Single Slam – Dead Behind the Eyes by Soulfly (Ritual)

Max Cavalera’s Soulfly have released the third single from their soon to be released 11th studio album. This track is called Dead Behind the Eyes and will feature on the album Ritual. Ritual is due out on the 19th of October via Nuclear Blast.

Ritual follows 2015’s very good album, Archangel. You can read our thoughts on that one here. Led by the legendary metal icon, Max Cavalera, Soulfly are a really consistent band, rarely releasing a bad album. Occasionally uninspiring, yes, but not bad. Based on the two singles released so far, Ritual is shaping up to be a really strong one. You can read our thoughts on the title track Ritual and Evil Empowered, by following the links.

Alongside vocalist and guitarist Max, Soulfly are Marc Rizzo on guitars and Mike Leon on bass. Last but not least, on drums is Max’ son Zyon Calavera.

So, two great singles so far, how does the third one stand up against them? Really well actually. Dead Behind the Eyes is around 5 minutes and 17 seconds long and is a very heavy song with loads of groove and crashing drum rhythms. It starts off like a straight up death metal song with a crunching compact riff. That riff soon gets joined by insanely fast drumming before a sudden pause. The pause ends with Max’s vocals coming back in sounding very dark and aggressive. He barks out lines at pace along with the fiery riff and energetic drum fills.

Occasional switch ups in the riff keep the singing feeling fresh amongst the relentless assault of drums. Backing vocals in the chorus give almost a demonic, black metal sound to the line “Dead Behind the Eyes” as the chorus ends into a screeching solo each time. As the solo ends, it leads straight back into the violent groove of the main riff which continues unto the end other than 30 seconds of fading feedback at the close.

Dead Behind the Eyes is a really good song and is close to the heaviest I have heard Soulfly play in years. The drumming is insanely quick and the riff hits hard yet somehow manages to still retain a little groove. The vocals are impressive too, sounding really dark, and with a few different tones in the mix. Having seen Max live a fair few times, I think he will probably struggle to hit that higher pitched shout live but otherwise, this one should tear up mosh pits up all over the globe. Solid song from Mr Solid himself.

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Dead Behind the Eyes is available on all the usual streaming services now, like Apple Music and Spotify. You can grab a preorder of the new album, Ritual, from Nuclear Blast here. Keep up to date with Soulfly news over at their website, on Twitter and on Facebook.