAY - Bandwagon Nerds (entertainment & popular culture)
TUESDAY - Musical Chairs (music) / Hockey Talk (NHL)
WEDNESDAY - The Greg DeMarco Show (wrestling)Â
THURSDAY - Keeping the news ridiculous... The Oddity / Chairshot NFL (NFL)
FRIDAY - DWI Podcast (Drunk Wrestling Intellect)
SATURDAY - The Mindless Wrestling Podcast
SUNDAY - The Front and Center Sports PodcastÂ
CHAIRSHOT RADIO NETWORK PODCAST SPECIALS
Attitude Of Aggression Podcast & The Big Five Project (chronologically exploring WWE's PPV/PLE history)
TheChairshot.com PRESENTS...IMMEDIATE POST WWE PLE REACTIONS w/ DJ(Mindless), Tunney(DWI) & Friends
Patrick O'Dowd's 5X5
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Prepare for the most electrifying even of the HPW calendar!
While the stage is set for Blood & Thunder 4 and the HPW World Trios Championships, HPW must also address the return of KAGE!
Thundra Plateau is ready.
Wrestling is Life, but life has its stormy weather. The rain is going to be hot in June, but will the reign continue through the Summer? The Dark Forces may have failed to take the Undisputed Triforce World Championship from Zelda, but they still have the World Trios Championships. Harlequin, Lupay & Glutko will step inside the double ring, double cage to defend their gold. On one side, Arrow Club’s special combination of Fin Balure, Torbevito & Bad Croc Scaly. On the other, a new combination of its own in Cia, Lana & Midna.
Speaking of Cia, Lana & Midna…
The three of them are together, dressed in workout attire, in what appears to be a dance studio. This is a collaboration stream for Midna and Lana as they’re both big presences on the internet, aka “influencers.” Lana and Midna wave and say hi, and they give introductions, including Cia, who is reluctant to be standing there. Cia doesn’t know why they need to do this. Lana says they have to improve their teamwork. They may have won against Los Taros Locos, but it was really sketchy there for a second. Midna adds that doing a dance routine together is great for their timing and coordination.
Cia says she didn’t mean that, she meant having to stream it! Oh, well obviously, combining Midna’s viewing audience with Lana’s, and HPW’s overall, this makes huge numbers! So? And huge money…! Cia raises her eyebrow and says, “Oh really?” The trio sets up, and Lana says obviously they first have to learn the steps. Midna brings up, “Wait, what song are we dancing to?” Oh, good point. Lana was thinking something from Lulu. Cia asks, “Lulu? From the Indigo-Go’s?” Midna says Lulu’s got a great solo album. Lana agrees! That’s so great that they like the same music. Cia isn’t as familiar with her solo stuff, so she’ll rely on them for this.
Lana suggests they go with Energetic Me. For one, it has the most energy, duh. And it still has a dance vibe, which is the whole point. Midna says she might’ve gone with Royal Discotheque or Ten Outta Ten, but she sees Lana’s point. Lana shows them the dance moves she has in mind. Left arm up, bent at the elbow, and the hand up against the side of the chest. Then they switch so the right arm goes up to mirror that position while the left hand goes back to the hip. Maybe add a little hip pop as that happens. Do that a couple times, and then turn to the right. This puts the left hand on the back of the hip, right hand on the back of the neck for a sexy pose.
Then you turn to flip it the other way, then do a 360 with a big neck whipping, hair flipping move. Then finish with feet apart and double V’s up by the eyes, maybe with a wink. Cia says, “Yeah, okay…” while Midna says, “I like it!” Midna says she’ll set up in the middle. Cia asks why Midna is in the middle, and Midna says it’s symmetry. She’s the tallest, Cia and Lana are about the same, it makes sense. Yeah, but it also means Midna is the center of attention. Well, that’s just coincidental. Lana says it doesn’t matter, the point is them doing it all in synch. Cia sighs and says, “Fine.” Midna is in the middle, Cia is on her right, and the music plays.
Left arm, right arm, left arm, right arm, pose to the right, pose to the left, 360 spin and neck whip, then double V. Midna nailed it, but Cia was lagging. Cia defends she was not, but Lana says it’s alright, they’ll just keep trying. They run through it a couple more times, they do tighten it up, and all three feel really good about how that went.
The Dark Forces are watching.
