Innerspirit

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

More information Review scores, Source ...

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

More information No., Title ...

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

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

More information No., Title ...

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

More information Chart (2000), Peak position ...

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

References

[1]
"SOULFLY: 'Dark Ages' Final Track Listing Revealed". News. BlabberMouth. June 7, 2005.
[2]
"Soulfly - Dark Ages". Reviews. Alternative-Zine.com. November 7, 2006. Retrieved March 6, 2014.
[3]
"Review: "Soulfly: Dark Ages"". Sea of Tranquility. Retrieved March 6, 2014.
[4]
Tom Day (October 3, 2005). "Soulfly - Dark Ages". Album Reviews. musicOMH. Retrieved March 6, 2014.
[5]
"SOULFLY: New MAX CAVALERA Audio/Video Interview Posted Online". BlabberMouth. Archived from the original on February 1, 2013.
[6]
"CD Reviews". Blabbermouth.net. Archived from the original on September 13, 2007.
[7]
"Dark Ages - Soulfly". AllMusic.
[8]
richwithhatred (July 26, 2005). "Review – Soulfly – The Dark Ages". Blogcritics. Archived from the original on January 5, 2016. Retrieved May 17, 2014.
[9]
Popoff, Martin; Perri, David (2011). The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 4: The '00s. Burlington, Ontario, Canada: Collector's Guide Publishing. p. 460. ISBN 9781-926592-20-6.
[10]
"Soulfly - Dark Ages". Hung Medien. Retrieved November 7, 2021.
[11]
"Soulfly - Dark Ages" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved November 7, 2021.
[12]
"Soulfly - Dark Ages" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved November 7, 2021.
[13]
"Soulfly - Dark Ages" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved November 7, 2021.
[14]
"Soulfly - Dark Ages" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved November 7, 2021.
[15]
"Offizielle Deutsche Charts" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. Retrieved November 7, 2021.
[16]
"Soulfly - Dark Ages". Hung Medien. Retrieved November 7, 2021.
[17]
"Soulfly - Dark Ages". Hung Medien. Retrieved November 7, 2021.
[18]
"Soulfly - Dark Ages". Hung Medien. Retrieved November 7, 2021.
[19]
"Soulfly Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved November 7, 2021.

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