They aren’t impressed by the “little dance party.” Harlequin says the Faces of Evil are way better anyway. Especially with the classics like the Thriller dance and Macarena. Zant says, “The Macarena? Pfft, and people think I’m a dork…” Harlequin says, “Don’t you dare mock the Macarena!” Harlequin changes tabs on the computer and starts playing the song! After the introduction, he lifts his right arm up flat, then his left. Then he turns the right hand up, the left hand up, puts his right hand on his left shoulder, left hand on right shoulder, then moves right hand up behind his head, and then his left.
Now his arms crisscross, right hand on left hip and left hand on right hip, to then switch so right hand on right hip and left hand on left hip. And of course, he swivels his hips in one big circle to go with “HEY~ Macarena! AIGHT!” Zant rolls his eyes while Harlequin keeps going, jumping 90 degrees to his left. Ganon walks in, Ghirahim following behind, and he tells Harlequin to “turn that crap off.” Harlequin pouts but he does as told. Ganon seethes as he takes a seat in his big arm chair. “Needless to say… Wrestling is Life didn’t go how I’d hoped. What was Kage even doing there?! Did either of you have any idea he was going to betray us?!”
Zant and Ghirahim are a bit flustered. Zant isn’t even sure Kage was part of The Dark Forces at the time Ganon took ownership. He’d kinda gone rogue at some point, didn’t he? Ghirahim agrees, it didn’t seem like he was even aligned with Cia and the others. All the more reason for Kage to keep his nose out of Ganon’s business! If Kage cared about the Dark Forces, then he would’ve helped them fight back at HyruleMania, or any time since. Kage clearly just wants the title, same as Ganon, so he’s a dead man walking. Speaking of that… Where’s Kevin? He came back in April, why isn’t he here?
Somewhere dark and spooky…
Heavy footsteps can be heard echoing as Kevin Gibdo moves down the hallway. He speaks with a low, airy voice, “Majora… Your madness… spread like wildfire… You thought by setting me ablaze… I would crumble into ash… You were wrong! Instead, I have been purified…! Purged of flaws and weaknesses… I now come forth… as gold!” There’s a light at the end of the hall, and Kevin enters a grand hall, with treasure gleaming in the light. At the center is the sarcophagus. Kevin walks up to it, opens it, and then his burnt and tattered bandages fall away before he steps inside. The sarcophagus closes, then the eyes on it begin to glow… Then the entire thing glows!
The glowing becomes a shining light, and that shining becomes so bright that nothing can be seen. It is clear things between Kevin and Majora are not over. Will the Masked Monster even stand a chance once the Gibdo of All Gibdos is restored to full strength?
Back to the Dark Forces…
Shabonne says, “I’m sure Kevin is just fine doing whatever Gibdos do on their time off.” Tali says, “What matters is what I’m about to do to that tiny little weasel with the Goddess Championship. If The Dark Forces is gonna have all the gold, then I need to squash her like a bug and take that title off of whatever’s left!” Ganon nods and says he likes the initiative. Tali will start on her own Triple Crown as the Dark Forces will make Hyrule Pro-Wrestling their kingdom! The group cheers while raising a toast! And then Harlequin gets Glutko and Lupay to join in on the Macarena, to which Ganon groans and facepalms.
And so, the ThunderStruck card is set!
The double ring, double cage will rattle with Blood & Thunder as the HPW World Trios Championships are on the line! The Gerudo Ace looks to settle a grudge with the Hero’s Shadow! And now, the Million Rupee Championship and HPW Goddess Championships will also be on the line! Will the Dark Forces absolutely dominate the Summer? Be ready to endure the heat on Friday, June 20th!
About Chairshot Radio Network
Launched in 2017, the Chairshot Radio Network presents you with the best in sports, entertainment, and sports entertainment. Wrestling and wrestling crossover podcasts + the most interesting content + the most engaging hosts = the most entertaining podcasts you’ll find!
 MONDAY - Bandwagon Nerds (entertainment & popular culture)
TUESDAY - Musical Chairs (music) / Hockey Talk (NHL)
WEDNESDAY - The Greg DeMarco Show (wrestling)Â
THURSDAY - Keeping the news ridiculous... The Oddity / Chairshot NFL (NFL)
FRIDAY - DWI Podcast (Drunk Wrestling Intellect)
SATURDAY - The Mindless Wrestling Podcast
SUNDAY - The Front and Center Sports PodcastÂ
CHAIRSHOT RADIO NETWORK PODCAST SPECIALS
Attitude Of Aggression Podcast & The Big Five Project (chronologically exploring WWE's PPV/PLE history)
TheChairshot.com PRESENTS...IMMEDIATE POST WWE PLE REACTIONS w/ DJ(Mindless), Tunney(DWI) & Friends
Patrick O'Dowd's 5X5
Classic POD is WAR
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Bandwagon Nerds
Bandwagon Nerds #287: Filling A Void
The Nerds review Thunderbolts*, check out the latest trailers, and celebrate Star Wars Day as only they can!

The Bandwagon is stripped down this week as Dave and PC Tunney helm the ship for a big week in the Nerdosphere. Naturally, we are covering Thunderbolts as Dave, Tunney (and the rest of the Bandwagon, for that matter) all saw the latest entry into the MCU. What was the consensus, and did the longest post-credit scene in MCU history push the Universe in the right direction? In other MCU News, we discovered why Hawkeye had no second season. From there, the guys head into the Trailer Park to look at the latest, including a sizzle reel for Netflix’s TUDUM event, Dwayne “The Rock ” Johnson’s latest movie, The Smashing Machine, and a very creepy look at Weapons. GTA 6 got delayed, again….but could that be a blessing in disguise? But this Episode was recorded on Star Wars Day, and to commemorate the event, Dave tries his best to convince Tunney to watch Andor, while Tunney tells Dave what he likes most about one of the most successful franchises of all time. All that, plus Dave tells you why The Last of Us is the best show anywhere on TV. Dave & Tunney cover a lot of ground in an action-packed episode of BWN, so make sure you tune in!
- @AttitudeAgg
- @WrestlngRealist
- @itsReyCash
- @PCTunney
- @itsmedpp
- @ViolentAesop
- @TheMindlessPod
- @therealcplatt
- @ChairshotMedia
- @BandwagonNerds
PROWRESTLINGTEES.COM/TheChairshot – Makes a GREAT GIFT!!!
About Bandwagon Nerds
Join Patrick O’Dowd, David Ungar, PC Tunney, Rey Cash, and DPP as they keep everyone up on all things nerd and maybe add some new nerds along the way. It’s the Bandwagon Nerds Podcast!
About Chairshot Radio Network
Chairshot Radio Network
Launched in 2017, the Chairshot Radio Network presents you with the best in sports, entertainment, and sports entertainment. Wrestling and wrestling crossover podcasts + the most interesting content + the most engaging hosts = the most entertaining podcasts you’ll find!
MONDAY – Bandwagon Nerds (entertainment & popular culture)
TUESDAY – 4 Corners Podcast (sports)
WEDNESDAY – The Greg DeMarco Show (wrestling)
THURSDAY – POD is WAR
FRIDAY – DWI Podcast (Drunk Wrestling Intellect)
SATURDAY – The Mindless Wrestling Podcast
SUNDAY – Keeping the news ridiculous… The Oddity / The Front and Center Sports Podcast
CHAIRSHOT RADIO NETWORK PODCAST SPECIALS
Attitude Of Aggression Podcast & The Big Five Project (chronologically exploring WWE’s PPV/PLE history)
http://TheChairshot.com PRESENTS…IMMEDIATE POST WWE PLE REACTIONS w/ DJ(Mindless), Tunney(DWI) & Friends
Patrick O’Dowd’s 5X5
Chairshot Radio Network
Your home for the hardest hitting podcasts… Sports, Entertainment and Sports Entertainment!
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About Chairshot Radio Network
Launched in 2017, the Chairshot Radio Network presents you with the best in sports, entertainment, and sports entertainment. Wrestling and wrestling crossover podcasts + the most interesting content + the most engaging hosts = the most entertaining podcasts you’ll find!
 MONDAY - Bandwagon Nerds (entertainment & popular culture)
TUESDAY - Musical Chairs (music) / Hockey Talk (NHL)
WEDNESDAY - The Greg DeMarco Show (wrestling)Â
THURSDAY - Keeping the news ridiculous... The Oddity / Chairshot NFL (NFL)
FRIDAY - DWI Podcast (Drunk Wrestling Intellect)
SATURDAY - The Mindless Wrestling Podcast
SUNDAY - The Front and Center Sports PodcastÂ
CHAIRSHOT RADIO NETWORK PODCAST SPECIALS
Attitude Of Aggression Podcast & The Big Five Project (chronologically exploring WWE's PPV/PLE history)
TheChairshot.com PRESENTS...IMMEDIATE POST WWE PLE REACTIONS w/ DJ(Mindless), Tunney(DWI) & Friends
Patrick O'Dowd's 5X5
Classic POD is WAR
Chairshot Radio Network Your home for the hardest hitting podcasts... Sports, Entertainment and Sports Entertainment!
Powered by RedCircle
Let us know what you think on social media @ChairshotMedia and always remember to use the hashtag #UseYourHead!